Suetaz

Hempfest organizers challenge pricey permit

Emerald Empire Hempfest organizers hope a letter from their lawyers will convince Lane County that the $2,800 fee it wants to charge them for their weekend fair is inappropriate. Failing that, they hope some benevolent donors will step forward and pay the darn thing.

The Hempfest is scheduled for July 17 and 18 on private property at Bittersweet Campground on the McKenzie River.

But county officials told organizers they needed to pay the fee under a county regulation that requires a special use permit if more than than one event is held on the property within a 90-day period.

The property owner held a barbecue at the campground for 40 family members and friends last weekend.

[Suetaznote: This blows me away! What gives the county officials the right to say what happens on private property and to try to collect a fee for it? Why should the county get the money? If anything it should go to the property owner. $2800 for a piece of paper to allow them to hold an event on private property? That's absurd!]

But lawyers representing the festival, Brian Michaels and David Moule, say that event - a private gathering not open to the public and with no commercial activities - should not trigger the special-use permit requirement for the hemp festival.

"Our reading of that statute seems not to include family get-togethers," Michaels said. "Otherwise Thanksgiving and Christmas could not be hosted by the same family."

Michaels faxed a letter to the county early Monday morning objecting to the permit and fee.

"The underlying premise for our position is the absence of any definition of a 'small gathering' applicable to the property owner's invitation to have guests the previous weekend," Michaels wrote.

While he waits to hear back, festival organizer Dan Koozer put out a request to supporters to help cover the $2,800 if the legal challenge to it fails.

"We haven't had any offers yet," Koozer said, but those attending the free event will be asked for donations.

It's the second year of the Emerald Empire Hempfest, modeled after the Seattle Hempfest, which has been held 16 years running, Koozer said.

Organizers wanted to stage the gathering in Eugene as they did last year, but Eugene police blocked their permit because of concerns over illegal drug use at last year's festival.

At a meeting with police 10 days ago, Koozer said he was able to create a plan that included more trained private security staff to satisfy police concerns, but then learned that the beer garden portion of the event couldn't be held in Washington Jefferson Street Park. That prompted festival planners to look for a spot outside the city limits.

Despite all the setbacks, Koozer believes the event will still be held.

HEMPFEST DETAILS

Information: Call 434-2377, or e-mail emeraldempirehempfest@hotmail.com

Festival: July 17, 18 at 52745 McKenzie Highway, east of Blue River

[Suetaznote: Even though medical marijuana has been legalized in Oregon, they still cling to the reefer madness like the rest of the country. Trying to keep a Hempfest from happening is rediculous. It's really no different than a county fair. There are probably more drugs sold at a county fair and they usually have beer tents. I hope I live to see the end of the stupidity of reefer madness.]

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The Mighty Quin

As long as their is government, two people will always have jobs; citizens and fools.

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R.I.P. Mitch Hedberg 2/24/68 - 3/29/05
You will be missed.

www.mitchhedberg.net
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Suetaz

Organizers pull the plug on annual hemp event

07/18/2004 | Associated Press | kgw.com

This weekend's annual Emerald Empire Hempfest fizzled over permit and insurance problems, but organizers say they will try again later this summer.

Organizers canceled the weekend event just a day before it was scheduled to open Saturday.

Banners at the McKenzie River campsite where the festival was to have been held will inform people who didn't get the word. Organizers also planned an informal potluck to run throughout the weekend at Washington-Jefferson Street Park, one of the erstwhile sites of the fest.

Hempfest planners have struggled to put together a festival since mid-June, when the city of Eugene denied them a parks permit because of safety concerns over illegal drug use at least year's festival.

While organizers were negotiating with police to improve their security methods, they discovered they couldn't have a beer garden, a significant source of revenue, so they arranged to move the festival to a private campground along the McKenzie River.

Then they learned county regulations required them to pay $2,800 for a permit, money the group didn't have. They were scrambling to come up with it this week when their insurer told them that they weren't covered for camping, organizer Dan Koozer said.

The gathering 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.