Purple Cross Rx still ignoring eviction order
Despite being served with an eviction notice and being
threatened with further court action, the operator of the downtown
Hollister medical marijuana dispensary said this week that he still
has no intention to leave and that he may lead the drive to recall
city council members if they proceed with threatened legal
action.
Purple Cross Rx still ignoring eviction order
Despite being served with an eviction notice and being threatened with further court action, the operator of the downtown Hollister medical marijuana dispensary said this week that he still has no intention to leave and that he may lead the drive to recall city council members if they proceed with threatened legal action.
“As you might have guessed, Purple Cross is not leaving this property,” Scott McPhail said in an e-mail to The Pinnacle. “We as renters have many rights, too, so we are going to stay, until we get Supreme Court rulings from around the state later this year.”
McPhail was served with a three-day eviction notice by his landlord, Greg Dolan, who also filed an “unlawful detainer” action in court in an effort to force the dispensary to move from its 335 San Benito St. location.
After disregarding both demands, McPhail this week said that if the Hollister City Council decides to sue him in order to force his move, “I will start a petition to recall any and all council people infringing on our civil rights.”
He added that banning medical marijuana dispensaries is “against the law” and that his lawyer, James Roberts, would “blow [the city’s] case out of the water, while dragging the case out for possibly years on [the city’s] expense … though I don’t see the citizens of Hollister allowing them to do that.”
Dolan, who was initially supportive of Purple Cross Rx moving into his building near the corner of Fourth and San Benito streets in early January, as long as the city allowed the dispensary to operate, said that he wanted to “do the right thing’ by evicting McPhail as the city requested.
Hollister officials contend that Purple Cross is violating city codes by operating a business that runs counter to federal law.
