FIRST OFF . . .

Nearly 100 students at Connecticut’s Ridgefield High School are petitioning to have a campus mural of Jimi Hendrix painted over because, they say, the legendary rock guitarist has become an offensive symbol of drug abuse to a new generation of teen-agers. Hendrix, one of the ‘60s leading counterculture figures, died of an overdose of barbiturates in 1970. “It seems a little hypocritical to have a thing that is such a symbol of drugs,” said Jonathan Fulkerson, the senior leading the drive to whitewash the 9-year-old mural, which is drawn from the cover of Hendrix’s “Crash Landing” album. Not all the students at Ridgefield agree, however. Student Council President Tony George said that most students do not want the mural removed. Assistant Principal Joseph Ellis said the school would review the petition.