HEMP STORE OWNER HAS 'LEAF' TO APPEAL

Langley City turned down a business licence for a store selling items
adorned with pot leaves.

A 300-square-foot store downtown has sparked a fight between its owner
and Langley City.

Randy Caine applied to open a retail novelty and gift shop called
Hempyz. The shop includes some bath and beauty items containing hemp
derivatives, but the common theme of the store is the pot leaf that
can be seen on the cards, T-shirts, rugs, jewelry, lighters and more.

City Mayor Peter Fassbender said the business licence has been turned
down because it contravenes the City bylaw on permitted uses.

The two men have already butted heads over the shop.

Caine is adamant that there is no drug paraphernalia, no rolling
papers and no drugs in his store. He said he simply wants to sell
novelty items with pot leaves on them.

"I just want to have a little store and have a little fun," he
said.

He phoned City hall on Oct. 21 to check on the status of his business
licence and was told it was approved pending a fire inspection which
was done Thursday. That was done as scheduled, with one caveat - Caine
would be re-inspected Nov. 4 to ensure he had put up a required light
by the door.

So he planned a soft opening Friday. But Caine said Mayor Peter
Fassbender visited the day before, and advised him such a shop would
never be allowed in the City.

Regardless, Caine said, "I told him I was going to open my
business."

Armed with copies of legal verdicts he considered relevant, Caine
appeared at City hall Friday morning, vowing to take legal action
against the City if it tried to prevent him from operating a "legal
business." "I will not be bullied," Caine told the Langley Advance. He
opened his doors that afternoon.

It's not the first time a municipality has gone after Caine. He ran
the Joint Coffeehouse and Emporium in Surrey for 15 months. The
municipality fought him and forced him into bankruptcy at a time when
he had a young family. In the 1990s, Caine launched and lost a Charter
of Rights challenge to laws governing simple drug possession.

Caine, who freely admits to using pot himself, was raised on a farm at
192nd Street. He has lived in Langley for the past 15 years and in
Langley City for eight years. He's worked in heavy construction and is
married for 32 years. The 54-year-old father of two grown kids said
this is a freedom of speech issue.

It's also an issue of money.

He's paid $189 along with his business licence application, and has
thousands of dollars tied up in the new venture. Between rent,
utilities, licensing, and stock, it's cost him about $25,000 to get
the doors open. He said he's locked into a two-year lease and a
three-year alarm contract. His commitments add up to about $70,000.

Fassbender said City staff brought the application to his attention
Thursday.

While out on an errand, he passed the shop and stopped to have a look,
invited inside by the owner, who said he was going to open Friday.

"I said I don't think you should open without a business licence," the
mayor told the Langley Advance.

He told Caine he is the mayor, and that administration had just
brought the issue and the zoning contravention to his attention.

Fassbender said he also offered up his personal opinion, and not that
of the City or others on council.

"From a personal point of view, I do not want to see this kind of
business in our downtown core," Fassbender said.

The mayor said council hasn't dealt with the issue because it just
happened late last week. He added that Caine has leave to appeal to
council if he disagrees with the decision.

"The City has the right to refuse a business licence if it's in
contravention based on use," he said.

Fassbender added the business licence application fee has been
refunded.

The area is zoned C1 downtown commercial, which does not permit hemp
shops, a category under the City zoning. Any shop that sells any hemp
item can only set up in a C3 zone. The only C3 specific commercial
zoning within City limits is Willowbrook Shopping Centre.

If a business operates without the licence, it's a $100 fine each time
it opens its doors.

Caine said he can't understand the mayor's strong reaction against
novelty items.

"It's like Reefer Madness without the reefer," he said.

Fassbender is unapologetic for his anti-drug stance.

"I stand on record as being opposed to us desensitizing our community
to drugs."

He said he disagrees with anything that portrays drugs to people and
particularly kids to drugs, as harmless. Fassbender is opposed to pot
decriminalization.

He's not among the contingent that consider pot a harmless drug,
noting he has to deal with calls every day about the impacts of drugs
in this community.

He added that people may want to question the civic election
candidates about their drug views.

Caine went to the media Friday about his fight with the City.
Fassbender was then interviewed on CKNW radio, and since then has
heard from the pro-pot lobby.

"I'm now receiving emails from Toronto and all over the country
telling me what a Neaderthal I am," the mayor said.