UP IN SMOKE?

Future Of Local Marijuana Culture Shop In Doubt After Eviction

An eviction notice has put the future of the Holy Smoke Culture Shop in doubt.

"Until we actually have a set place [to relocate], we're not feeling too
secure," Holy Smoke partner Paul DeFelice told the Daily News on Monday.

The 422 Herridge Lane business has been a thorn in the side of local police
and politicians since it opened four years ago.

In October, 1997 a Nelson City Police raid threatened to shut down the
store, but a lengthy court battle exonerated DeFelice and his partners
Dustin Cantwell and Alan Middlemiss. Other attempts to rid the
controversial business have taken place at City Hall where politicians
unsuccessfully tried to hike the shop's business licence to $1,000 (other
similar businesses pay $150).

In the end, however, it is the landlord of the Ward Street building who has
put the Holy Smoke owners in their toughest spot to date.

"Our landlord wants to put an end to four years of claims from the other
tenants," De Felice said.

Express Publisher Nelson Becker works above the Holy Smoke shop and was one
of the people who complained to landlord Armand Olender on several occasions.

"I have been discussing with them [Holy Smoke] about the odors that come up
to my place of business from their place of business for four years,"
Becker explained. "I'm not saying what the odors are coming from because
really I don't know, but I do know that I shouldn't have to deal with
another business' odors.

"I did not suggest their eviction or encourage it. I have been trying to
resolve this, business-owner to business-owner for four years now."

With a reputation for attracting attention, DeFelice said finding another
suitable location is going to be difficult.

"I think we will have a hard time," he said. "When we moved here we'd only
been going for half a year and didn't really have any kind of reputation.
Now with three-and-a-half years of front page headlines and seemingly
thumbing our nose at the city and the cops, it could be a little more
difficult [to find a location]."

Both the police and Mayor Gary Exner chose their words carefully when asked
about Holy Smoke's latest battle.

"We have had some concerns about Holy Smoke that have been documented for
some time," said Chief Ron Brock. "But, it's not really a police issue, we
didn't have anything to do with it [the eviction]."

"If I was to say that it's great to see them leave, I would be very
un-welcoming to business here," Exner said. "If they close, we lose another
business license and a shop that obviously brought some commerce to the
community so you hate to see any business leave. But, there have been some
questions about that businesses and if they were doing things illegal in
there then I guess it's about time they left the community."

As far as the odors are concerned, De Felice would neither confirm or deny
that some of the smells are the products of marijuana smoke.

"We are cannabis friendly," said DeFelice.

"We allow smoking and whether it's pot or not, a lot of the times we don't
know or care ... I don't think it's our place to be a smoking cop."

Holy Smoke has been given until Dec. 1 to pack-up, but DeFelice said they
were "begging" to extend that until Jan. 1 in order to capitalize on the
"busy" Christmas season. Though known for their legal activism, DeFelice
said they will not challenge the eviction.

"We're not going to fight it," he said. "A commercial eviction is pretty
much inarguable and we don't want to be on terms like that with our
landlord. So we will go."