Ypsilanti Council Snubs Pot Ruling
YPSILANTI - As far as the Ypsilanti City Council is concerned, District Court Judge Thomas Shea was talking loud but saying nothing when he again ruled the city's $5 pot law invalid last Thursday. "As far as this council is concerned the ruling made by Circuit Court Judge Patrick Conlin stands, and the law is valid," Mayor George D. Goodman told crictics of Shea's ruling during a council meeting Monday night. Shea originally ruled the law, which was enacfed bythé'voters in April, unconstitutional. Conlin later reversed that ruling in a Circuit Court decisión. However, last Thursday, Shea, stating that Conlin's decisión was "wrong," again ruled the law invalid. "We follow the advice of our attorney's office," said Goodman, and that office has informed us that Conlin's ruling is the oneto follow." Although Assistant City Attorney Walter Hamilton stated that he would make no comment on Shea's decisión, he ded tnat Conlin's ruling is law as far as we're concerned." He also added that the Pólice Department will continue to proceed on the assumption that the ordinance is valid. According to Human Rights Party Councilman Eric Jackson, Shea's decisión "... was an unethical, frivolous, abuse of the law." Council also received a statement from David Nicholson, coördinator of the Ypsilanti Marijuana Initiative to the effect that "... we are abhorred and tounded by the foolhardiness of Shea's decisión after the law upheld almost in its entirety in Circuit Court . . . We would hope that there are no political motivations behind Shea's opinión." Council rejected a suggestion from HRP party member Kathy McQuillan that a letter be sent from council to Shea expressing their displeasure with the ruling. McQuillan then urged "council members, particularly those elected from wards where the ordinance was overwhelmingly supported, to send individual letters to Shea."
Article
Subjects
Aretha Jackson
Ypsilanti Police Department
Ypsilanti Marijuana Initiative
Ypsilanti City Council
Ypsilanti - Mayor
Marijuana Ordinance
Laws & Legislation
Human Rights Party (HRP)
Drugs
Ann Arbor News
Old News
Walter Hamilton
Thomas Shea
Patrick J. Conlin
Kathy McQuillan
George D. Goodman
Eric Jackson
David Nicholson