WORLD HEMP EXPO WINS PERMIT IN TEHAMA COUNTY

RED BLUFF - Tehama County officials granted a permit Tuesday for a
Memorial Day weekend hemp festival -- with 17 conditions attached.

The event had generated a stir in the community, spurring an update of
the county's event ordinance. Tehama County and Red Bluff have seen an
array of legal and cultural clashes over medical marijuana in the past
year.

George Robson, the county's planning director, said the conditions
address concerns one might expect for any large gathering,
"irrespective of the event."

He said the event's planners agreed to the terms, which set times for
the festival, require a traffic plan and reiterate drug
regulations.

"Any event, you must abide by the laws," Robson said.

Donna Will, the event's coordinator, could not be reached for comment
Tuesday. Her partner, Jerry Doran, signed the permit Tuesday
afternoon. The permit cost $550, $150 per day plus a $100 application
fee.

Will, who lives in Tehama County, is hosting the three-day World Hemp
Expo Extravaganja, or WHEE 2010, on 46 acres she owns on Riverside
Avenue south of Red Bluff. Attendance has been estimated at nearly
2,000 people.

The conditions of the permit include:

n Festival hours from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day.

n No alcohol.

n No marijuana dispensaries, following the county's moratorium on
them.

In recent weeks Will has been preparing her hay field for the hemp
festival, which is set for Friday through Sunday and features a world
marijuana film festival presented with the help of High Times
magazine. The main events at the festival are live music, vendors, a
world peace prayer circle and primitive camping.

Robson said that the permit didn't address camping but that it will be
allowed.

"We don't expect to have 500 or more people camping there," he
said.

In April the Board of Supervisors approved an urgency ordinance
updating a 40-year-old festival law after Will, a medical marijuana
patient and grower, began circulating WHEE 2010 fliers. She had a
permit application on file before the board's action and had discussed
her plans openly.

Assistant County Counsel Arthur Wylene has maintained an update of the
Woodstock-era law was long overdue, and while Will's proposal may have
affected the timing, the revised rules were not targeted at her
gathering. The update, among other things, covers events attended by
at least 500 people and shifts the permitting authority from the board
to the planning director.