Washington College alumnus Denny Lane has been politically active ever since his days campaigning for Barry Goldwater in 1964, the year he began attending WC.
"I kind of majored in girls my first semester," said Lane.
"I was a poli-sci major, minoring in history."He spent a few years in the early '70s operating various businesses, including boutiques selling Mexican clothing and native American jewelry.
Of special interest is Green Mountain Traders, which he also owned. It was through this company, founded in 1972, that he introduced Snapple beverages to Vermont.Another important phase in his nonpolitical career was that involving Advanced Independent Research Labs, where he helped bring the world's attention to light sculptures. One of these has become quite popular and was even part of the Grateful Dead's 20th anniversary show.
"It's called the Plasma Light," said Lane. "It looks like lightning in a jar ... I went up to (Dead drummer) Mickey Hart; I tracked him down in Portland, Maine. I heard they were gonna do a tour and I said 'after 20 years of you guys blowing my mind, I think I've got something that might interest you . . .' I came back a couple of hours later and they had on-stage passes for me."
In the early 1980s, Lane was brought back into politics when two of his friends were arrested for possession of marijuana and imprisoned. Under federal forfeiture laws, the couple's home and property were seized, leaving their children homeless, parentless. This led to his involvement in the group Forfeiture Endangers American Rights (FEAR), for which he served as State Coordinator.
Lane has also gotten involved with the Vermont branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), for which he serves as that state's official representative.
For Lane, one of the most crucial problems our society faces is that of the War on Drugs.
"The term I like to use is 'end prohibition,' because that's what it is ... we never had a drug problem in this country until they tried to create a prohibition." Lane adds that not only were Betsy Ross's flag and the Constitution document made of hemp, but George Washington made notes in his journals of having accidentally mixed the male and female plants.
"I always knew cannabis was going to change my life," Lane said, "I didn't realize I was going to be fighting this war for 33 years."
In 1992, Lane founded the Vermont Grassroots Party, a political party which focuses predominantly on the rights of individuals, and the precedence these take over corporate or federal elements in our society. Among the issues in which the Grassroots party is involved are the abolition of civil forfeiture, the right to bear arms, ending unreasonable search and seizure, establishing term limits, and supporting a citizen's initiative bill.
In 1994, Lane ran for Vermont's gubernatorial position and received 1% of the vote. When he ran for governor again, in 1996, he received 1.4%.
By the time 1998 came around, and Lane was running for Secretary of State, Vermont's Grassroots Party was coming to be a viable alternative to the two major parties, which have monopolized all U.S. politics for so long. In that election, he received 3.9% of the final count, more than 8,000 votes.In 1991, Lane was featured in the William Doyle book The Vermont Political Tradition and Those Who Helped Shape It.
"I'm listed in there with Calvin Coolidge and Ethan Allen," said Lane. The honor proved a sound way to make a point as well.
"Dr. (Tai Sung) An ... was my mentor, of sorts," said Lane, referring to one-time WC professor and author of America After Vietnam: From Anguish to Healing. "He was the one that said to me one time, 'Mr. Lane, you grow up to be nothing but vagabond all your life.' So I sent him that history book; surely, that amounted to something, you know. I was in a history book."
Mr. Lane is currently busy taking the Vermont Grassroots into the twenty-first century, while still making time to inspire freedom-fighters everywhere.
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