All interested hands on deck...here is a fleeting chance...Please help<
If you are interested in helping to shift the national discussion into the direction of human rights and discrimination rather than the 'good plant bad plant' framing of all this which has and will only further corporate control over the plants that naturally occur on this planet, then please forward this article to any and all national media you can think of...it is on the Associated Press feed:
http://freedomtogardenact.org/initiative
http://www.record-bee.com/news/ci_26119824/bos-places-initiative-measure-garden-november-ballot
BOS places initiative measure to garden on November ballot
By J.W. Burch, IV
[email protected] @JWBurchIV on Twitter
UPDATED: 07/09/2014 05:13:54 PM PDT
LAKEPORT >> An initiative measure regarding people's right to grow and use plants for the basic necessities of life was discussed by the Lake County Board of Supervisors (BOS) Tuesday.
Nearly 5,000 signatures were gathered, according to Lake County Registrar of Voters Diane Fridley. Of those signatures, 3,282 were checked and 2,167 were found sufficient.
Despite the measure being an umbrella for the growing and use of all plants, the conversation between the supervisors and the public addressed the growing of marijuana specifically.
"This property use would be in conflict with a number of county ordinances, but it would also, to some degree, supersede them," County Counsel Anita Grant said.
The initiative aims to "exempt all Lake County residents residing within the unincorporated areas of the county from any ordinances that would limit an individual's outside and/or greenhouse home gardening efforts," according to Grant.
Additionally, "in the event any neighbor complaints occur the parties involved would be sent to mediation provided by the county" as long as the complaints are not related to specific, medically-verifiable toxic health risks to the public, Grant said.
"Our staff and this board has wasted so much time on this nonsense," District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said. "I don't know that I want county counsel spending time that could be spent on something more important and not wasted on this."
"This is strictly a declaration of a human right," Ronald Kiczenski, who circulated the petition, said. "It is the only thing that I can figure that is going to solve the big problems. The high value of the stuff, which causes crime, all the environmental damages. It all comes out of this prohibition."
The BOS had the option to adopt the initiative with no changes, or place it on the Nov. 4 ballot.
With a 3-2 vote, the board approved putting the initiative before the voters. District 1 Supervisor Jim Comstock and Brown dissented.
The board had voted the same way on June 17 to place a former initiative measure on the November ballot.
The first initiative was drafted by the Emerald Unity Coalition, which would prohibit all collective marijuana cultivation, as well as limit cultivation to four plants on county parcels less than one acre in size, according to County Counsel Anita Grant. A fee of $50 per plant would be imposed by the initiative .
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.