HEMP BOOSTER PREPARING TO MAKE RUN FOR THE BORDER

HARRISBURG, Ore. The organizer of the annual World Hemp Festival is tying
up loose ends in preparing to leave the country.

"I'm running for the border now," marijuana activist Bill Conde told The
(Eugene) Register-Guard.

Monday will be the final day in business for Conde's Redwood Lumber, which
has doubled in recent summers as home base for the three-day World Hemp
Festival.

Conde will auction off various items remaining at his business from lumber
to tools and even a forklift on Oct. 13.

He said he plans to move to the Central American country of Belize, where
his wife and three children already are waiting.

Conde faces six criminal charges related to allegations of drug use at his
hemp festivals.

He said he has been negotiating with the Linn County district attorney's
office to resolve the charges so he can legally leave the country.

In June, Conde served a two-week sentence after being convicted on felony
charges of abetting delivery of a controlled substance and hindering
prosecution.

Conde, 58, now says he's ready to retire to his wife's native country, and
he won't miss the close scrutiny that his advocacy of marijuana brought him.

He also said the national events of the past month have prompted changes
that reinforced his decision to move on.

"In all honesty, man, I'd be scared to stay in this country now," Conde
said. "I'm a dove, not a hawk. Right now in the United States of America,
it's really not good flying weather for the doves."