UNSETTLING START

Was a medical marijuana dispensary opponent's business the target of
a July 3 shooting on Lansing's east side? Meanwhile, license
applications start pouring in.

What appear to be two bullet holes decorate a second-floor window
panel of a Neogen laboratory at 1614 E. Kalamazoo St., across the
road from the Allen Neighborhood Center on Lansing's east side.

It's merely speculation at this point, but could it be that one of
the leading opponents of the proliferation of medical marijuana
dispensaries - Jim Herbert, chairman and CEO of Neogen - had his
business targeted by angry medical marijuana activists? Has the
medical marijuana debate gotten so heated in Lansing that differences
are being expressed with gunfire?

Herbert and like-minded neighborhood advocates, like director of the
Allen Neighborhood Center Joan Nelson, suggest he is a target. The
Lansing Police Department said it's too early to tell and the
shooting is under investigation.

One neighbor claims to have heard the shooting at about 3:15 a.m. on
July 3. The shooting was reported to LPD three days later by a Neogen
facilities manager, LPD Lt. Noel Garcia said in an e-mail. No suspect
has been identified. Garcia added that it's too early tell if there
was a motive for the shooting.

"There is no information at this time to relate this matter to
medical marijuana," he wrote. "The motive in this matter has not been
established as of yet."

Herbert has spoken publicly and strongly before the City Council and
elsewhere against medical marijuana dispensaries, particularly the 11
on Michigan Avenue. Herbert could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In a July 8 e-mail to the City Council, Herbert wrote of the July 3 incident:

"Earlier this week someone fired three bullets into the windows of
one of our laboratories in our building on Kalamazoo in what appears
to have been a drive by shooting. Fortunately no one was in that
laboratory at the time. Even though we've never been victim of an
instance like this in the past, is it purely coincidental that my
name and the name of the company have been associated with the
marijuana situation?"

Willie James, who lives on the 300 block of Allen Street near the
Neogen facility, awoke to gunfire around 3:15 a.m. on July 3, he said Tuesday.

"They unloaded gun fire in the street, turned around in my driveway
and backed up down the street," he said.

James said his wife picked up seven bullet casings in the middle of
Allen Street later that morning and gave them to a neighbor. The
neighbor could not be contacted for comment Tuesday.

James said he was unable to identify the make, model or color of the
car. He was also unsure of why the shooting took place or where the
shots were directed.

Nelson, of the Allen Neighborhood Center, said Tuesday: "I think
there's a good possibility, actually" that the shots were "blowback"
from Herbert's views on medical marijuana.

"We've maintained that the clustering of dispensaries and the high
traffic of customers has redialed behavior on and around the avenue," she said.

Rick Kibbey, who has spoken on behalf of the Allen Neighborhood
Center recently regarding medical marijuana, touched on the bullet
holes at Monday's City Council meeting.

"There was a volley of shots fired into (Neogen) Sunday. They pulled
up across the street, stood next to the car and fired. There's
evidence," he said. "Is this how we're handling policy differences in
the city now?"

In an interview Tuesday, Kibbey admitted his account of the incident
is "third-hand," but that it's "absolutely clear to me" the shots
were in retaliation to Herbert's position on dispensaries. "Why else
would you shoot at this particular building out of all the other
properties in the city of Lansing?"

Settling in

Meanwhile, the city clerk has received 43 applications for medical
marijuana dispensaries as of Tuesday afternoon. The City Council
voted Monday to cap the number at 48.

Of the 43 that filed for applications since the Council passed an
ordinance regulating dispensaries on June 28, six are for businesses
that were not grandfathered in during the city's six-month
moratorium. Those are: Hashish Wellness Center, 5812 S. Cedar St.;
Mid-America Compassionate Research, 101 S. Washington Square Suite
200 downtown; Natural Medicine Center, 5325 S. Cedar St.; T & S
Consulting, 1421 Rensen St.; Urban Garden Tree, 736 N. Larch St.; and
Vets Meds, no address given.

Information from the City Clerk's Office shows 11 addresses that were
grandfathered in during the moratorium have not yet filed.

On Michigan Avenue, Safe Harbor Alternative Medicine is a new
dispensary taking the place of Capitol City Compassion Club at 2010
E. Michigan Ave., an address that was grandfathered in during the moratorium.

City Clerk Chris Swope said his "understanding" is that Safe Harbor
will be included in the businesses that are grandfathered in because
it's in the same location.

"They'll most likely be considered under the grandfathering," he
said. "My understanding is that we'll consider them as grandfathered
because it was really based on the location."

The application deadline for grandfathered businesses was July 9, but
new-business applicants need only to apply 30 days before opening, Swope said.

City Attorney Brig Smith said Monday during the City Council's
meeting that the city will go through applications to make sure they
meet all of the requirements in the new ordinance.

"Logistically, we're in the meat of it," he said.