MEDICAL POT ADVOCATES SET TO PACK MEETING

Medicinal marijuana problems should dominate the Tuesday morning
session of the Kern County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Medical pot advocates are calling for patients and activists to swarm
to the meeting and share their concerns about the closure of
marijuana dispensaries in Kern County.

The dispensaries closed after federal raids on an Oildale dispensary.

Now supervisors may have to change county ordinances to adapt to a
conflict between state law and federal law on the issue of marijuana.

Trashy compost

Supervisors also will get a report on land use violations at the
troubled Community Recycling Inc. composting facility near Lamont.

The company was cited by the Kern County Environmental Health
Department, in June, for spreading compost mixed with trash onto farm
property the company owns near the composting plant.

Now county Planning Department officials have noted that the
composting facility itself is in violation of numerous conditions of
its operation.

Groundwater testing reports are not being submitted to the county and
trucks are not being cleaned of dirt before they track it out on
Wheeler Ridge Road, as required by the county, according to a report
signed by Planning Director Ted James and Environmental Health
Director Matt Constantine.

In addition, the facility has taken piles of broken concrete and
waste wallboard which Community Recycling is not allowed to accept
under the county's conditional use permit, the report states.

Supervisors will learn more about problems with the facility during
their Tuesday afternoon session at 2 p.m.

Public Health

County administrators are recommending that supervisors split the top
position at the Kern County Public Health Services department into
two separate jobs.

Former Kern County Health Officer Dr. B.A. Jinadu retired from his
post earlier this year after revelations were made about excessive
Medi-Cal payments that he collected through private clinics he ran
while working for the county.

The revelations cost him a new job in San Diego County.

In the wake of his retirement, the county is reconsidering whether
the Public Health Officer and the Director of Public Health should be
held by the same person.

Supervisors will discuss the issue during their afternoon meeting Tuesday.

Kern Medical Center

They also will review a plan to move Kern Medical Center's
collections, admitting and medical records systems back into county control.

Currently those systems at the county-owned hospital are handled by a
consultant.

County staff estimate the county could save $2.4 million a year by
doing the work themselves.

The issue is on the agenda for the board's morning meeting.