Weedpipe
Active Member
With little crime connected to the World Hemp Expo Extravaganja 2010, and big attendance, local marijuana advocates are looking to build on their success.
It looks like we're going to start having quite a few events there, said Jerry Doran, who hosted the festival on his property south of Red Bluff.
By all accounts, WHEE 2010, the first festival to be licensed through a new permit process, did not comply with all 17 of the permit conditions issued by Planning Director George Robson.
For one, the festival's organizers did not use a professional team of security guards as they originally promised, opting instead to use volunteers; neighbors were not notified of the 17 conditions the organizers were supposed to comply with and a traffic plan was never given to the Public Works Department.
Doran said this was because of the last-minute timing of the permit. After months of back-and-forth dialogue between Tehama County officials and the event's chief organizer Donna Will, the final permit and conditions were only issued days before the festival.
In the week leading up to the permit being issued, Robson and Planning Department employees stated that they had been waiting on documents from Will.
But everyone involved agreed that the festival's lack of compliance was forgivable. Sheriff Clay Parker even cited a point Doran brought up, pointing out that Will's application was delayed when the county rewrote its entire festival policy.
Both Parker and Robson said the festival went well.
Basically, things did run smoothly, for everybody's purposes, as well as it could have, given that they didn't have some of those other (conditions), Robson said.
Save for a Tuesday arrest, days after the festival, when a pair of Colorado residents were picked up with nearly 500 grams of marijuana, few arrests over the weekend were tied to the festival, and no one contacted the Sheriff to report vandalism, trespassing or other crimes neighbors feared would come from the event.
Outside the gates, we got zero calls, Parker said.
Parker said breaking up the festival would have been impractical with the resources on hand, which included a pair of deputies on duty throughout the weekend, members of the Red Bluff Police Department and members of the California Highway Patrol.
Impractical or not, Doran said he was grateful that the sheriff did not fight the event.
Thank you, Mr. Sherifff... Clay Parker could have pulled the plug on us at anytime, and he worked with us, he said.
Doran contrasted his event with violence in and around Red Bluff bars.
While police reported a stabbing outside a local bar over Memorial Day weekend, no violence was reported at the WHEE festival itself, he said.
WHEE'll be back?
For Doran, the festival results, with roughly 4,700 people spread out over three days, are a blessing to continue.
One of the band members' gals showed up, and during the event, she went into labor, he said.
The mother-to-be was taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital where she later gave birth. Doran and others took her delivery as a sign.
Steve Hager, from High Times (magazine), said we've consummated this ground, Doran said. It's a sacred ground.
Doran now plans to begin work on next year's festival and to begin smaller, weekly prayer circle gatherings every Saturday at 4:20 p.m.
In terms of sheer cost, Doran admits losing money on the festival. But he said he expects some of the biggest expenses, like building better fences, grading a 1,000-car parking lot and buying giant water containers are out of the way.
I've had so many people approach me to say they want to have a regular thing, he said.
Applying experience from the festival, he said he would comply with future permit conditions.
The last thing I want to do is have any problems with this county, he said.
Robson declined to state whether the WHEE festival will affect how he rules on future permits for Doran or Will. He also declined to speculate on what conditions might be issued on future events, but said any festival will have the right to appeal the conditions issued on a permit.
Parker, however, said he had some suggestions for future events.
One of the things I would like to propose is to make sure that no one under 18 is allowed, he said.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: Red Bluff Daily News
Author: GEOFF JOHNSON
Contact: Red Bluff Daily News
Copyright: 2010 - Red Bluff Daily News
Website: http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/news/ci_15234469
It looks like we're going to start having quite a few events there, said Jerry Doran, who hosted the festival on his property south of Red Bluff.
By all accounts, WHEE 2010, the first festival to be licensed through a new permit process, did not comply with all 17 of the permit conditions issued by Planning Director George Robson.
For one, the festival's organizers did not use a professional team of security guards as they originally promised, opting instead to use volunteers; neighbors were not notified of the 17 conditions the organizers were supposed to comply with and a traffic plan was never given to the Public Works Department.
Doran said this was because of the last-minute timing of the permit. After months of back-and-forth dialogue between Tehama County officials and the event's chief organizer Donna Will, the final permit and conditions were only issued days before the festival.
In the week leading up to the permit being issued, Robson and Planning Department employees stated that they had been waiting on documents from Will.
But everyone involved agreed that the festival's lack of compliance was forgivable. Sheriff Clay Parker even cited a point Doran brought up, pointing out that Will's application was delayed when the county rewrote its entire festival policy.
Both Parker and Robson said the festival went well.
Basically, things did run smoothly, for everybody's purposes, as well as it could have, given that they didn't have some of those other (conditions), Robson said.
Save for a Tuesday arrest, days after the festival, when a pair of Colorado residents were picked up with nearly 500 grams of marijuana, few arrests over the weekend were tied to the festival, and no one contacted the Sheriff to report vandalism, trespassing or other crimes neighbors feared would come from the event.
Outside the gates, we got zero calls, Parker said.
Parker said breaking up the festival would have been impractical with the resources on hand, which included a pair of deputies on duty throughout the weekend, members of the Red Bluff Police Department and members of the California Highway Patrol.
Impractical or not, Doran said he was grateful that the sheriff did not fight the event.
Thank you, Mr. Sherifff... Clay Parker could have pulled the plug on us at anytime, and he worked with us, he said.
Doran contrasted his event with violence in and around Red Bluff bars.
While police reported a stabbing outside a local bar over Memorial Day weekend, no violence was reported at the WHEE festival itself, he said.
WHEE'll be back?
For Doran, the festival results, with roughly 4,700 people spread out over three days, are a blessing to continue.
One of the band members' gals showed up, and during the event, she went into labor, he said.
The mother-to-be was taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital where she later gave birth. Doran and others took her delivery as a sign.
Steve Hager, from High Times (magazine), said we've consummated this ground, Doran said. It's a sacred ground.
Doran now plans to begin work on next year's festival and to begin smaller, weekly prayer circle gatherings every Saturday at 4:20 p.m.
In terms of sheer cost, Doran admits losing money on the festival. But he said he expects some of the biggest expenses, like building better fences, grading a 1,000-car parking lot and buying giant water containers are out of the way.
I've had so many people approach me to say they want to have a regular thing, he said.
Applying experience from the festival, he said he would comply with future permit conditions.
The last thing I want to do is have any problems with this county, he said.
Robson declined to state whether the WHEE festival will affect how he rules on future permits for Doran or Will. He also declined to speculate on what conditions might be issued on future events, but said any festival will have the right to appeal the conditions issued on a permit.
Parker, however, said he had some suggestions for future events.
One of the things I would like to propose is to make sure that no one under 18 is allowed, he said.
News Forum: rollitup.org
Source: Red Bluff Daily News
Author: GEOFF JOHNSON
Contact: Red Bluff Daily News
Copyright: 2010 - Red Bluff Daily News
Website: http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/news/ci_15234469