ARREST WARRANT COULD MARK END OF HAYWARD HEMPERY

FREMONT -- Alameda County Superior Court
Judge Dennis McLaughlin has issued a $40,000 warrant for the arrest of
Hayward Hempery owner Cheryl Adams after she skipped out on a court
proceeding in a felony drug-possession case against her.

"She's in the wind," said Deputy District Attorney Steve Corral,
adding that this is the second time she's failed to appear in the case.

The warrant could be the final nail in the coffin for The Hempery,
which apparently has been closed for about a month.

The decade-old store, now at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and B
Street, has housed one of the county's oldest and perhaps best-known
medical-marijuana dispensaries.

Adams was arrested in December after police stopped her in front of
the Newark hotel where she was living. Police said she allegedly was
driving with 5.32 pounds of marijuana in 29 small plastic bags.

In an earlier interview, Adams said she brought the product home from
work because her on-site safe wasn't working and her facility had been
burglarized recently.

Adams faces felony counts of possession of marijuana for sale,
transportation of drugs and possession of a cannabis concentrate, or
hashish.

None of Adams' or The Hempery's phone numbers is still in service. And
Hayward attorney Paul Wellenkamp, who had been representing her, took
himself off the case Thursday, Corral said. Wellenkamp refused to
speak on Adams' behalf Friday without her consent.

But she had said earlier that she planned to fight her charges on
behalf of medical marijuana patients as one of the first tests of
Senate Bill 420. The bill, signed into law in October, recognizes
collective groups for medical marijuana patients and caregivers, among
other things.

The warrant is just one of the legal issues Adams is facing. Ron
Ikebe, a Mountain View Realtor who owns the building The Hempery is
in, said Adams is late on her rent again and that he has started the
eviction process.

She was evicted once before in January, but an anonymous Hayward
resident loaned her some $11,000 to get her back in the building. That
30-year-old man, a Tennyson High School graduate, said he entered into
a partnership with Adams but that she later changed the locks without
telling him and that he wasn't able to get in or reach her.

This time, Ikebe said, once the sheriff puts her out on the street,
"we're not letting her back."

Ikebe added that he recently was putting up a notice on the building,
which is in escrow, and that someone was inside who wouldn't come to
the door.

The Hempery also came close to closing in November amid the Hayward
City Council's debate on what to do about the three downtown
dispensaries, which have been operating contrary to the city's zoning
law around Foothill Boulevard and B Street.

In one vote, the council decided to grandfather in the other two
dispensaries, but not The Hempery's Hayward Patient Group. The council
rationalized that the other two facilities had better reputations and
looked better upon visits from council members.

Adams said she hadn't participated in the council debate up to that
point because she didn't realize her facility was at risk of being
shut down. She challenged the council's decision, citing fairness issues.

The council ended up grandfathering in her facility and the
neighboring Local Patients Cooperative for three years, under certain
conditions. Hayward Patients' Resource Center, the newest of the
three, was grandfathered in for one year.

As part of the deal, however, the Resource Center can stay for three
years if one of the other dispensaries closes. Resource Center owner
Jane Weirick said she's afraid to get her hopes up about being able to
stay longer, because she and her patients already have been on such a
roller-coaster ride.

City Manager Jesus Armas said Thursday that the city hasn't yet
received any official word about the status of The Hempery.