The Rubdown That Left Police Tied in Knots

Back rubs sure can lead to political trouble. There was that embarrassing nude massage from a beauty queen that put Sen. Chuck Robb, a married Virginia Democrat, into hot water years ago. Now there's a police report circulating that has tongues wagging about Rep. Don Sherwood, 64, a married Pennsylvania Republican. The report says he told police he gave a back rub seven months ago to a much younger woman in his Capitol Hill apartment.

Cynthia Ore, 29, initially told the cops that the congressman was giving her a back rub on Sept. 15 when he "began to choke her for no apparent reason," the report stated. She told police she fled into the bathroom, locked the door and called 911 on her cell phone. But according to the report, she "changed the subject several times," then said nothing had happened. "We were just sitting in the living room sipping tea," it quotes her as saying.

Police, who found no evidence of injury to Ore, classified whatever happened on that day as a "domestic incident" and filed no charges. Sherwood denied choking Ore, saying she "jumped up and ran into the bathroom" while he was giving her a back rub, the report said. Ore, who gave police a Gaithersburg address, did not seem "of sound mind" at the time, the report added.

We couldn't reach Ore yesterday for comment, and Sherwood's office did not return our calls. But Sherwood, who has been married for 33 years, told his hometown paper, the Times-Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., that he was the victim of a "political smear." (The paper said a portion of the police report was faxed to it by a member of the Constitution Party who unsuccessfully ran against Sherwood in November.)

In an interview with the Times-Leader, which broke the story Saturday, Sherwood called Ore "an acquaintance." The paper reported that he wouldn't say why she was in his apartment or discuss any specifics about their relationship. "You meet lots of people in Washington and I had known her casually," the paper quoted Sherwood as saying. He added: "She made an allegation against me which, I say, is absolutely not true. The police investigated the allegation and agreed."

Ore told the paper, "Thinking of that day I could cry and cry." She said she met Sherwood at a Young Republicans event in 1999 and they had an ongoing relationship, and she told the Associated Press yesterday: "I loved him. He always told me he loved me, and I believed him."

In the police report, the officer seemed frustrated: "Both parties have left out significant information or are not willing to discuss in detail what actually happened."

Montel Williams' Blunt-Talking Ways

TV talk show host Montel Williams, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, offers one reason why he regularly uses marijuana: "It's keeping me alive." He tells us that thanks to pot, "I am a contributing member of society -- but the second I can't use medical marijuana, you lose my tax dollars because I start staying in bed, wallowing in chronic pain."

Williams, 48, who divides his time between New York and Los Angeles, is in town tonight to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Marijuana Policy Project, which supports reforming what he calls "stupid and ignorant" laws that subject him to criminal penalties for using pot. Also slated to speak at the gala at the Washington Court Hotel: Democratic Reps. Barney Frank (Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) and Linda Sanchez (Calif.).

Williams, whose MS was diagnosed in 1999, concedes that marijuana might not help all patients but calls it a safer course for him than popping potentially addictive painkillers: "I have doctors who can write me a prescription for OxyContin, the most powerful pain pill on the planet, and if they are smart enough to do that, why can't they write me a prescription for marijuana? . . . My worst side effect might be a mild euphoria, which is way less than OxyContin or Percocet or Vicodin."

Williams, who smoked dope recreationally in high school and college, now prefers eating cannabis to relieve his debilitating leg and foot pain. It is now available in various edible forms. "They simmer it down to a paste that you can put on a cookie or in chili or in a meatloaf, if you want."

Meanwhile, the Office of National Drug Control Policy yesterday released a report suggesting that smoking marijuana during the teen years increases the likelihood of depression, schizophrenia and suicide attempts. Tom Riley, a spokesman for the office, said advocacy groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project are actually pushing drug legalization and "cynically" exploiting sick people who use pot. "There is a con going on here, and I am surprised that smart people continue to fall for it," he told us.

Squibs

Colonial Williamsburg may soon be welcoming a Tom Hanks-produced miniseries on John Adams. The Boston Globe reports that the project, based on historian David McCullough's book, is budgeted at upward of $100.million and is expected to take at least eight months to film. Massachusetts officials had hoped to have the HBO series made in Adams's home state, but the Old Dominion offered tax breaks and free access to Colonial Williamsburg. A Virginia Film Office spokeswoman told us yesterday the deal is not finalized but "it looks good" and confirmation is expected within a week.

With Anne Schroeder