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Light up, but don't drink up. Those were voters' verdicts in neighboring Ferndale and Oak Park.
A Ferndale proposal to allow the medical use of marijuana passed, 1,894-1,222. And a proposal in Oak Park to allow sales of alcohol by the glass, according to unofficial results, failed 3,184-1,869 with all but some of the absentee ballots counted.
With the passing of its proposal, Ferndale joins Detroit and Ann Arbor, which in 2004 approved allowing marijuana for medical use.
Such initiatives have been approved in 10 states, but not in Michigan, so the new measure flies in the face of state laws banning marijuana possession. Police, including Ferndale Chief Michael Kitchen, pledged to ignore such an ordinance and arrest anyone found with the drug.
"It basically just seems like a big waste of time to me," said Ferndale resident Michele Sibula, 44. "Does approving that mean that we're cool? I think that's the implication."
Proponents include a group called the Ferndale Coalition for Compassionate Care, led by University of Michigan sophomore Donal O'Leary III.
"I think people realize that this is a legitimate medical question," O'Leary said.
In Oak Park, voters shot down the proposal, which would have allowed businesses that made 50% of their profits from food sales to sell alcohol. The issue came up last year after the city acquired a portion of Royal Oak Township through a land- and tax-sharing agreement that had businesses with liquor licenses, including a karaoke bar, Royal Kubo, on Greenfield south of I-696. This vote means that Royal Kubo, the only business that still had a license before the election, will lose its liquor license.
Owner Armand Santos said he was surprised by the vote and now plans to move his business to another city.
"Karaoke without alcohol -- it doesn't go hand-in-hand," he said.
"We lost everything. We lost our livelihood."
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