Pubdate: Tue, 28 Dec 2010
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2010 The Press Democrat
Contact:  http://www.pressdemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author: Derek Moore

NEW SONOMA VALLEY POT DISPENSARY DRAWS SCRUTINY

Two women who have run afoul of authorities in several Bay Area 
communities apparently have opened a medical marijuana dispensary in 
Boyes Hot Springs that is drawing concern for its proximity to homes, 
a teen center and an elementary school.

Neighbors of Alikchi Wellness said this week that they were unaware 
that a dispensary had located in a wood-frame building that also 
houses a stained glass art shop at 17503 Sonoma Highway, at the 
intersection of Fetters Avenue.

"I had no idea," said Rebecca Hermosillo, who can see the dispensary 
from her office window at the Valley of the Moon Teen Center, where 
she serves as director.

Hermosillo said she supports marijuana being given to people who are 
sick but she doesn't want a dispensary so close to the teen center 
and "readily available to the kids."

Kim Pelham and Cindy Elizabeth Harris, who co-signed the lease for 
the retail space at the Sonoma Highway site, told the building's 
owner that they were planning to operate a dispensary there.

It's unclear the degree to which that may be happening. However, on 
Monday the unmistakable odor of marijuana was evident in the 
dispensary's foyer, which had a couch, plants and magazines spread on 
a coffee table, lending it the appearance of a doctor's waiting room.

A woman who opened the door declined comment but a few minutes later 
she welcomed a young man who appeared to be in his 20s inside. Little 
else distinguished the site as a dispensary, other than a sign on the 
door that detailed the hours of operation -- Monday through Saturday 
from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. -- and a request that cell phones and "other 
electronic devices" be left outside.

Another sign read, "Smile, you're on camera."

"They have customers," said Larry Brookins, who owns Lost Art across 
from the dispensary. He said he's not opposed to them being there, in 
what formerly was the site of a fitness facility.

"It doesn't bother me at all," he said. "Good luck to them."

Pelham and Harris have not been so welcome in other places. Reached 
on her cell phone Tuesday, Pelham declined comment before hanging up. 
Harris could not be reached.

Harris was forced to close dispensaries that she operated in Santa 
Venetia in Marin County and in Fairfield in Solano County after the 
Solano County Sheriff's Office arrested her in September and charged 
her with multiple marijuana felonies and conspiracy. Her son, who 
lives in Sebastopol, also was arrested, according to media reports.

Pelham was forced to shut down dispensaries in Corte Madera and in 
Napa. Her attempts to open a dispensary in American Canyon led the 
city to enact a ban on such facilities based on conflicts between 
state and federal law regarding marijuana use.

Their dispensary in Boyes Hot Springs is near Flowery Elementary 
School and directly at a crosswalk and a signal that alerts motorists 
to slow down for the presence of school children.

It also is near three markets and Pipe Pirates, a smokeshop that 
recently opened at 18332 Sonoma Highway.

James Gosney, a Concord resident who has owned the Sonoma Highway 
building since 1973, said the two women assured him that they had 
received approval from the county to operate a dispensary there, and 
that one of the women said she had a friend or relative who worked in 
the county's permit department.

"I just took them at their word," Gosney said Tuesday. "They seemed 
to be legitimate."

Asked whether he now has concerns given the feedback about the 
dispensary expressed by neighbors and county officials, Gosney 
replied, "How could I not have concerns about it?"

The county ordinance that governs how medical marijuana dispensaries 
can operate and where they can be located was recently upheld by a 
state appellate court after it was challenged by a Guerneville cooperative.

The three-page application requires extensive documentation, 
including maps and design drawings of each site, setbacks from other 
uses in the area, including schools, homes and conventional 
smokeshops, descriptions of security and patient-privacy rules and 
indemnification of the county in the event of a lawsuit.

There is no record on the county's Web site of Pelham and Harris 
submitting such documentation to open Alikchi, a term that likely 
refers to a traditional Native American healer.

Pete Parkinson, director of the county's Permit and Resources 
Management Department, said Tuesday it's likely the dispensary is 
opening without a permit, because otherwise he would have been 
notified by staff of a pending application.

Parkinson, like most county employees, is off this week because of 
budget-related furloughs, and thus he did not have access to more 
complete records.

Parkinson said without a permit, the dispensary is "certainly subject 
to immediate enforcement actions. Whether that means shutting them 
down depends on the context."

The county's ordinance requires that neighbors who live within 100 
feet of a proposed dispensary be notified in advance of the plans.

But retired psychiatric technician Ed McCahon said he was not advised 
of Alikchi's opening, even though his home is directly behind the dispensary .

"I'm right in their backyard," he said.

McCahon and other neighbors expressed mixed feelings about the 
dispensary, saying they support people having access to marijuana for 
medical needs. They just don't want it to be dispensed so close to 
where they live.

Lorene Reed, who lives on Fetters Avenue a short distance from the 
dispensary with her two teen-aged children, said she has concerns 
about increased traffic.

"I really like my quiet street. I can imagine people will be coming 
up here and that bugs me," she said.

Sonoma County Supervisor Valerie Brown, whose district includes Boyes 
Hot Springs, said she learned of the dispensary Sunday in an e-mail 
from a resident who expressed concern about the facility.

She vowed that county officials would make checking up on the 
dispensary their first priority after they return to work.

Brown in 2007 voted against a dispensary proposed in next to Maxwell 
Park on the border with the city of Sonoma, in part because she felt 
it was not easily accessible for law enforcement. The month prior to 
her vote a 17-year-old was killed in the park in a gang-related shooting.

Brown citing neighbors' concerns about the site's proximity to 
services catering to youth. "I would tell you that it's got some real 
hurdles," she said.

She said supervisors are going to have to more closely monitor such 
facilities, although she did not provide details.

"My request to staff is that we need to delve into this and figure 
out what to do with this because it's become a bigger issue than what 
we all thought it would be," Brown said.

Sheriff's Capt. Matt McCaffrey on Tuesday said deputies likely will 
accompany county officials on their visit to Alikchi. He said such 
visits rarely require immediate action but most often involve permit 
issues that can take time to resolve.

Karen Kissler, spokeswoman for the Sonoma County Patients' 
Association, an alliance of pot dispensaries, said the group is 
opposed to anyone seeking to open one of the facilities without going 
through the process of getting a permit.

"We are here by the grace of the voters and the board of 
supervisors," she said. "If we don't apply for a permit, we are in 
violation of the law, and that's bad for all of us."  
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake