Steve Sarich with Eddy Lepp and 94 others.
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Yesterday at 12:10 pm the WSDA Industrial Hemp Coordinator, Emily Febles, was served with a lawsuit filed against both the WSDA and the herself, both individually, and in her capacity at the WSDA.
The lawsuit filed by John Worthington is comprehensive and exposes what clearly appears to be an effort to set up a hemp seed monopoly in Washington State. While licenses to grow under the WSDA Hemp Pilot Program were not legally available until May 15,
and neither were seed acquisition forms, partners Cory Sharp and Shane Palmer apparently found a way to entice Emily Febles into applying for multiple DEA permits to bring in thousands of pounds of seed, for them and their friends, on April 5th, 2017….40 days before anyone else in Washington could even legally apply for a license.
When requests from prospective hemp farmers over where to get viable hemp seed were received by Febles, they were told to contact Cory Sharp….and that he already had seed. And she should know…she had it imported for him, without so much as a license application.
There were 8 or more “special farmers” that got their seed in using Cory’s special connection with the Febles. On all but two of these people, the WSDA did not have anything more that a name on these people….no application, no license, not even a phone number or an address!
We’ll be back in Thurston County Superior Court at 9am on Friday, May 26th. The Assistant Attorney General defending the WSDA & Emily Febles it Mark Culkin. To this day, Culkin has not even bothered to file an answer to the lawsuit and it is now, according to court rules, to late for him to even file a response or to bring evidence in this case. But this is Thurston County and those Judges protect the state at all costs, so we really need your support in court this Friday morning!
HELP US fight corruption in Washington State by showing you care enough to show up!
Steve Sarich added 2 new photos.
2 hrs ·
Yesterday’s court hearing on John Worthington’s injunction against the Washington State Department of Agriculture & WSDA Hemp Project Coordinator, Emily Febles, left the dozen or so supporters in the courtroom dumbfounded.
Judge Murphy had everyone in the courtroom confused when she called Worthington and Asst. AG Mark Calkins to come forward and speak to her before any of the cases were called.
She stated that the case was not noted on her calendar and was not in her computer. Worthington told the judge that he has absolutely filed it, noted it for yesterday, and that AG Calkin had been served. At that point Calkin clearly stated to the Judge that that he had NOT been served.
This despite the fact that the AG was in Court, and wouldn’t have know to be there unless he was served, AND that the person that had served the AG’s office was there in the courtroom as well. John didn’t have the stamped copy with him at the hearing, but as you can see from the attachment here, the AG’s office even time-stamped the copy of complaint when they were served. Yes, the assistant AG perjured himself to buy himself another week.
To make a short story even shorter, it was obvious to everyone there watching this circus that the fix was in. Had the state been the complainant, and not the defendant, Judge Murphy, would have moved forward with the hearing since both parties were there. But since the State was the defendant, Judge Murphy kicked the can down the road another week.
This action would give the WSDA, Hemplogic and Joy Beckerman another week to plant the seed that was illegally brought in imported by the WSDA on behalf of 9 or more “special” farmers associated with Hemplogic.
They have announced now that they will plant this illegal seed next Wednesday, May 31st. If they plant this seed on Wednesday, they will only be increasing the amount of the damages due Worthington and future complainants. As of yesterday, the WSDA still hadn’t issued a single hemp growing permits so it’s unclear if they will go forward with planting on Wednesday, without any licenses. The other possibility would be that they will exacerbate the damages further by ‘miraculously’ issuing licenses to the co-conspirators in a nick of time on Tuesday, the day before their $200 a head hemp planting & self-promotion day. But giving them a license now, won’t solve their legal issues, it will actually just make it worse for them.
So it’s back to court, AGAIN, next Friday. I really want to thank everyone who showed up yesterday….we were ready with four video camera ready to roll. I hope we have bigger crowd next Friday, June 2nd.
