By Deb Murphy

Both the Inyo County Board of Supervisors and the Bishop City Council intend to use precinct voting results to help guide future zoning or ordinances for both medical and commercial marijuana operations.

A voter breakdown by area provided by the Registrar of Voters indicates pot is acceptable nearly county-wide.

The biggest winner of the three advisory measures on the November 8 ballot was the tax proposal: 5-percent on commercial operations, both growers and dispensaries. Measure I passed 60 to 40 percent county-wide. The voters in Early Pond were the only group that voted against everything cannabis, including the tax which failed by one vote.

In general, medical marijuana operations did better than their commercial counterparts.

Starting at the north end of the County, medical and commercial operations were approved. Laws broke the trend voting down both Measure G (medical) and H (commercial).

The “yes” votes carried through Bishop city limits and into the McLaren/Manor area and reservation precincts but fell short in West Bishop by a significant margin.

Wilkerson was okay with medical but only by two votes. Commercial went down by 22 votes. While the two tracks north of Big Pine voted yes on both G and H, by less than 20 votes; Measure H lost by 11 votes in Big Pine proper.

Big Pine was the last bastion of hesitation over commercial marijuana. Measure H passed by significant margins from Independence to the Shoshone/Tecopa precincts. The percentages were tight in Olancha and the widest in the Shoshone/Tecopa area with both measures passing 4 to 1.

The County Board of Supervisors will turn Measure I into an official ordinance at its Tuesday meeting as an 11 a.m. time-certain agenda item.

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