LANDLORD: FREE RENT'S A PIPE DREAM

Claims Pot Activist And Former Mayoral Candidate Owes
$52,000

Tim Felger, Abbotsford's self-proclaimed pot activist and a perpetual
local candidate in elections at all levels, has been ordered to leave
the Essendene Avenue commercial site he's occupied for about four years.

Dan Banov, the owner of the property at 33772 Essendene Ave. in
Abbotsford, says Felger owes him $52,750 in back rent as of October 1,
2009.

On Jan. 25, under the Commercial Tenancy Act and the Business
Corporations Act, Justice Erik Verhoeven ordered Felger to vacate the
premises and hand it over yesterday to APIP Holdings Ltd., which is
Banov's company.

But Felger may file an appeal, because he said the judge wouldn't look
at documents that he says prove he owns 50 per cent of APIP Holdings
Ltd. and the Essendene property.

He said Friday that he bought the site from Teeja Singh and his family
in 2005 for $330,000, before Banov was in the picture, and later
borrowed $60,000 from Banov.

"I brought Dan Banov in as a partner [in 2006] and guaranteed to
double his investment, I was going to pay him back $120,000," Felger
said. He added he had "lots of paperwork" to prove his claims, but
admitted he's not very organized. He said he noticed sometime between
August 2007 and 2008, several documents went missing.

"I've never defrauded anybody; I've never lied to anybody," said
Felger. "I smoke pot, I sell pot, but that's the extent of my
character flaws."

Felger calls his operation a political bookstore called Da Kine, after
the pot store that was open for four months in 2004 on Vancouver's
Commercial Drive. He said he does not live at the store.

"I can't leave the place unguarded. I'm not living here, I'm staying
here guarding the place," he said.

Banov said he is a retired Port Moody Secondary high school teacher,
and ran for the Marijuana Party in 2005 as did Felger.

Banov joined the party after he saw how students could get access to
illegal pot easier than to legal cigarettes.

"I wanted to change these prohibition laws that only create disrespect
for the law and punishes people for making bad choices that only harm
themselves. I wanted to change laws that breed criminals and wastes
tax dollars," he said in an e-mail.

"The law is backwards when a non-addictive product with less deadly
contents is made illegal and the addictive product is legal. It defies
logic."

After the 2005 election, Banov agreed to buy the Essendene Avenue
building, and rent it to Felger so he could continue promoting the
issues.

"However, shortly after, it became obvious he was more interested in
promoting himself and taking on ridiculous conspiracy theories rather
than working for positive change. He is like a child in school
speaking out inappropriately just to get attention," Banov said.

Banov said he agreed to lease the building to Felger and give him an
equity interest if he did work on the building and paid rent.

"He did neither and insists he should have controlling interest in the
building and pay rent of whatever he can afford while I pay the
mortgage," said Banov.

Banov said he's tried to get out of the arrangement by "paying
[Felger] off to avoid costly court costs, but the problem is he loves
to go to court and knows how to use the court to his advantage."

Banov said he spends a "considerable" amount on hiring a lawyer, while
Felger buys himself more time by trying to represent himself in court.

"He pays little but can block the system up. He already has several
judgments against him, but this does not slow him down," Banov wrote.