FAMILY TREE MEDICAL MARIJUANA CO-OP FIGHTS BACK

For the first time under the city's new medical marijuana ordinance,
Redding Police Chief Peter Hansen is recommending the suspension of a
cannabis club's operating permit because he says it's been a nuisance.

Hansen wants the city to revoke the license of Family Tree Care Center
Co-Op in the Mission Square shopping center on Bechelli Lane for three
days.

The chief made his recommendation after two alleged verbal
altercations -- one between a Redding police officer and a Family Tree
employee -- occurred in March. Hansen wrote a letter to the owners of
Family Tree on April 13 informing them of his decision.

Family Tree appealed Hansen's ruling Thursday during a hearing at
Redding City Hall.

Redding City Manager Kurt Starman presided over the hearing and is
expected to make a ruling within a week.

Thursday's hearing in the Caldwell Park Room was packed with
supporters of the Family Tree Co-Op.

Typically, the hearings are closed to the public, but the city opened
it up because of the community interest, Starman said.

The City Council approved the medical marijuana ordinance in November
after several weeks of discussion. The regulations went into effect
Jan. 1.

There are 19 cannabis collectives in Redding that have been issued an
operating permit.

Hansen said he ordered extra patrol of the Mission Square center after
receiving numerous complaints about Family Tree.

"I assigned two officers for a month or two to find out what is really
going on," Hansen said before Thursday's hearing. "They went on a
fact-finding mission but also to try and mitigate the dispute."

On March 14, a Redding police officer got into a verbal dispute with a
Family Tree employee, Hansen said. That was followed by another verbal
confrontation on March 29 between Randy Bright, who owns Redding
Trophy Center in Mission Square, and an employee of the collective.

The run-in with Bright happened the same day Hansen visited Family
Tree to issue a letter notifying the co-op that more complaints could
result in a suspension or revocation of its permit.

But Alec Henderson, the San Francisco-area attorney representing
Family Tree, said three businesses are waging a campaign of harassment
and intimidation.

Henderson identified the businesses as Redding Trophy Center, Tina's
Interior Design Resources and Image West Gallery.

The March 14 incident with Redding Police Cpl. Brian Barner occurred a
day before Family Tree received its operating permit, Henderson said.

"That should not be the basis for a suspension of the permit, which
did not exist on March 14," Henderson said.

Further, Family Tree co-owner Hillary Criner apologized to Barner
after the altercation, and the employee who argued with Bright has
been fired, Henderson said.

"I don't know what other actions Family Tree can take," Henderson
said. "They have really gone to every length possible to try to be
good neighbors."

What needs to happen, Henderson said, is a meeting between Family
Tree, Redding police and the businesses concerned about the collective.

"We understand the chief's frustration," Henderson said before the
hearing. "There has been unnecessary resources deployed to deal with
the complaints of three disgruntled merchants in Mission Square."

In the letter to Family Tree, Hansen wrote that since he assigned
officers to the center, "we have received 30 complaints, prompting me
to personally visit the Family Tree Center."

The controversy of cannabis co-ops in Mission Square -- there are two
that operate in the shopping center -- is nothing new.

In October, the battle to keep pot clubs from expanding in Mission
Square took a bizarre turn when moments before a property owners
meeting, someone dressed in a green Grinch costume walked into the
meeting.

The Grinch, who was a Mission Square property owner, announced to
fellow owners that new a cannabis shop, Hampton Collective, would open
soon.

Mission Square notwithstanding, Hansen said police have had few
complaints about pot clubs operating in Redding.

"No problems," Hansen said.