VIRGINIA COUPLE WORKS FOR HEMP LEGALIZATION

Kellie and Grayson Sigler, a Virginia couple who work with
microfarming, green house design and alternative agriculture and
environmental issues, have been on the road for a month in the 1983
Mercedes Benz station wagon, crossing the country and into Canada
powered by pure hemp oil.

The stop at the Watertown Mall was sponsored by the S.D. Industrial
Hemp Council whose main spokesman, Bob Newland of Hermosa, was on hand
asking people who stopped to sign a petition putting the issue of
legalizing industrial hemp on the state ballot in 2002.

Festooned with a variety of hemp-related slogans and sponsor
advertising, the car quickly began drawing onlookers, some just
curious, others there to show their support for the industrial hemp
movement.

The Siglers, who came up with the idea for Hemp Car about two years
ago and worked to make it a viable automobile, left on what will
eventually be a 12,000-mile trip July 4 from Washington, D.C. By the
time they reached Watertown, they had already traveled about 4,000
miles, Grayson Sigler told the Public Opinion.

He said they have had no mechanical problems with the car and have set
up a series of drop points for more fuel along the way.

"We had to put on a new set of tires so far," he said. "We're carrying
about 1,500 pounds."

He said they have 12 drop points for fuel set up along the way and
carry five, 11-gallon containers of fuel from each point. Averaging
about 27 miles per gallon, he said they can travel about 1,200 between
fuel stops.

"We have drawn some good crowds along the way," he said of the stops
along the first 4,000 miles of the journey.

So far, those stops have included festivals, county fairs and mall
parking lots. At each, he said, if nothing else they are getting media
attention and spreading the word about the benefits of hemp oil as a
renewable source of energy and an alternative fuel.

"I've been concerned with the environment for a number of years,"
Grayson, 33, said. "I was looking at alternative fuels to power my car
and discovered hemp was the best idea of alternative fuels."

Newland's group has been circulating petitions to get the issue of
legalizing industrial hemp before state voters and paid a sponsorship
fee to have the Hemp Car stop in Watertown. Grayson Sigler said that
industrial hemp production is legal in the state of Virginia, but that
means little with the federal ban on the plant still in place.

Banned from production in the 1930s, at the same time its relative,
marijuana, was outlawed, hemp has been imported for a number of uses
in the last few decades by various manufacturers. Canada lifted its
ban on the crop a few years ago and growers in that country are slowly
trying to build production and marketing tools for the crop.

Those opposed to its legalization have pointed to poor existing
markets and high start-up costs for the new industry to get
established in the United States as a couple of reasons growing
industrial hemp won't work here. Law enforcement officials worry that
hemp would be hard to distinguish from illegal marijuana plants,
promoting more growing of marijuana.

Hemp contains a very small amount of THC, the chemical content which
gives marijuana smokers their drug high and Canadian officials said
they have worked to develop new strains of hemp that have THC content
of less than 0.1 percent. Marijuana typically contains at least five
percent THC.

Promoters of industrial hemp in South Dakota say its legalization
would give the state's farmers a foot in the door of a new industry
and provide more value-added ag opportunities. Opponents, including
S.D. Ag Secretary Larry Gabriel, question the viability and potential
demand for hemp as a manufacturing component.