MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS SEEK TO RECALL SHERIFF BOSENKO

The county-wide fight between local government and medical marijuana
patients intensified today as the county's top law enforcement
official was handed a recall notice and a judge upheld Anderson's
request to shut down its only dispensary.

Rob McDonald, a medical marijuana patient and advocate, handed Shasta
County Sheriff Tom Bosenko a recall notice after Tuesday's board of
supervisors meeting, he said. The notice is a prelude to a
signature-gathering campaign to qualify the recall vote for a ballot.

"We're fighting against people who wish to discriminate and persecute
based on nothing but their own ignorance," McDonald said.

The recall, McDonald said, is in response to the sheriff's recent
comments at public meetings on medical cannabis growing. County
supervisors passed cultivation restrictions Dec. 13 along with a ban
on dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county.

Bosenko has suggested doubling the required distance between schools
and grow sites, from 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet.

Sheriff's Capt. Mike Ashmun, who spoke at the Dec. 13 meeting on
behalf of Bosenko, said the square-footage provisions in the
cultivation ordinance should be reduced and there should be a written
statement required from landlords consenting to marijuana growth on
their property.

The county's cultivation ordinance bans growing inside residences,
but allows it in detached accessory structures and sets limits for
outdoor growing regardless of how many patients live at a residence.

Residents with less than an acre couldn't grow any more than 60
square feet of marijuana, while those living on more than 1 but less
than 2 acres could grow up to 100 square feet. Similarly, those with
2 to just under 5 acres could grow 150 square feet and people living
on 5 acres up to 20 could grow 240 square feet of pot.

Those with 20 acres or more would be limited to 360 square feet of plants.

"It's just a case of the type of discrimination we're fighting
against," McDonald said.

But Bosenko said his comments weren't discriminatory.

"There hasn't been anything that has been done illegally or in a
discriminatory fashion," he said this afternoon.

Bosenko said his comments came after meeting with constituents and
hearing their concerns about amounts of medical marijuana being grown
in the county. His words were input for planning commissioners and
supervisors, who ultimately made the decisions, he said.

"I'm simply doing my job, providing input to board of supervisors and
planning department," Bosenko said. "My job is to enforce the laws
and represent the majority of the constituents and follow the law,
and that's what I've been doing."

Recall notices are being prepared for supervisors David Kehoe and Les
Baugh, though neither has been presented yet, McDonald said.

McDonald last month handed recall notices to Redding City Council
members Patrick Jones, Francie Sullivan and Rick Bosetti in response
to the city's dispensary ban, passed in November.

Those notices didn't have enough signatures and were returned.
McDonald said he's working on resubmitting the notices and the one
presented to the sheriff doesn't have the same problem.

"We have plenty (of signatures) for Bosenko," he said.

Meanwhile, Shasta County Superior Court Judge Stephen Baker granted
the city of Anderson's request for a preliminary injunction against
the Green Heart, the city's only dispensary, according to electronic
court records.

The injunction is a court order for the dispensary to comply with the
city's ban and shut down. The Anderson City Council first approved
the ban, a prohibition on dispensaries through city zoning code, in October.

Baker also granted a stay on enforcement of the order until 5 p.m.
Jan. 10. McDonald said the stay will allow time for an appeal.

Joe and Gina Munday, who own the Green Heart, and their attorney,
James DeAguilera of Redlands, did not return phone calls seeking comment today.