Tonight the Kent City Council is scheduled to vote on an ordinance that, if passed, will ban medical marijuana collective gardens throughout the city, regardless of zoning district.
The ordinance before the council, which was recently recommended by a 2-1 vote out of the Kent City Council's Economic and Community Development
Committee, and has been discussed - through two moratoriums - since last year, cites existing federal marijuana laws and the "potential secondary impacts from the establishment of facilities for the growth, production, and processing of medical cannabis," as its backbone. The ordinance declares that medical marijuana collective gardens "are not appropriate for any zoning designation within the city."
"There are certain things we want in the City of Kent and other things we don't," says Kent City Councilmember Billy Boyce, the chair of the Public Safety committee. Boyce says after an extended period of time spent learning about current state and federal marijuana laws, and extensive time spent discussing the situation with members of the Kent City Council, he decided to support the ban.
Not surprisingly, especially since Washington state law is designed to give qualifying patients the right to participate in medical marijuana collective gardens, Kent's ordinance has riled many medical marijuana supporters. Among them is Sensible Washington, an active pro-pot group that sent a letter to the members of the Kent City Council late last week urging them to vote down the ordinance. Sensible Washington has also gathered the support of at least two state lawmakers to aid in its effort to see the ordinance defeated, and says it plans to hold a rally outside Kent City Hall tonight prior to the scheduled City Kent Council meeting.
Anthony Martinelli, a Sensible Washington steering committee member and communications co-director, calls the ordinance, "essentially a ban of all safe access points," to medical marijuana, noting that collective gardens are basically the only definitively legal means of obtaining medical marijuana under current Washington state law.
"It's unethical, and beyond being unethical it's illegal," says Martinelli.
While Kent's anti-collective-garden ordinance includes verbiage that recognizes Washington's existing medical marijuana law, which protects these gardens and protects qualifying patients' right to utilize them, its rationale is built on a portion of the state law that, "delegates authority, to cities and towns," to establish zoning enforcement requirements, business licensing requirements, health and safety requirements, and business tax requirements on medical marijuana operations.
Most importantly, says Boyce, Kent's would-be ban acknowledges the fact that marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substance Act (CSA). As the ordinance points out: "The city council wishes to exercise the authority granted pursuant to state law in order to clarify that the establishment of a collective garden will be deemed to be a violation of city zoning ordinances, but the city council expressly disclaims any intent to exercise authority over collective gardens in a manner that would directly conflict with the CSA."
Martinelli says Sensible Washington plans to take court action should the Kent City Council pass the ordinance tonight, and he's heard other groups might as well. Despite this looming possibility, Sensible Washington is hoping its letter and extensive efforts to persuade the council will prevent the situation from coming to that.
For his part, Boyce expects a segment of Kent's population to be upset no matter what the council decides tonight.
"You have it both ways," says Boyce of his constituency and where it stands on the subject of medical marijuana. "No matter what we do there will be questions and conversation."
Speaking to Seattle Weekly Friday, Martinelli said Sensible Washington, by its count at that point in time, was anticipating a 4-3 vote in favor of the ordinance. However the organization is holding out hope, and enacting a full-court press in one final attempt to sway members planning to vote for the ban.
"This blatantly goes against the will of the voters," says Martinelli of the decision by the Kent City Council to consider a medical marijuana ban."They're overplaying their power. The citizens of Kent are not calling for this."
"I haven't the slightest idea what people are going to do," says Boyce of tonight's vote.
Find the letter Sensible Washington sent to the Kent City Council on the following page ...
Source: blogs.seattleweekly.com
Don’t divorce without financial advice - Globe and Mail
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As anyone who has been through a messy divorce can attest, with goodwill eroding faster than the lawyer bills are stacking up, you just want to get things over with. If that means giving up something you were feverishly holding on to, so be it. But there ...Source: www.theglobeandmail.com
Kent State baseball has a tradition of excellence - Cleveland Plain Dealer
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- To those outside Northeast Ohio, the Kent State baseball team's berth in the NCAA super regional at Oregon this weekend might bring the term "Cinderella" to mind.
But the Flashes won't be turning into a pumpkin at midnight. They have stood the test of time.
Like a train rolling down the tracks, the super regional appearance has been coming for a while. The Golden Flashes have won the past four Mid-American Conference titles and have made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, but had never reached a super regional.
And they were within a game of pulling this off last year. In Texas in 2011, KSU topped the powerhouse host team before the Longhorns came back through the losers' bracket to beat the Flashes in the championship game.
Last weekend at the Gary (Ind.) Regional, the Flashes played top-seeded Purdue, the Big Ten champion, and No. 2-seeded Kentucky, arguably the team to beat in the tournament. Yet Kent beat the Wildcats twice, first in a 21-inning classic Friday, then in a nine-inning nail-biter for the championship Sunday.
KSU, which enters the super regional riding a 20-game winning streak, used the weekend to show off its trademark -- quality pitching and sterling defense -- and made its own breaks along the way.
Pitching and defense
Kent used five pitchers in the 21-inning marathon, but they issued only seven walks and struck out 21.
Needing to rest the bullpen in the second game Saturday against Purdue, the Flashes got their first complete game of the season out of Strongsville's Ryan Bores, who went nine innings with one walk and two strikeouts. He scattered nine hits.
Then in the title game against Kentucky, Tyler Skulina, another Strongsville native, pitched a strong game, oblivious to the fact Kentucky's Chandler Shepherd was holding the Flashes hitless over six innings.
"Ty was unreal," KSU coach Scott Stricklin said. "He threw a lot of strikes, mixed in his slider and his change-up. He did everything he needed to do. They hit some balls hard, but they hit them at us."
Making the breaks
In the 21-inning marathon, what appeared to be a double off the wall in left to start the 12th inning became an out when Kent noticed that Kentucky's Michael Williams had missed first base.
The relay back to the infield beat a retreating Williams to the bag for the out.
And in the third inning of the title game, KSU catcher David Lyon made a nifty pick-off throw to first baseman George Roberts to erase a runner after a leadoff single. The play drew Kentucky coach Gary Henderson out of the dugout to protest the call, but photos later proved the call correct.
"We played great defense all weekend long," Stricklin said. "Clean baseball, only one error all weekend long, and got it done."
Kent landed six players on the all-regional team, including Roberts, who was voted Most Outstanding Player. He finished the series 7-for-18 at the plate with five RBI and several slick fielding gems.
He was joined by Bores and Skulina, second baseman Derek Toadvine, shortstop Jimmy Rider and outfielder Evan Campbell, whose three-run homer accounted the Flashes' runs Sunday.
"The only home run hit in this regional was hit by Evan Campbell," Stricklin said. "It was the biggest hit in Kent State baseball history."
Source: www.cleveland.com
Kent thwarted by the weather - ECB
Rain prevented Kent from exacting revenge over the Unicorns in their Clydesdale Bank 40 match at Southend-on-Sea.
The Unicorns claimed their only win of the campaign so far against the Spitfires by four wickets last month.
It was a defeat to frustrate Kent’s early semi-final ambitions and a share of the points today will have hardly helped either after they had restricted the Unicorns to 177 for eight.
Luis Reece propelled the Unicorns up to 177 for eight with an unbeaten 36 off 35 balls before rain ruined their match against Kent
With an achievable target in sight, however, only three overs of Kent’s reply was possible before the weather closed in.
The Unicorns had started fairly brightly with a half-century from opener James Ord in a 72-run second-wicket partnership with leading run-scorer Tom New.
The pair progressed the score to a handy 88 for one in the 20th over before the 24-year-old Ord perished for 52 soon after reaching his first Unicorns fifty when bowled by Darren Stevens.
Spinner James Tredwell trapped New lbw for 31 three overs later before a collapse of four for 18, that included two run outs, left the Unicorns scrambling to put a competitive total together.
That was at least managed by 21-year-old all-rounder Luis Reece, who struck an unbeaten 36 from 35 balls to give the Unicorns impetus.
But with Kent in need of full points they were only able to reach nine without loss, after three overs, before the rain came.
The point was at least enough to move Kent up to third in Group C, having played a game less than leaders Warwickshire, who they trail by three points.
Source: www.ecb.co.uk
NRA-Backed Law Spells Out When Indianans May Open Fire on Police - Bloomberg
Every time police Sergeant Joseph Hubbard stops a speeder or serves a search warrant, he says he worries suspects assume they can open fire -- without breaking the law.
Hubbard, a 17-year veteran of the police department in Jeffersonville, Indiana, says his apprehension stems from a state law approved this year that allows residents to use deadly force in response to the “unlawful intrusion” by a “public servant” to protect themselves and others, or their property.
“If I pull over a car and I walk up to it and the guy shoots me, he’s going to say, ‘Well, he was trying to illegally enter my property,’” said Hubbard, 40, who is president of Jeffersonville Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 100. “Somebody is going get away with killing a cop because of this law.”
Indiana is the first U.S. state to specifically allow force against officers, according to the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys in Washington, which represents and supports prosecutors. The National Rifle Association pushed for the law, saying an unfavorable court decision made the need clear and that it would allow homeowners to defend themselves during a violent, unjustified attack. Police lobbied against it.
The NRA, a membership group that says it’s widely recognized as a “major political force” and as the country’s “foremost defender” of Second Amendment rights, has worked to spread permissive gun laws around the country. Among them is the Stand Your Ground self-defense measure in Florida, which generated nationwide controversy after the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Florida teenager.
Amended Law
Asked about the Indiana law, Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the Fairfax, Virginia-based association, said he would look into the matter. He didn’t return subsequent calls.
The measure was approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Republican Governor Mitch Daniels in March. It amended a 2006 so-called Castle Doctrine bill that allows deadly force to stop illegal entry into a home or car.
The law describes the ability to use force to “protect the person or a third person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful force.”
Republican state Senator R. Michael Young, the bill’s author, said there haven’t been any cases in which suspects have used the law to justify shooting police.
‘Public Servant’
He said “public servant” was added to clarify the law after a state Supreme Court ruling last year that “there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers.” The case was based on a man charged with assaulting an officer during a domestic-violence call.
Young cited a hypothetical situation of a homeowner returning to see an officer raping his daughter or wife. Under the court’s ruling, the homeowner could not touch the officer and only file a lawsuit later, he said. Young said he devised the idea for the law after the court ruling.
“There are bad legislators,” Young said. “There are bad clergy, bad doctors, bad teachers, and it’s these officers that we’re concerned about that when they act outside their scope and duty that the individual ought to have a right to protect themselves.”
Bill supporters tried to accommodate police by adding specific requirements that might justify force, and by replacing “law enforcement officer” in the original version with “public servant,” said Republican state Representative Jud McMillin, the House sponsor.
Preventing Injury
The measure requires those using force to “reasonably believe” a law-enforcement officer is acting illegally and that it’s needed to prevent “serious bodily injury,” Daniels said in a statement when he signed the law.
“In the real world, there will almost never be a situation in which these extremely narrow conditions are met,” Daniels said. “This law is not an invitation to use violence or force against law enforcement officers.”
Jane Jankowski, a spokeswoman for Daniels, referred questions about the measure to that statement.
Opponents see a potential for mistakes and abuse.
It’s not clear under the law whether an officer acting in good faith could be legally shot for mistakenly kicking down the wrong door to serve a warrant, said state Senator Tim Lanane, the assistant Democratic leader and an attorney.
“It’s a risky proposition that we set up here,” Lanane said.
Intoxicated Suspects
Those who are intoxicated or emotional can’t decide whether police are acting legally, and suspects may assume they have the right to attack officers, said Tim Downs, president of the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police. The law didn’t need to be changed because there isn’t an epidemic of rogue police in Indiana, he said.
“It’s just a recipe for disaster,” said Downs, chief of the Lake County police in northwest Indiana. “It just puts a bounty on our heads.”
Downs said he canceled his NRA membership after the organization pressed for the Indiana legislation.
The NRA helped get the measure through the Legislature and encouraged its members to contact lawmakers and Daniels.
The organization’s Indiana lobbyist attended all the Legislative committee hearings, said State Representative Linda Lawson, the Democratic floor leader and a former police officer.
Political Support
Lawmakers respond to the NRA because the group brings political support, Lawson said.
The legislation reversed an “activist court decision,” and “restores self-defense laws to what they were,” the NRA said on its legislative website.
In Clay County, Indiana, outside Terre Haute, the Sheriff’s Department changed its procedures because of the law. Detectives in plain clothes and unmarked cars now must be accompanied by a uniformed officer on calls to homes, Sheriff Michael Heaton said.
“I’m not worried about the law-abiding citizens,” said Heaton, who also is president of the Indiana Sheriff’s Association. “It’s the ones that really don’t understand the law and they just think, ‘Cop shows up at my door, I can do whatever I want to him.’”
Hubbard, the officer in Jeffersonville, in southeastern Indiana, said the law causes him to second-guess himself. He serves on the department’s patrol division and is a member of its special weapons and tactics unit. The department serves “thousand” of warrants a year, he said.
“It puts doubt in your mind,” said Hubbard, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining the department. “And hesitation in our job can mean somebody gets hurt or killed.”
Hubbard said he hasn’t changed his approach to his job or noticed a difference in how civilians he encounters are behaving.
The law has changed Hubbard’s view of the NRA.
He said he has been “a proud member of the NRA for years,” and while he’s still a member and NRA firearms instructor, “the day I found out the NRA was pushing behind this bill was the day I became a not-so-happy NRA member.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus, Ohio, at mniquette@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels
Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a state law this year that allows residents to use deadly force in response to the “unlawful intrusion” by a “public servant” to protect themselves and others, or their property.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a state law this year that allows residents to use deadly force in response to the “unlawful intrusion” by a “public servant” to protect themselves and others, or their property. Photographer: Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg
Source: www.bloomberg.com
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