HAILEY OFFICIALS NOT SWAYED BY PRO-POT VOTE

Marijuana Lawsuit to Continue in 5th District Court

Hailey city officials will continue with their anti-marijuana lawsuit
despite an election earlier this week in which the city's electorate
approved three pro-pot initiatives for the second time.

"I have no intention of withdrawing it," City Councilman Don Keirn
said Wednesday. "The whole purpose of the lawsuit is to get this in
front of the court. We need a declaratory judgment, maybe now more
than ever.

"In theory, the judge will say this whole thing is illegal and that's
the end of it. I'd like to get it behind us."

Keirn, Mayor Rick Davis and Police Chief Jeff Gunter filed a lawsuit
earlier this month in Blaine County 5th District Court seeking a
ruling on three marijuana reform initiatives that were approved by
the electorate last November.

"I have no intention of withdrawing it either," Gunter said Thursday.
"Just because it passed twice doesn't mean it's not in conflict with
state law and we need to have it resolved."

Davis was on vacation and could not be reached for
comment.

The three initiatives, one to legalize medical use of marijuana,
another to legalize industrial hemp and a third to make enforcement
of marijuana laws the city's lowest police priority, were first
approved in November. They were approved by voters once again on
Tuesday.

Marijuana advocate Ryan Davidson, the man who initiated petition
drives to get the initiatives on the ballots, said Wednesday that
Hailey city officials should follow the will of the electorate.

"If they don't do that, I think they should be recalled," said
Davidson, a former Bellevue resident who now lives in Garden City and
is chairman of The Liberty Lobby of Idaho.

In Tuesday's election, the medical marijuana initiative passed with a
58 percent positive vote, up from the 53 percent it received last
November.

Also passed was the industrial hemp measure, which received 56.5
percent voter approval, up from the 53 percent it received in the
first election.

The police priority initiative was approved at 53 percent, up from
the 51 percent it received in the first vote.

Defeated for a second time was an initiative to require the city to
tax and regulate distribution and use of marijuana. Forty-seven
percent of the electorate voted for the initiative on Tuesday, the
same percentage that voted for it in November.

"I think this is just a great expression on how people feel on the
issues and they're not going to change," Davidson said. "I was right
to do it the first time and I was right to do it again. When the
people speak on an issue two times like that, it speaks volumes. I
don't think there was any question that they knew what they were
voting for this time.

"Now it's tough to ignore the mandate from the voters."

But Councilman Keirn doesn't see the vote as a mandate at all,
pointing out that less than 20 percent of Hailey's electorate voted
in Tuesday's election.

"We don't have a huge mandate there," he said. "You figure all the
numbers and it's not that large."