CONDE DENOUNCES LINN, SENDING FAMILY ABROAD

William Conde denounced the Linn County Board of Commissioners during a
public hearing Wednesday, saying its actions had destroyed his business and
were now separating him from his family.

Conde, a lumber dealer, marijuana activist and music festival organizer,
criticized the board for failing to live up to an agreement which had been
reached governing the music festival held Labor Day weekend at his
Harrisburg business.

"I lost fifty thousand dollars. Two-thirds of the crowd got off the
freeway, looked at all the cops, turned around and went home," Conde said.
"Over a third of the people who bought advance tickets didn't even use them."

Conde said his business, Conde's Redwood Lumber, which had been debt-free,
is now deep in the hole. Because of his wife's fear of what law enforcement
may do next, Conde said he is putting his family on a plane to Belize next
week.

Ruby Conde is a native of Belize. The couple have two children, Abileni, 5,
and Michael, 2.

Abileni started kindergarten last week, but Conde said the family can't let
her continue.

"My wife's scared to leave her in the school. She's afraid they'll take
her," Conde said. "She'll go to school in Belize."

Conde said officials with SCF, the state child-protection agency ,
investigated his family last year, trying to take his children away.

"They went as far as going to my doctor to see if they had their shots,"
Conde said.

Conde had hoped to host another music festival in October, but he said that
is now impossible. Conde said he hopes to ultimately join his family in
Belize, but first he must deal with the criminal charges he is facing
stemming from the festival he hosted over Labor Day in 1998. A hearing on
the charges is scheduled Sept. 24 in Linn Circuit Court. Wednesday's
hearing concerned a proposed county ordinance to regulate gatherings of
3,000 or more.

During the hearing, Conde pleaded with the commissioners to say whether the
law enforcement presence at the event was in keeping with the board's
intention for inspections.

"We said reasonable inspections," Conde said, referring to the agreement.
"If this is cooperation, God forbid I ever get on your bad side."

He claimed that as many as 12 sheriff's deputies at a time were on the
festival grounds, with many more officers patrolling the area around the
festival.

Only Commissioner John Lindsey responded to the question of the board's
intent for inspections.

"I know that's not what I intended, but then again, I'm not the chief law
enforcement officer," Lindsey said.

Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright said Conde was exaggerating the impact
law enforcement had on the festival.

"He threw a bad party and he didn't draw enough people to pay his bills,"
Burright said after the hearing.

"We didn't see anybody turning away. What we did see that we haven't seen
before is that Saturday night, after Creedence Clearwater played, there was
a mass exodus out of his site," Burright said. "Many people obviously came
just for that concert and they had no reason to buy weekend passes to stick
around."

Burright said teams of four deputies made inspections during the day, with
eight deputies staying on the grounds at night.

After the hearing Wednesday, Lindsey said the board wants to take a hard
look at the mass gathering ordinance. He isn't happy with the ordinance or
the outcome of Conde's festival.

"I think we're becoming everything I hate about Europe, or the old South.
We're supposed to be a freer society. If we're going to be scrutinizing one
individual, then we should be ready to scrutinize everybody else," said
Lindsey, a Republican elected last fall.

The proposed ordinance would replace one on the books. It would require
organizers of events drawing more than 3,000 to submit plans to county
departments regarding sanitation, security, medical facilities and traffic
control. The sheriff would be authorized to stop the event if he considers
conditions unsafe.

Another hearing on the ordinance is set for 11 a.m. Oct. 20.