POT GROUP UNABLE TO GATHER 20 VALID SIGNATURES TO RECALL BOSENKO

A medical-marijuana group seeking to recall Shasta County Sheriff Tom
Bosenko was unable to gather 20 valid signatures that would have
started the process.

Cathy Darling Allen, the county's registrar of voters, said that
though the group had submitted 23 signatures, she was able to confirm
the legitimacy of just 14 of them.

She said the rest of the signatures either didn't belong to
registered voters, were illegible or were missing an actual
signature, though the person had printed a name.

Rob McDonald, the 50-year-old Redding medical marijuana patient and
advocate behind the recall effort, said he plans to try again.

"I've got to find 20 people that are truthful about being
registered," he said. "... I did ask that everybody sign only if they
were registered."

The 20 signatures needed for a recall notice are the necessary
precursor for an official recall effort.

Darling Allen said if McDonald's group eventually files a legitimate
intent to recall petition, it would then need to gather more than
14,000 valid signatures or 15 percent of the county's registered
voters -- to recall Bosenko, something the sheriff has said is unlikely.

McDonald has said the recall move against Bosenko was 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.

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

Darling Allen also tossed those recall intent petitions because there
weren't enough valid signatures.

Bosenko said Friday he and his deputies understand the state's
medical marijuana laws, but he also believes county and city
governments are well within their rights to regulate marijuana
dispensaries and growers, something he supports to stem crime and
other problems associated with the operations.

"The marijuana proponents seem to be using the recall process as
wielding a sword against those who disagree with them," Bosenko said.