NO HEMP THIS YEAR

Well, it's that time of year again: Saturday Market, garden parties with
wine and beer, endless outside events. And before you know it it's time for
the Country Fair, the Barter Fair, and the Hemp Festival ... wait a minute,
no Hemp Fest this year. Bill Conde is gone.

He vamoosed to Belize, Central America. He lives in a village near Orange
Walk Town with his wife, Ruby, and three children, ages 9, 6, and 2. He has
the newest and biggest house in town that also doubles as a variety store,
which he calls "Guaranteed Used." They sell fine used clothing he buys from
Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul. He also sells filtered water and filtered
ice and that brings in a good living.

Conde just bought the property next door to him, which he says will be a
youth hostel or a poor man's B&B. He loves the lifestyle down there and
asks, where else can his kids grow up with all their cousins and
grandparents within a two-mile area?

Conde is a high-profile character in the community, and as usual, is
getting involved with charitable projects for the local kids. He admits
Belize is a third world country, but says he loves the lack of pressure and
laid-back attitude of the locals. He and the secretary of agriculture have
discussed the possibility of industrial hemp farming as an exportable
commodity. Sugar cane is the lowest of all possible crops and most of
Belizean agriculture is sugar cane.

I have spent quite a bit of time down there and I see the Belizean Islands
are growing at a remarkable pace. Cancun developers are buying land and
building resorts farther out and north of San Pedro. I met with them this
New Year's Eve and it's apparent what's going on. "The New Frontier" is
cheap Caribbean property. This is the second largest barrier reef on Earth
and the tourists are coming in droves, more from Europe than the U.S.

There are always trade-outs in life and nothing is free. The summers down
there are humid and the chances of high winds in the fall are great. So
please remember this song: "Summertime and the living is easy, your ma is
good looking and your daddy's" ... well, alive and hiding in plain sight in
Belize.

Conde asked me to say, "Who will step up to the plate and have the guts to
do the Hemp Festival this year?" Have a grand, endless summer.