DRUG ACTIVIST SUING SHERIFF, LINN COUNTY

(Harrisburg) - Charging that heavy-handed police tactics spoiled his
Labor Day weekend concert series, marijuana activist Bill Conde said
Tuesday that he's taking Linn County, and Sheriff Dave Burright
personally, to court.

The battle between Conde and Burright escalated at the weekend event
on Conde's property, where Burright said marijuana, hallucinogenic
mushrooms and LSD were being used, bought and sold.

"You'd have to be blind not to know the things that were going on
inside that venue," Burright said.

Burright made similar charges after Conde's World Hemp Festival in
July. Conde has been hosting concerts and fairs on his land north of
Coburg, along Interstate 5, for more than a decade.

Tuesday, a large reader board on his property facing the highway read,
"Recall Burright."

Conde and his lawyer, Brian Michaels, don't deny the presence of drugs
at the events but say the level of activity was no different than
police would find at a football game, county fair or other large gathering.

They charge that Burright is singling out Conde because the sheriff
doesn't like Conde's political efforts to legalize marijuana.

"He's the sheriff of the county where the loudest and most vocal
marijuana activist in Oregon resides, and he's getting pressure from
other sheriffs to shut Mr. Conde down," Michaels said.

He and Conde alleged that Burright brought in large numbers of
deputies to intimidate people, saying there were so many patrol cars
making traffic stops on the roads to Conde's property that some
would-be concertgoers turned around and went home.

"It killed us," Conde said. "I wonder what the hell the rest of Linn
County did for law enforcement over the weekend."

Michaels said Conde drew only about a third of the 10,000 people he
expected at the concert's peak.

Conde said he would sue Linn County and Burright, alleging violations
of his First Amendment right to free speech and assembly. Michaels
said papers could be filed within several months, probably in U.S.
District Court.

"He's using his office to violate my client's rights, and in doing so
he's made it uncomfortable and unpleasant for people to come to these
events," Michaels said.

Burright said he hadn't yet tallied how many officers he used over the
weekend, inside and outside the concert site, or the amount of
overtime it cost the county.

Inside the gates at the three-day concert, deputies walked through at
irregular intervals in teams of two, with at least four deputies and
as many as eight at any one time.

Burright said deputies made three arrests and could have made many
more, but it wasn't safe. None of the people arrested had a Linn
County address.

At one point Sunday, he said, deputies were walking out with a man
they arrested inside for selling illegal mushrooms, when they were met
at the gate by Conde, Michaels and several other people.

"It was a very, very tense situation," Burright said. "The officers
were hindered from leaving."

Burright said Conde's own head of security was "cool-headed" and
helped resolve the situation, telling the crowd to "back off."

Michaels said he takes personal offense to Burright's depiction of the
incident, calling it "character assassination."

"I didn't block anyone," he said. He was trying to keep the crowd away
from the deputies to make sure the situation didn't escalate, he said.

The other two arrests came Sunday in the parking lot across from the
front gate, where Burright said two men were selling illegal mushrooms
out of a U-haul van.

Burright said police seized the van and were in the process Tuesday of
getting a warrant to search it. He said deputies also seized "quite a
number of bongs, pipes and marijuana" from inside the gates.

Saturday night, he said one man was taken to the hospital, apparently
high on LSD. "He was totally out of his mind," Burright said. "He fell
on the hood of a car and was thrashing around. It took several
deputies to get him restrained."

Burright acknowledged that drugs are readily available at other large
events, but said that the difference with Conde's gatherings is that
they're a "safety zone" for drug activity.

"They do their best to keep law enforcement out so people are safe to
buy, sell and use drugs," he said.

Conde said the statement "is a damn lie."

"People are not coming here to buy and sell drugs. That's not what
it's about," he said. "It's about changing the (drug) laws and
allowing people to peacefully assemble."