NEWS RELEASE - Yes on B Coalition
The detractors of Measure B are making one last ditch effort to spread false information about the ballot initiative on marijuana.
"The last-minute claims by the No on Measure B campaign that Measure B is unconstitutional are absurd," said Yes on B Coalition spokesman Ross Liberty.
"The No on B group knows that the voters of Mendocino County are prepared to take a huge step to limit the negative effects of marijuana production," said Liberty. "The No on B campaign is desperate and they are grasping at straws to try to confuse the voters."
"The recent appellate court decision, People v. Kelly, that is cited by the No on B group is being appealed by the Attorney General to the State Supreme Court where it will likely be reversed or modified because it conflicts with previous Supreme Court decisions," said Liberty.
"Regardless of how the courts and legislature set medical marijuana limits, Measure B simply says that Mendocino County's limits will be the same as the rest of the state instead of being vastly higher, as they are now. Measure B also repeals Measure G which told our law enforcement to make all marijuana laws the lowest priority," said Liberty.
"Repeal of Measure G, which made us a magnet for commercial growers, is the most important part of Measure B," according to Liberty.
The two parts of Measure B--repealing Measure G, and setting medical marijuana limits the same as the state--are "severable" under law, meaning that if either one was found illegal, the other part remains valid.
Liberty added, "For the No on B campaign to say that the appeals court decision makes Measure B unconstitutional is just silly. Since when is it unconstitutional for the voters to fix a mistake they made with Measure G by repealing it?"
"This is just a continuation of the campaign of intentional deception that we have seen from the beginning from the No on B campaign," asserted Liberty.
"They have lied about Measure B by saying it targets medical patients and won't do anything about the large growers.
They misrepresented Sheriff Allman's position in a failed attempt to claim it would be a burden on law enforcement. Their supporters have filed bogus lawsuits and stolen our signs in an effort to prevent the voice of the people from being heard and they have bought space on every phony slate mailer out there.
This has all been an effort to deceive and confuse the voters. But we believe the voters won't be fooled. They are fed up with the damage commercial marijuana growing is doing to our County and they know Measure B is the best solution available," said Liberty.
"We ask the voters to reject the desperate attempts of the No on B campaign and to pass Measure B by a large margin," urged Liberty.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
DON'T be fooled by More false information from No on B Campaign!!!! No on B tries to confuse voters
Thursday, May 1, 2008
District Attorney Meredith Lintott endorses Measure B
Meredith Lintott issued the following statement April 30:
Today I am announcing my endorsement for Measure B. I do so because Measure B is consistent with the protection of the rights of legitimate medical marijuana patients and will provide consistency in the law which will greatly assist in the successful prosecution of commercial growers.
As a candidate for District Attorney I pledged to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients and caregivers. I also said I would prosecute those who abuse the protections given to medical marijuana as a cover for commercial growing.
As District Attorney, it is obvious to me that Measure G has become a barrier that greatly complicates the prosecution of solid cases, even where there is overwhelming evidence of commercial cultivation, possession, transportation and sales. The defense attorneys never fail to cite Measure G as a defense for those charged with violating the laws against commercial marijuana. This is true even for the largest growing operations.
Measure G was widely considered to be an advisory measure when it passed, but was later codified as part of the Mendocino County Code. More recently the Board adopted the 25 plant limit from Measure G as the standard for the County, although there is some question whether or not the action of the Board adequately covered all the legal bases.
Measure G, if it is law at all, is bad law because it is internally inconsistent and its major provisions are of dubious legality. Most significantly, it is in direct conflict with state law and defense attorneys are skillful at emphasizing conflicts in the law in order to create doubt on the part of jurors.
As a prosecutor, Measure B will make my job easier by providing consistency in the law. I also believe the state limits protect the rights of medical patients and therefore no legitimate medical patient will suffer if Measure B passes. Otherwise, I would not support Measure B. The current situation threatens to create a backlash that would undermine support for legitimate medical marijuana.
I will accept the passage of Measure B as a mandate from the public to focus marijuana enforcement and prosecution activities on the large commercial growers and those that are endangering public safety and harming the environment. I will also challenge the public to support adequate funding for enforcement and prosecution so that Sheriff Allman and I can carry out the mandate of the public to go after the commercial growers that are harming our county and our environment.
Meredith J. Lintott
District Attorney
Friday, April 11, 2008
YES on Measure B kicked off of KZYX!!!!
KZYX isn't happy with me...
This morning I talked with Belinda at KZYX after calling the station to talk to program manager Mary Aigner to congratulate her on her participation in my program last night on Measure B with Ross Liberty (Yes on B) and Keith Faulder (No on B) . Mary, I was told wasn't there but, boy, Belinda (Station Manager) wanted to talk to me. She said the folks at KZYX were very upset that I got involved in expressing my own opinions during the hour and that Mary had been suspended for speaking out on problems with commercial pot growing. As soon as Mary (who was running the board for me and there to do pledge drive breaks) started saying her own Anderson Valley neighborhood had been overtaken by pot growers the staff at KZYX went nuts, signaling to her over and over to shut up. She didn't.
Mary never said, "Vote for Measure B." She simply stated that problems with commercial pot growing were real and she'd seen them first hand. Suspending her for that, it seems to me, borders on a serious First Amendment violation. (I wonder, if Mary had said something like, "It's been my experience that medical marijuana patients really have a problem finding supplies" she would be under suspension right now.)
For some reason there was a real crowd at the station last night, I assume because they're in the middle of pledge drive. The crowd, I am told from someone standing among them, was also going crazy trying to get me to shut up too. One woman actually put a note to that effect up to the broadcast booth window, but I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't see it.
Anyway I wouldn't have shut up. I said at the beginning of the broadcast that I was a fervent B supporter and that would be clear during the show. For some reason the folks at KZYX assumed I was simply hosting some kind of non-partisan debate on Measure B. I would never have agreed to that. First I am not unbiased about it. That is why I stepped aside from my usual role as moderator for the forum the Daily Journal is hosting May 8 with the American Association of University Women and the National Women's Political Caucus. Plus, I express my opinions on my monthly show all the time. Why would last night be any different?
Belinda (I am sorry but I don't know her last name and the staff isn't listed on the station Web site) told me that all programmers are forbidden from expressing opinions on anything on any up-coming ballot as they are officially representatives of the station when on the air. She said that's an IRS rule and an FCC rule.
I have to say I find this odd given the dedicated bias of KZYX, NPR and other public radio sources on any number of left of center issues. They defend it saying they are basically the voice of the non-mainstream and that's their mission.
Belinda said she would send me a copy of the rules.
She said I am suspended from KZYX too.
I said, let's just consider it my last show.
Email comment link: http://www.kzyx.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_chronocontact&chronoformname=DJ
Surface mail:
P.O. Box 1,
Philo, CA 95466
Station manager: Belinda Rawlins
Board of Directors:
Anderson Valley
· David Hoppman (2007 - 2010)
· David Jackness (2007 - 2009)
Coast
· Mike Grady, President - (2005-2008)
· Jim Culp (2007)
Inland
· Jane Futcher ,Vice President - (2005-2008)
· Eric Enriquez, Secretary - (2006-2009)
At-Large
· Tony Miksak- (2006 - 2009)
· Claire Lobell (2007 - 2010)
Programmer-Elected Board Member
· Doug Livingston (2007 -2010)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
County can't continue to go it's own way
To the Editor:
First, we had federal law, which said marijuana is illegal. But in the sixties the feds only went after the local growers a little and there were few arrests.
Then, through the seventies and eighties, pot was still illegal and we had planes and helicopters in the air making it a little harder to grow, but it was still profitable for many.
In 1996 California plus some other states decided to go against federal law and declare the smoking of pot for "medicinal purposes" legal. This "Medical Marijuana" campaign has continued since then despite federal laws and published letters from the AMA and the FDA stating that consuming all the poisons that are inseparable with the act of smoking pot is not medicinal at all. When California decided to ignore federal law the state's pot industry became ten times larger.
During the last 12 years, Mendocino County has taken it upon itself to oversee the regulation of marijuana laws for the county, which say 25 plants are OK (but nobody's looking). Then we had a handful of alleged "doctors" come into Mendocino County and sell tens of thousands of their recommendations, (not RX slips as were required), for pot growing.
When Mendocino County decided to ignore federal and state laws the pot industry again became ten times larger. Doesn't this make Mendocino County Board of Supervisors responsible for everything that has occurred since the county, in essence, said "To heck with federal and state Law"? Doesn't the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors and local law enforcement have some obligation for public safety?
Ignoring all the laws against growing pot made some local politicians very popular. It made the pot growers and many of our local officials very rich. I think all the people who got extremely rich from illegal pot growing owe a huge debt of thanks to the ones who made most of this possible, that's right, the little people. After all, more than seventy percent of the tens of billions of dollars in pot profits that now pour into Mendocino County every year come from young kids under the age of 18 from all across the country.
Here's a question. What if Measure B passes, and like before, the police don't enforce it and the growers don't obey it? Then what? Could it be that Mendocino County is letting this measure go through simply to transfer the responsibility for local drug dealing back on the shoulders of the state? Can all those officials in Mendocino County who profited from criminally mishandling illegal drug dealing for 12 years get away with if that easy?
We'll see.
Now we can all go back to forgetting about the little people.
Marc Parsley
Willits
Thursday, March 27, 2008
MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THE LAW IN MENDOCINO COUNTY
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has adopted a policy and ordinance
regulating the cultivation and possession of medical marijuana.
Each qualified patient or caregiver acting for the patient will be allowed as follows:
• No more than 25 growing marijuana plants, regardless of age, size or condition of
the plants.
• No more than 25 growing marijuana plants per qualified patient, either indoors or
outdoors, per legal parcel, regardless of the number of qualified patients or
caregivers who live on that parcel. A “legal parcel” is defined as a unit of land for
which one legal title exists.
• No more than two pounds of processed marijuana per patient.
Wherever medical marijuana is grown, a copy of a current and valid, state-issued medical marijuana card or physician recommendation may be displayed in such a manner as to allow law enforcement officers to easily see the card without having to enter any building of any type.
Any person who is not the legal owner of a parcel and who is cultivating marijuana on
said parcel shall give written notice to the legal owner of the parcel prior to commencing cultivation of marijuana on said parcel and shall post notice at the cultivation site that the landowner has been informed.
The cultivation of marijuana, in any amount or quantity, shall not be allowed in the
following areas:
• Within 1,000 feet of a youth-oriented facility, a school, or a park; or
• Within 1,000 feet of any school bus stop; or
• Within 1,000 feet of any “church”.
All marijuana grown outside of any building must be fully enclosed by a fence at least six (6) feet in height. The fence must include a lockable gate that is locked at all times when a qualified patient or caregiver is not in the immediate area. Said fence shall not violate any other ordinance, code section or provision of law regarding height and location restrictions.
For further information on these ordinances, go to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office website: http://www.mendocinosheriff.com. Click on the Services link, then select Medical Marijuana.
