Carroll County

Tempers flare at meeting over possible reduction in pot possession fine

CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — City Council members in Temple say the town's fines for having small amounts of marijuana are too steep, and they have proposed to change the ordinance.

Tempers flared at a town hall meeting Thursday where there was a very vocal group against the change.

City Council Member Penny Ransom proposed lowering the fine for possession of an ounce of marijuana from the maximum $1,000 to $75, and urging citations rather than arrests.

"Is the community ready to be progressive or are they not ready to be progressive?" she said.

Many at the meeting would say the answer to that question is no.

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"It would bring those people here that we don't want in our community," one resident said.

The City of Clarkston recently voted unanimously to decrease their fines, but some critics in Temple say their fine isn't high enough.

"We need to go the other way," another resident said.

Ransom said the shooting of Deaundre Phillips, who was allegedly smoking pot outside of an Atlanta police annex building pushed her to propose the change.

Those pushing the change say they know they weren't the loudest Thursday night, but they insist they have support.

"There's a lot of silent supporters here tonight who I believe they'll take the issue to the ballot box," a resident said.

"People that support this didn't feel that they needed the information. They said, 'We're good. We want to know when there's going to be a vote,'" Ransom said.

The ordinance is scheduled for a second reading and possibly a vote on May 1.