CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Charleston City Council met Monday evening, with a couple of issues being at the center of the discussion.
The topic that saw the most debate or questionnaire was the proposed ordinance that would change city code in Charleston to lessen the punishment for adults for the first offense of the simple possession of cannabis.
The topic was brought up in last week’s Charleston Committee on Ordinance & Rules meeting before getting layed over to this week. At 5:30 Monday evening, the committee met again and had further discussion before bringing the two bills to City Council at 7 o’clock.
In the committee meeting, Charleston Police Chief Scott Dempsey shared his thoughts on the lesser punishment, saying it can turn into a slippery slope.
“I just would caution when you decriminalize any narcotic because it does turn into a slippery slope,” Dempsey said.
Once the full City Council meeting began, comments from the public were heard, and Corey Zinn, a known supporter of the bills, shared a different opinion, saying the “slippery slope” doesn’t exist.
“We talk about this ‘slippery slope’, the ‘gateway drug,’ and we know that’s not true because we see over half of the states legalizing cannabis in some way and teens aren’t increasing use,” Zinn said.
Once discussion was opened for council members, there was plenty of conversations had, with some of the questions brought up causing more confusion than resolution.
After nearly an hour of discussion, a motion was made to move the bills back to committee for another time.
Committee Chairman Chad Robinson says the confusion among council members made it clear the best thing to do was re-commit it to the committee.
“There was some confusion, question, confusion, appending amendments, so the best thing that I thought was just re-commit it back to the committee to have those discussion if and when we meet again,” Robinson said after the meeting concluded.
Robinson also said that the bills do not decriminalize or legalize marijuana, but that statement may have gotten lost in the midst of the discussion.
“It doesn’t legalize marijuana,” Robinson said. “It doesn’t decriminalize marijuana. It just reduces jail time for first offense and such offenses, but that got lost in all the questions and comments and that’s why it’s probably better to have those discussions in committee.”
Another topic that was addressed and met with some comments Monday evening was a proposed ordinance to expand the City of Charleston’s urban deer hunt to include bears and coyotes.
This bill, also brought up in committee, would expand the urban deer hunt with some Charleston residents towards the South Hills side of the city have reported seeing bears and coyotes in their area.
Council Member Joe Soloman proposed that the council lay the bill over, on the grounds that there were some potential unclear guidelines that needed further discussion, but the council failed the motion with a vote of 18-7.
Council Member Beth Kerns says coyotes have become an issue for some neighborhoods in the city.
“I know that the coyotes have become an issue in multiple neighborhoods in our city and they are killing small animals, dogs, cats, chickens,” Kerns said.
In relation to the bears being added, Robinson said the bear population in the hill areas of Charleston has gotten out of control, but there will be a limited on what can be used against the bear.
“The situation where we’re having so many bear population in the hill areas of Charleson, on that side of the river, is in essence, the reason we’re adding bear to the urban hunt,” Robinson said during the meeting. “This is not rifle hunting with bear. This is only compound or crossbow hunting.”
Robinson added that .22 air rifle caliber weapons could be used for coyotes in Charleston.
Monday was the final Charleston City Council meeting for the month of July.
Be the first to comment