A Dozen Years After Fleeing the Valley, Bill Conde Remains As Pro-Hemp As Ever Editor's note: Today is the first installment in a monthly series that revisits and updates stories we reported on as the 21st century began a dozen years ago. Lots of people around the mid-valley remember William Conde, formerly of Harrisburg, who from 1984 to 2001 was a lumberyard owner, festival promoter, failed candidate for governor and champion of hemp and of legalizing marijuana. The impressions of him, developed before he moved to Central America, remain quite vivid to his former customers, the law enforcement officers who investigated him, the Linn County Board of Commissioners that dealt with him, and the reporters who wrote about him. [continues 1093 words]
An Albany woman plans to open a marijuana processing business next month to convert the weed provided by medical cardholders into a smokeless substance. Owner Rhea Graham, 50, who has a medical marijuana card, said she expects to be flooded with customers when she begins operating Albany's Canna Kitchen & Research on Friday, Nov. 11, Veterans Day. Her business will be at 2300 Ferry St. S.W. Suite 1, and the phone number is 541-981-9078. "I chose that day because I am a 20-year Air Force veteran, the power of 11/11/11, and I expect people will want to drop by after the parade," she said. [continues 363 words]
Ann Heward can only drive by her family home on Marion Street in Albany. She can't walk on the grass, prune a bush, retrieve a car in the driveway or move any of her possessions out of the house. That's because on Sept. 30, one of her sons was arrested for cooking methamphetamine on the property for a third time. For breaking the law, Kyle John Heward, 34, was sentenced to more than four years in prison. Kyle got a prison term, and because of what he did his mother and a brother, Scott, are banned from their property at 2415 Marion St. until they can raise $4,000 to pay a professional cleaning service to eliminate the methamphetamine residue from every cranny of the home and every corner of a small shed on the site. [continues 594 words]
