Pubdate: Fri, 12 Oct 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Joe Mosley, The Register-Guard
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/conde.htm (Conde, William)

CONDE WORKING ON DEAL TO MOVE TO BELIZE

ALBANY - A deal was struck Thursday but won't be finalized until next week 
that will result in six criminal charges being dismissed against marijuana 
activist and Harrisburg lumberyard owner Bill Conde, who will serve a 
five-year term of self-imposed exile in the Central American country of Belize.

Conde, 58, went to court Thursday expecting the agreement to be approved by 
Linn County Circuit Judge Carol Bispham, but instead sat for a half-hour in 
an empty courtroom while his attorney and a prosecutor worked out details 
with the judge in her chambers.

They let me go; I'm going," Conde said as he waited. "But it's a real mixed 
bag. I'm leaving behind 30 years of unfinished work, and unfinished activism."

Bispham finally called the settlement hearing into session in open court, 
only to tell Conde that the legal agreement is being revised and she will 
"consider the proposals as we have discussed" after the document is 
completed and submitted to her next week.

But Conde's lawyer, Brian Michaels of Eugene, said after the brief court 
session that nothing has changed, except that the written agreement will be 
expanded from two pages to four.

"It's basically just language," Michaels said. "In the end, all of the 
charges against Mr. Conde will be dismissed, and he will be living and 
doing business in Belize."

Conde is currently serving a five-year term of supervised probation - 
meaning he has to report regularly to a probation officer - after being 
convicted in a June jury trial of abetting delivery of a controlled 
substance and hindering prosecution in 1999 during the World Hemp Festival, 
an annual three-day event at his redwood lumberyard.

Under terms of the deal being worked out, his probationary term will be 
changed to an unsupervised status so that he can leave the state and move 
to Belize.

Conde will then drop an appeal of the convictions as well as a lawsuit he 
filed against the county, and prosecutors will dismiss six pending charges, 
including four felonies: frequenting a place where controlled substances 
are used, endangering the welfare of a minor, delivery of a controlled 
substance and hindering prosecution. Those charges relate to events held at 
his lumberyard in 1998 and 1999.

After five years, Conde will be able to return to Oregon without 
consequence. However, if he returns before five years without the judge's 
permission, his unfinished term of supervised probation will be reinstated.

Conde is trying to sell the lumberyard he has operated since 1973 - 
originally located in Cottage Grove and now near the Harrisburg exit off 
Interstate 5 - and had his final day in business last week. Beginning at 10 
a.m. Saturday, he will attempt to auction off all remaining items at the 
lumberyard, from office furniture to tools to unsold redwood lumber.

"We even have a 22-foot joint, man," he said. "We used it in parades and 
stuff."

Conde's 24-year-old wife, Ruby, is a native of Belize and is waiting for 
him there with the couple's three children.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager