Pubdate: Sun, 23 Dec 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Authors: Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross
Page: C1

POT CLUB FINANCED CITIES' GUN BUYBACK PROGRAMS

It turns out that last weekend's big Oakland-San Francisco gun 
buyback - which took more than 600 firearms off the streets - was 
bankrolled in large part by a $100,000 donation from a medical pot club.

"It's part of the philosophy we practice called capitalism with a 
conscience," said Keith Stephenson, the low-key executive director of 
Oakland's Purple Heart Patient Center.

The unique blending of pot and policing began one afternoon outside 
Oakland police headquarters a few weeks back when Stephenson bumped 
into Capt. Ersie Joyner.

"He said he wanted to make a contribution to the community for the 
holidays," Joyner said.

The usual suggestions, such as food and toy drives, didn't interest 
him much. "I wanted to do more than buy a few turkeys for the 
holidays," Stephenson said.

Noting that the holidays also usually mean an increase in armed 
robberies, Stephenson suggested a gun buyback.

Joyner worked the idea up the police ladder, but it quickly became 
clear that the cops could not be directly involved with anything 
having to do with pot - medicinal or not.

So the idea was hatched to run the buyback through Oakland's Youth 
UpRising and San Francisco's Omega Boys Club - with the cops coming 
on board only to help keep an eye on things and to dispose of the guns.

Stephenson, 44, a former airline mechanic who turned to marijuana to 
help deal with his arthritis, put up $50,000 cash. The plan was to 
pay $200 per gun, no questions asked.

No sooner did the twin events get under way Dec. 15 - one day after 
the Connecticut elementary school massacre - than it became clear the 
cash was going fast.

"The cars were stretched longer than the fan line to a Raiders game," 
Joyner said.

A call was to made to Stephenson, and within 45 minutes another 
$50,000 arrived.

Stephenson isn't overly worried that his actions will attract the 
attention of the feds, who appear bent on driving pot clubs out of business.

"I just felt the public needed to know that medical marijuana can 
have benefits besides just paying taxes," Stephenson said. 
"Hopefully, this might spread to a national buyback day."

Power appoint: In what appears to be a nod to both consumers and 
renewable-energy fans, Gov. Jerry Brown has tagged Carla Peterman to 
replace Timothy Simon on the California Public Utilities Commission.

Simon was viewed as a friend of the utilities - and also a friend of 
Chronicle columnist and former Mayor Willie Brown. Peterman, on the 
other hand, is a former board member of The Utility Reform Network, 
which has often crossed swords with the commission.

It's the second time the governor has picked a commissioner from the 
ranks of TURN. The first was Mike Florio, a lawyer for the group.

Not that it always goes the consumers' way. Florio, for example, 
angered his old allies last week when he backed a deal to stick 
customers with two-thirds of the cost of fixing PG&E's neglected gas 
system. "I think what everyone wants to see is truly independent 
commissioners who are not beholden to any special interests," said 
TURN spokeswoman Mindy Spatt.

Even their own.

In the news: No sooner did his critics launch a petition drive urging 
embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to resign than the 
sheriff fired back with the department's first "e-newsletter."

Volume One featured a personal message from Mirkarimi in which he 
reflects that personal hardships pale as we think of the unimaginable 
losses endured in Newtown, Conn.

"All I wanted to do was hug my son - and yet on the same day, 
emergency dispatch reminds us that here in San Francisco, gun 
violence befalls distressed neighborhoods and the youth who live there."

To that end, Mirkarimi says, he'll be announcing a number of 
initiatives in the new year.

For updates, all readers have to do is "take a moment to subscribe" 
by clicking on the newsletter's link.

In treatment: A UCSFaffiliated orthopedic surgeon is facing 
misconduct charges before the California Medical Board over a torrid 
affair he allegedly had with one of his hip-replacement patients.

He even made a house call to London, where she and her family had 
moved during the two-year affair.

It all unraveled a few months back, according to the complaint filed 
by the Medical Board, when the doctor was meeting with his pelvic 
patient and "accidentally called his wife on his cell phone."

Exactly what happened next isn't clear from the report, but the wife 
must have heard more than she wanted - because the affair abruptly 
ended and the doctor's wife is now his ex.

UCSF declined to comment, citing doctor confidentiality. But it did 
confirm that the surgeon still has his hospital privileges - even as 
he faces sexual and professional misconduct charges.

California medical licensing records, by the way, show that of the 
eight doctors disciplined for sexual misconduct last year, just one 
lost his license.
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