WAR ON POT TURNED ON HEAD

A Bradner man is hoping to turn the war on drugs on its head.

To this end, Tim Felger has erected another sign on his property calling
for the legalization of marijuana, in replacement of the sign that stood
for about three years before police took it down during a January 3 bust of
a grow operation.

The new sign says: "Randy White and George Ferguson, Legalize Marijuana
Now! Before Abby Police shoot an innocent."

The previous sign was taken by police as evidence, and it said: "Legalize
Marijuana Now!" and included Felger's phone number. Felger said he removed
the phone number from the new sign because he was tired of crank calls.

Six people were arrested - including 45-year-old Felger - and police seized
some 2,982 marijuana plants in various stages of growth on Jan. 3. All six
were released from jail that same day, on promises to appear in Abbotsford
Provincial Court on March 18, on charges of cultivation and trafficking.

Felger, who still has the soft drawl of his native Kentucky, came to Canada
15 years ago and is a naturalized citizen of Canada. He said his campaign
to legalize cannabis has caused a lot of aggravation for himself and the
authorities, but he is adamant that the so-called war on drugs - or at
least the marijuana users is a "massive waste of taxpayers' money."

He said that authorities are also creating a black market because "you
can't fight it, the more you fight it the stronger you make it. Do the math
- - there's hundreds of grow ops in Abbotsford, and what's the penalty? $500
fines?"

Felger said he's been "picked up and put in jail 23 times, and not one
charge stuck." It was his arrest in January, 1999 on charges of unlawful
production of a controlled substance, trafficking and careless storage of a
firearm - all of which were stayed by the court - that provoked him to
erect the first sign.

Felger laughs about the police statement that the Jan. 3 bust was result of
a "year-long investigation".

"I compliment them on their thorough investigation," said Felger, laughing.
"Seriously, I admire the integrity of police, but they're embarrassing
themselves with this war on marijuana. They're making it into a game and
someone might get hurt.

"They had 20 cops come in (Jan. 3) with guns and wearing masks, because
they thought I was such a threat to society. Yet, by midnight they said we
had to leave the jail cells right away because they needed the room. They
might tell other people that I'm dangerous, but it doesn't seem that they
really believe it, now does it?" Felger said he made a small fortune when
he sold the Domino's Pizza chain he started in 1988, and he bought the
Bradner proPerty 11 years ago with some of the proceeds. He also owned the
Express Pizza in Abbotsford, and it was for this venture that he acquired a
permit for a sign on his Bradner property. The pizza sign was replaced by
the marijuana sign three years ago.

This is an issue that particularly strikes at his libertarian nature, which
he calls his "freedom of speech. I am the most patriotic guy around. I've
read the Charter of Rights, the (U.S.) Constitution, and I believe in them.
But they're decreasing our rights and one day soon they will have U.S.
judges issuing warrants that will be executed in Canada by the FBI.

"I've told Randy White and George Ferguson several times that policies
intended to make for a better community don't always come out that way." He
scoffs at the suggestion that he apply to Health Minister Alan Rock for a
licence to produce marijuana for the medical purposes which he claims he
grows it. "Nobody tells me what I can or can't do."

Felger, who has organized two "smoke-in" demonstrations in Abbotsford's
Mill Lake Park in the '90s, said that May 4 is "liberation day for
marijuana, and I hope to have a rally at the courthouse that day."