Hempstalk Planning Another Appeal

Hempstalk’s Paul Stanford has plans to appeal to city officials in coming weeks over the permit denial, which was sent out just after voters in the state approved a measure to legalize recreational marijuana sales.

Hempstalk celebrated its 10th anniversary last year and spirits were apparently a little too high for Shawn Rogers, a manager in the city’s parks department.

Rogers told the The Oregonian he visited last year’s fest and heard speakers on stage tell attendees to go outside the gates to consume marijuana.

“I actually felt like I was at risk of getting high,” Rogers said. “It was pretty intense.”

He continued that the permit denial simply came down to the fest not following the rules. “We can’t trust that you will stay within the guidelines and laws presented within the permit,” he said.

Stanford responded to the paper that the fest spent $55,000 last year to meet numerous requirements set by the city including providing adequate security, bag checks and policing marijuana consumption at the fest.

“We did everything that we could to curtail marijuana smoking,” Stanford said. “The city is being dishonest and for some reason they have something against me personally. … The city parks and police people are blatantly lying and that’s going to come out in this hearing.”