DENIAL OF PERMIT HAMPERS HEMP FESTIVAL

This year's celebration of all things hemp (except, of course, the
illegal things) has hit a snag.

Eugene officials won't give the Emerald Empire Hempfest organizers a
permit for a party in any of the city's parks, citing drug use at last
year's event.

But festival coordinator Dan Koozer said there were no arrests and
little drug use at the one-day festival in Alton Baker Park and that
organizers had hoped to expand this year to a two-day festival July
17-18 at Washington Jefferson Street Park.

The festival promotes nondrug aspects of the marijuana plant, from
foods made with hemp seeds to clothes made from hemp fiber. Those
products come from a strain of the plant that has no THC, the
ingredient that creates the high. The festival also recognizes those
who use the marijuana medicinally, a legal practice in Oregon for
those who register with the state.

"We're trying to show that the cannabis plant is simply a plant with
many benefits that's been demonized," Koozer said.

Eugene police confirm that they made no arrests last year but they say
officers witnessed drug sales between people at the festival and that
undercover officers bought marijuana there.

In addition, the private security staff hired by festival organizers
told participants who the undercover officers were, said police
spokeswoman Pam Olshanski. "That ends up producing an officer safety
issue as well," she said.

Koozer said the only complaint he heard from police along those lines
was that someone on the festival staff had identified the undercover
officer and had followed him around during the festival.

Decisions about event permits fall to Johnny Medlin, director of parks
and open space for Eugene.

Last year's festival posed no problems from a parks standpoint, Medlin
said. "There was some minor damage, but nothing more significant than
any other event of that type," he said.

But after meeting with Eugene Police Capt. Steve Swenson, Medlin said
he decided the festival represented an unreasonable safety risk and
denied the permit. "The denial was based upon evidence that there was
use and sale of marijuana," he said.

Festival organizers also are upset that they were denied the permit a
week before the deadline to get all their paperwork in.

Their initial application lacked insurance and other certificates, and
they thought they had until this coming Thursday to submit the material.

Medlin said he sent out the denial notice early because the missing
paperwork wasn't the deal-breaker and he wanted organizers to know as
soon as possible that they couldn't use city property.

"We tried to issue our decision as quickly as we could, so they
wouldn't undertake expenses not knowing what our decision was," he
said.

The city tried to bill the festival $4,100 for last year's officer
presence, but dropped the request after a lawyer for the festival
challenged the charge, saying it was an unconstitutional use of
government discretion to bill one group differently from others.

Attorney Brian Michaels said Eugene police didn't charge other groups
for events such as Art and the Vineyard and last year's Martin Luther
King Jr. rally.

That challenge to the city billing didn't play a role in the police
recommendation to deny the permit, Olshanski said.

Festival organizers believe the denial discriminates against them and
plan to appeal it. City code allows an appeal before a hearings officer.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union has taken an interest in
the dispute, said Executive Director Dave Fidanque of Eugene.

The festival sponsors shouldn't be denied a permit because of the
behavior of people that they had no control over, he said.

"We're interested in talking to folks at the police department to
learn their concerns and how they may be addressed in a way that
allows the hempfest its right of constitutional assembly, but allows
the city to take care of whatever needs it has," Fidanque said.

Whether the gap between the city and cannabis fans is bridgeable
remains to be seen, he said.