THE PEOPLE VS. WILLIAM CONDE

Sheriff Pulls Plug On Marijuana Activist As Election Nears.
Is The Timing Just A Coincidence?

It's no secret that William Conde smokes pot. If he didn't want you to know
that he wouldn't hoist a 30-foot joint on the back of his truck and drive
through downtown Eugene during the Celebration Parade. He wouldn't operate
an electronic billboard about two marijuana-related measures on the
November ballot: "No on 57. Yes on 67." He wouldn't wear cannabis-leafed
tie-dyes. He wouldn't host events on his property such as the Cannabis
Carnival Unity Fair.

Yet after 20 years' outspokenness on marijuana issues and a dozen years of
holding mini-Country Fairs on his Harrisburg property, William Conde is
suddenly in trouble with the Linn County sheriff.

Acting on "very serious allegations of illegal activity," sheriff's
deputies raided Conde's home and redwood lumber business on Sept. 15,
seizing computers, equipment, legal and financial files and other personal
property. Conde was arrested for possession of just over an ounce of
marijuana. The sheriff's department also issued him dozens of citations,
totaling nearly $50,000, for violating county ordinances during two recent
concert events held on his property: the Weed Festival, held last July, and
the Cannabis Carnival, held over Labor Day weekend.

Sheriff Dave Burright says undercover narcotics officers witnessed
"absolutely outrageous, shocking illegal activity" at the Cannabis
Carnival, such as the use and sale of illegal drugs. Law enforcement
officers raided Conde's home and business seeking to uncover illegal drug
use, records of drug transactions, and lists of attendees, vendors, and
security personnel at the festival. Burright says he had "excellent
information" that Conde kept such records on his computer, and that's why
all computers were seized.

Conde says the police terrorized his wife and children and confiscated
property that was unrelated to the warrant's specifications, such as a
computer belonging to his four-year-old daughter, printers, scanners,
financial records and all the hardware and software from his lumber
business, and a computer whose sole function is operating the electronic
billboard visible from I-5. Some of the confiscated PCs contain years'
worth of information, not only from Conde's lumber business, but also
mailing lists and records for two marijuana-related political action
committees with which Conde is involved.

Conde's attorney, Brian Michaels, says the search was heavy-handed and
over-broad and that law enforcement officials had no probable cause for
many of the items they took. "They did exactly what the courts said they
can't do," Michaels says. "They took everything."

Many think the raid was politically motivated. John Sajo of Voter Power, an
organization working to defeat Measure 57 (a referendum on recriminalizing
less than ounce of marijuana) and to pass Measure 67 (the Oregon Medical
Marijuana Act), finds it revealing that the police shut down Conde's
electronic billboard. "That computer was running the sign that is visible
from the freeway that says, 'Vote no on 57. Vote yes on 67.' What else can
you call it when they take that computer?" Sajo asks. "There's no way, even
in a far-fetched interpretation, that you could say that computer had
anything to do with any illegal activity."

Sheriff Burright calls the assertion that Conde is being harassed because
of his political views "total hogwash." He points to Conde's refusal to
obtain a mass-assembly permit from the county and to bring his facilities
up to code, as well as the illegal drug use taking place on his property.
But he says the fact that county officials raided Conde's home one day and
served him with multiple citations the next is a coincidence.

Michaels says both actions came as a "huge surprise," and that up until
recently Conde enjoyed a cordial relationship with Linn County officials,
with whom he has conducted ongoing negotiations about holding concerts on
his property. He obtained a permit for his wooden stage, and health
officials have certified food booths before every event. However, the Linn
County Planning Department has refused to permit the concert site's
plumbing, electricity and vault toilets, Conde says, until he agrees to
sign a mass-assembly permit.

Michaels says Linn County's mass-assembly permit violates the First
Amendment. In a federal court case brought by the Southern Oregon Barter
Fair, Michaels struck down the state's mass-gathering act on constitutional
grounds. Conde says Linn County's mass-assembly ordinance is similarly
unfair and arbitrary. "The minute you sign a mass assembly permit, you sign
away all your rights. You give them the right to come in and shut you
down." Conde notes that neighboring businesses that host large events, such
as the Harrisburg racetrack and Safari Coaches, have not been asked to
obtain mass-assembly permits beforehand.

Sajo sees a pattern of harassment triggered by a simmering political
climate. The Medical Marijuana Act appears to have a chance of passing and
the recriminalization measure, supported by the Oregon legislature and the
governor, may be brought down by the voters.

"What they'd like to do is to put Bill Conde out there and make him be the
issue, when he's not," he says. "The issue with 57 is: Should we let
dangerous criminals out of jail to make room for pot smokers? On 67 it's:
Should we be arresting patients for their medicine? But they'd rather have
the issue be Conde, because he's a controversial character."