GROUP HOPES TO SPUR STATE HEMP INDUSTRY

RIPON -- A group promoting the rebirth of the hemp industry in
Wisconsin will meet this week in Ripon.

The advocacy organization, Wisconsin Hemp Order, will meet at 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Little White Schoolhouse on Blackburn Street
in Ripon.

The meeting takes place on the 90th anniversary date of the founding
by regional hemp growers and processors of the Wisconsin Hemp Order in
Ripon.

While the last American hemp mill in Brandon closed in 1957, the area
is still ripe to be the center of a revived hemp industry once legal
impediments are removed, according to a press release from the
Wisconsin Hemp Order.

The keynote address Thursday will be delivered by David P. West, the
last holder of a government permit for hemp research.

More information is available by contacting Order Secretary Ben Masel
at (608) 442-8830 or bmasel@tds.net or West at davewest@gametec.com.