Photo Caption: A professional security guard checks festival attendees
with a metal detector at the World Hemp Festival 2000.

Notes
1. Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n914/a03.html
2. MAP's shortcut to articles about local activist Bill Conde is:
http://www.mapinc.org/conde.htm

HEMP FEST CLOSES ON A SOUR NOTE

Conde And Sheriff Disagree On The Success Of The Event

Harrisburg - After a weekend of relative harmony at the World Hemp
Festival 2000, controversy finally sparked between law enforcement
officials and festival organizers when it came time to end the event.

In the application for a Linn County outdoor assembly permit for the
event, Conde had indicated that the festival would close at 6 p.m.
Sunday.

That hour came and went Sunday with music still under way on the main
stage. Just before 7 p.m. Conde received word from the Linn County
Sheriff's Office that it was past the time to close the festival and
send everyone home.

"We thought we were going to have to go in and close the thing down,"
Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright said today.

Conde said it was an error on his part to have promised to shut the
event down so early Sunday evening. But he was bitterly disappointed
about the way the event ended.

"It was a panic scene. They phoned me and said two more minutes and
the music had to be over. I had to stop them in the middle of their
set," Conde said. "We didn't get a chance to gracefully close it. We
closed it down under the threat of riot police coming in with their
gear and shutting everything down."

Festival administrator Johnathan Drake said that despite the sheriff's
urging, organizers didn't completely clear the grounds Sunday night.

"I figured if he gave them two days to set up, we should give them two
days to leave," Drake said of the campers. "We didn't even try to
sweep the property last night."

Overall, Conde felt the event went well. He estimated paid attendance
for the weekend was between 7,000 and 8,000.

"Was it a profitable venture? Yes," Conde said. "How much? It takes a
while to figure that out."

He said accessibility, security and public sanitation were far
superior to past events.

Burright agreed that security was improved during daylight hours, when
agents from DeWitt Security of Salem provided coverage. But once it
got dark, drug use and sales became more of a problem.

"We tried to give organizers the benefit of the doubt. There was some
improvement, but it was still unacceptable," Burright said.

Burright said arrests were made at the event, but he didn't know
exactly how many. He expects to issue a report on the festival later
this week.

Conde said that it his still intention that this be the final festival
at his property. In the end, it will come down to whether the Conde's
Redwood Lumber property sells before next summer, he said.

If the 14-acre site does not sell, then another event is a real
possibility.