POT CLUB ROBBERY COULD BE LAST CALL

Second incident since May could close dispensaries for good

HAYWARD -- A city official on Tuesday conceded that it may be time for
council members to consider the future of the two remaining marijuana
dispensaries in Hayward after one was the target of a takeover robbery.

City Manager Jesus Armas said a provision in the city's operating agreement
with the two clubs gives city leaders the authority to shut down the
operations if they become magnets for crime.

And against the backdrop of a brazen robbery Monday evening at the Hayward
Patients Resource Center, 22550 Foothill Blvd., Armas said he will meet
with Hayward police Chief Lloyd Lowe to discuss the future of the city's
two clubs.

"The way the agreement was crafted, if it turned out it was creating an
adverse impact on service demands, that was basis for termination," Armas said.

In Monday's robbery -- the second at the club since May -- three men tied
up six customers and three employees with neckties.

After responding to a silent alarm that was tripped by an employee,
officers who rushed to the scene came upon three men running from the club
down A Street.

Several officers gave chase on foot and eventually arrested the three
suspects on suspicion of robbery. They were AaronMeyers, 21, Samone Gatlin,
22, and William Stream, 39, all of Hayward, Lindblom said.

The three men had in their possession a bag containing about $5,000 in cash
that investigators believe was taken during the 6:25 p.m. robbery. The men
also were carrying two semiautomatic weapons and marijuana apparently
stolen during the takeover.

Armas said the city's operating agreement with the two clubs clearly
"indicated that if we encounter problems from a service point of view, that
that could be the basis to close them down." However, Armas noted, the City
Council would have the final say regarding the clubs' future.

Lindblom wasn't at all surprised that the club was again the target of
robbers. "I don't think it's unique," he said. "Anywhere there's a cannabis
club, crime is a natural occurrence. It is always a concern."

Armas said he will meet with Lowe to determine whether the clubs should be
permitted to continue operating after the current agreement expires in 2006.

"It's something that warrants discussion," Armas said.

Lindblom said the second club -- the Hayward Local Patients Cooperative,
22630 Foothill Blvd. -- has not had any reported incidents recently.
Neither he nor Armas were sure why one club would be targeted over the other.

"I don't know if they have different security that may make it less
inviting," said Armas, who noted that the club's second-story location may
be a deterrent.

The Daily Review contacted operators of the two cannabis dispensaries, but
they declined to be interviewed.

Medical marijuana clinics have come under greater scrutiny in recent
months, particularly in unincorporated areas of Alameda County. In June the
Board of Supervisors, frustrated by the number of marijuana clinics
sprouting up in the unincorporated communities of Ashland, San Lorenzo,
Cherryland and Castro Valley, approved an ordinance that will reduce the
number of dispensaries from six to three.

Ricci Graham covers courts and law enforcement.