CITY'S POT ORDINANCE REWRITTEN

The Sonora City Council voted unanimously Monday to ban marijuana
smoking in public, but the revised ordinance it adopted says nothing
about consuming the weed in other ways.

"The smoking of marijuana" has been added to the prohibitions listed
in Ordinance No. 778, Public Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages.

The revision was proposed by Sonora Police Sgt. Turu VanderWiel in
September. VanderWiel saw the need to make all marijuana smoking, even
with a prescription, illegal on city streets.

The revision was introduced at an Oct. 15 city council meeting. At
that time the ordinance was to be retitled, "Public Consumption of
Alcoholic Beverages or Use of Marijuana."

Sonoran Christopher Demars then spoke out against the revised
ordinance, explaining that not all medicinal marijuana is smoked. He
said his father, who could not attend due to the effects of multiple
sclerosis, ingests marijuana through a tincture to relieve his pain.

He added that his father, Chris Demars, does not smoke marijuana
publicly yet he would still be breaking the law should the revised
ordinance pass as first written.

After hearing Demars, the council agreed to readdress the issue.
Richard Matranga, the city's attorney, consulted recent case law on
the issue and decided on the current wording.

The revised ordinance will be effective Jan. 2, 2008.