POT CLINICS UP FOR DEBATE

The Angels Camp City Council will hear public comments on medical marijuana
clinics at tomorrow's meeting.

City staff introduced the issue to prepare Angels Camp in case anyone ever
decides to set up a cannabis clinic within city limits.

The Angels Camp Planning Commission in August voted 4-1 to recommend
approval of the ordinance amendment, which restricts the sale of medical
marijuana only to primary care givers, qualified patients or people with
identification cards that allow such purchases.

The clinics would be allowed in commercial and industrial areas but would
have to obtain conditional use permits from the city beforehand.

They would not be allowed in residential areas or within 1,000 feet of
another medical marijuana clinic. Neither could they be within 1,000 feet
of any youth-oriented establishment or any establishment frequented mainly
by minors.

Medical cannabis also would not be sold at health care clinics, residential
care facilities -- including those for the elderly -- or hospices.

Clinics would also not be allowed to sell alcohol or distribute any other
goods or services.

Chronically ill patients in California with the proper paperwork from their
doctors are now allowed to grow as many as six mature marijuana plants or
own up to a half-pound of processed marijuana.

Counties can also restrict how much marijuana a patient may possess at any
given time.

Calaveras County supervisors in 2000 adopted a six-plant, 2-pound limit.

There are currently no cannabis clinics operating within county limits.

Also tomorrow:

* The council will consider approval of a project study report on
improvements to bridges that intersect at Highways 4 and 49 in south Angels
Camp.

Council members may recommend that the Calaveras Council of Governments
approve or deny the study.

The city's planning commission last week unanimously recommended approval
of the report, which Planning Director Kaye Simonson said reflects three
main principles: the preservation of downtown Angels Camp's historical
character, safety and the protection of Angels Creek.

Approval of the report is the first step in a years-long process. There is
no state money to pay for the project right now.

The earliest state funds would be available is 2008, when an environmental
review could take place.

If the City Council approves the report, Angels Camp will have seven years
to start the environmental review process or it will be forced to take on
the maintenance and associated cost of the Highway 4 bridge.

That gives the city until 2011 to start the environmental review.

The state now handles maintenance and would pay for any work done on the
bridge.

At previous information-gathering meetings, some community members have
said they're concerned improvements to the bridges could mean the
destruction of historic buildings downtown. Because of that, owners say
they are having difficulty selling and leasing the buildings.

Four different options have been presented by Caltrans to fix the
intersection that forces drivers to make unsafe, sharp turns. All options
would involve the removal of at least one historic downtown building. The
project will cost between $4.5 and $6 million.

* The council will likely approve a request from Bret Harte High School to
hold its annual homecoming parade at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8. The parade will
start on campus, at the intersection of Highway 49 and Murphys Grade Road,
and end at Utica Park on Highway 49.

* City Administrator Tim Shearer will discuss a proposed letter to send to
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other legislators explaining that the lack
of state funds has put the Highway 4 Angels Camp Bypass and Amador County's
Highway 88 passing lane project in "serious jeopardy of failure."

The proposed letter suggests that the state provide money to the California
Transportation Commission by this December to ensure the projects don't
fail and for the governor to uphold his promise to repay the $6 billion
taken from local transportation funds to balance the state budget and
reestablish the pre-Proposition 42 constitutional provision that ensures
transportation funds will be used for just that.