LINN SHERIFF SLAMS HEMP FESTIVAL

HARRISBURG - Marijuana activist Bill Conde doesn't deny that some of his
guests at the World Hemp Festival last weekend lit a joint or two, or that
security guards had to toss out a few people for selling small amounts of drugs.

But Conde vehemently denies the depiction of his event as an open-air
drugfest - a charge being leveled by the Linn County sheriff's office.

"There was blatant, outrageous use and sales of drugs," Sheriff Dave
Burright said. "I don't believe this event should have happened and I don't
believe it should happen in the future."

Conde and his lawyer, Brian Michaels, said Conde is being harassed for his
political views, which include advocating the legalization of marijuana.

"It's a personal vendetta," Conde said. "Someone there has really got a
problem with us because of who we are and what we represent. They want to
shut us down."

The fourth annual Hemp Festival on Conde's property north of Coburg drew
12,000 people over three days, and more than 250 vendors specializing in
hemp-based products and food, Conde said.

He got the go-ahead to hold the festival after meeting with Linn County
commissioners to resolve issues stemming from the "Cannabis Carnival" on his
property last September.

Conde was served last fall with $60,000 in civil citations for allegedly
violating health, building and land use codes. The commissioners later
dropped all but two of the citations.

Conde still faces a criminal charge for allegedly possessing more than an
ounce of marijuana. Police said they found the stash when they served a
search warrant at Conde's home, a warrant based on the observations of
undercover deputies at the Cannabis Carnival.

Burright sent a five-page letter to the county commissioners Tuesday
outlining the illegal behavior that undercover and uniformed deputies said
they saw at last weekend's event.

Officers made a total of 31 purchases of marijuana, hallucinogenic
mushrooms, LSD and unknown pills believed to be controlled substances, he
said, noting that one transaction occurred even though the deputy answered
"yes," when the seller asked, " `Are you a cop?' "

"That's how open it was," Burright said.

Michaels, who was walking with officers and was present during the
transaction, said Burright's deputies didn't tell him the whole truth.

Michaels said a young man sold a relatively small amount of marijuana to the
plainclothes deputy, but only after the officer pressured him to do so.
Furthermore, Michaels said, the deputy denied being a cop when the man asked.

Michaels said the officers weren't able to show him anything illegal when
they walked through the site together Saturday night, the festival's busiest
time. He said an officer had told him that one of the undercover deputies
"could point to 30 places where drugs were being sold."

"I said, 'OK, let's go. Show me,' " Michaels said. "We walked for over an
hour and this guy, he found nothing."

Burright said officers told him people were running through the site warning
others that police were coming. Conde denied it. "I can swear to you that
did not happen," he said. "We gave them the cleanest shot we could possibly
give them. We were very confident that what they were saying was not true."

Conde said his own security guards told people to leave if they caught them
selling drugs.

"One strike and they were out," he said. "We made several pleas from the
stage. Not everybody can understand the ramifications. We told them, 'You're
endangering your freedom and you're endangering this event.' We didn't
tolerate it."

Conde said guests weren't thrown out for using marijuana, but suggested
there was "no more activity than there is at a football game or anywhere else."

He said he believes that he and his staff "did an exceptionally fine job" of
curtailing drug sales and keeping drug use to a minimum.

"What the hell do they want?" he said. "The police can't stop it themselves,
and they've got all the resources in the world."

Burright said he expects there will be arrests as a result of what deputies
noted in their reports.

However, police didn't try to take anyone into custody at the site, he said,
noting, "We were in the middle of several thousand people and, for safety's
sake, it was impossible."

On roads near the site, uniformed patrol officers issued 55 traffic
citations, including four for driving under the influence of intoxicants,
the sheriff said.

In addition to drug violations, Burright charged that alcohol was sold
illegally, and that minors were seen drinking.

Although Conde had set up a licensed beer garden and stipulated that no one
else was to sell alcohol or bring it on site, Burright said deputies saw
beer being sold in bottles at one booth and from a keg at another.

Conde was skeptical, but said if it's true, he wants to know who the vendors
were. "If he would show us who it was, they will never be welcome on this
venue again," he said.

Michaels said he doesn't believe it, period. He said the booth that may have
been mistaken for selling beer in bottles was selling hemp ginger beer, a
nonalcoholic beverage that even children can buy.

He charged that some of the statements coming from the sheriff's office are
"unfounded and frankly slanderous."

He said he isn't necessarily blaming Burright but believes that the sheriff
is being misled by his employees. "The sheriff, by and large, is a gentle,
straight-up kind of guy, firm but a straight shooter," Michaels said. "My
guess is that you have a couple of renegade drug-war-crazed (deputies) who
don't like the fact that Bill Conde lives in their county."

In his letter to commissioners, Burright said Conde had violated his
contract with the county in numerous ways, from drug violations to failing
to employ one security guard for every 175 people in attendance.

"I was told that the board allowed Mr. Conde to hold last weekend's event
with the understanding that it would be his last opportunity to show that he
would comply with the law," Burright wrote. "He did not comply. Law-abiding
citizens of this county should not have to tolerate this type of activity.
It is wrong and a tremendous drain on their tax dollar."