Not much fuss over pot business denial

Jean Comstock didn’t have public comment this week after she learned that the City of Grand Coulee had denied her application for a business license to put in a marijuana retail store on Burdin Boulevard.

While Grand Coulee was denying an application for a business license, the city of Omak was granting one.

The state’s attorney general had declared that his office would not recognize a city’s refusal to grant a business license based on the fact that it would be in violation of federal law.

That was the primary reason Grand Coulee City Clerk Carol Boyce refused the application May 26.

Boyce was handed the task after the city council heard a room full of people express their opinion that the city should deny any request for a license it receives. Several on the council are running for re-election this fall.

Comstock said she wanted to “thank all the people who have been so supportive” of her efforts to put in a store here.

Omak originally refused to grant a license for a pot store there, but on advice from counsel, and because of the position of the state’s attorney general, finally granted it by a 4-1 vote, the Omak Chronicle reported last week.

City Clerk Boyce, who made the decision on refusing the license application, said she hasn’t received much comment about it.

“I’ve had a couple say they agree with what I did, that’s about all,” she said.

Comstock would have recourse through superior court, or could ask the attorney general’s assistance in pursuing the matter, but hasn’t said what her next step would be.

If the matter ended up in court, it could be an expensive issue for the city, and it wasn’t clear how determined the city council might be in holding its course.