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Uncle Ike’s wins one battle — bigger court fight to come

(Image: Uncle Ike's)

(Image: Uncle Ike’s)

Central District pot shop Uncle Ike’s has scored a small victory in the court battle to close the I-502 retailer. Friday, a King County Superior Court judge denied an attempt to shutter the 23rd and Union business until the legal battle brought by neighboring Mount Calvary Christian Center is decided.

A temporary restraining order would have been costly for Ike’s — CHS reported that the only pot shop serving Central Seattle has churned out nearly $14,000 in sales per day.

Following the decision, Ike’s, a CHS advertiser, can continue to do business as the legal proceedings play out. The first hearing is slated for next week.

CHS first reported here on the Mount Calvary lawsuit against Ike’s ownership, the state and the City of Seattle. The church is calling for a closure of the marijuana store as it claims the store should have never been permitted because of its close proximity to a teen center the church operates across the street and other facilities like a parklet nearby at 25th and Union.

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csw
csw
9 years ago

What about the typo in the law (premise vs. premises) that someone pointed out last week in another discussion of this issue? Is there any validity to the idea of challenging the legal distance required from certain types of facilities?

Spiffy D
Spiffy D
9 years ago
Reply to  csw

Yeah but also what about the validity of claiming an empty building is being used as a “teen center?”

That rotting derelict building is always empty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used for anything, ever. The parking lot’s always empty, and the basketball court too.

Prove you use it, Church.

Stephan
Stephan
9 years ago
Reply to  Spiffy D

That teen center is the crux of their case. I have lived right around the corner from it for about 8 years. I have never seen anyone use it for anything other than parking on Sundays. If anyone who lives nearby could contact Ian at Uncle Ike’s to give a statement that the “teen center” sits unused it would go a long way in turning the legal tide against that God-Awful church.

Spiffy D
Spiffy D
9 years ago
Reply to  Stephan

Yeah I live around 25th and Marion and I go by there all the time.

Glad to see that I’m not the only one to notice that place’s lack of any use.

I think the Church is lying.

“God” doesn’t like that, or so I’m told.

David
David
9 years ago

This side-show church enjoys a tax-free status, yet it’s waging an harassment war against a tax-paying business (people who work for a living).

I find this profoundly repugnant, immoral, and un-American.

Mount Calvary is an obscenity managed by grifters.

Stephan
Stephan
9 years ago
Reply to  David

Many people feel the same way. Maybe it’s time to make the church pay taxes. If nothing else, property taxes.

bb
bb
9 years ago
Reply to  Stephan

I hope they at least are made to pay the legal fees that they have burdened this business with.

Ian
Ian
9 years ago
hadley
hadley
9 years ago
Reply to  Ian

What about the giant liquor store across the street? Since Marijuana is just as legal as liquor and arguably safer, whatever is decided for Uncle Ikes should be applied to the liquor store.

Omari Tahir
Omari Tahir
9 years ago

SUNDAY OCT 19TH 2014 OMARI TAHIR CAUGHT IAN EISENBERG STEALING HIS PROTEST SIGNS. OMARI ON BICYCLE INTERCEPTED THE THIEF AND DEMANDED HIS SIGNS. EISENBERG DROPPED THE SIGNS AND STOOD ON THEM AND DEMAND OMARI GET OFF HIS PROPERTY. OMARI RESPONDED ” EVERYONE KNOWS THIS IS NATIVE AMERICAN PROPERTY AND IAN YOU ARE A ‘COLUMBUS TYPE EUROPEAN SETTLER / OCCUPIER COLONIAL TERRORIST’. EISENBERG THEN ORDERED HIS GOON TO PUT OMARI OFF “HIS” PROPERTY. EISENBERG AND HIS GOON THEN PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED OMARI. OMARI AS USUAL NEUTRALIZED THE ATTACK AND EIsENBERG THEN CALLED THE POLICE THAT WERE PARKED ON 24TH AND UNION BESIDES THE HISTORIC LIBERTY BANK? THE POLICE REFUSED TO RESPOND WHEN IN FORMED THAT THE PERSON HE WANTED REMOVED FROM HIS PROPERTY WAS, “OMARI TAHIR THE ONE WHO KNOCKED OUT MAYOR SCHELL” ON THE SAME CORNER. THE POLICE PARKED AROUND THE CORNER ON THE SAME BLOCK REFUSED TO RESPOND UNTIL EISENBERG HAD GIVEN OMARI’S PROTEST SIGNS BACK TO HIM.
OMARI HAS FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE WASHINGTON STATE LIQUOR BOARD AND DEMANDED A COPY OF THE SURVEILLANCE VIDEO SHOWING THE ASSAULT. OMARI IS ALSO REQUESTING A COPY OF THE 911 CALL TO SEATTLE POLICE PENDING FILING OF FEDERAL RICO RACKETEERING LAW SUIT AGAINST IAN EISENBERG, UNCLE IKE’S, THE CITY OF SEATTLE AND THE WASHINGTON STATE LIQUOR BOARD. STAY TUNED, IAN AND HIS GOON SHOULD HAVE NEVER EVER ATTACKED OMARI FOR PROTESTING EISENBERG’S ILLEGAL DOPE STORE NEXT TO A CHURCH???
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BUSINESS FOR THE HIGHLANDS OFF 145TH AND AURORA, BROADMOOR, MADISON PARK, SEWARD PARK ETC, WHERE PEOPLE CAN AFFORD FOR THEIR MONEY TO “GO UP IN SMOKE”???. AS FAR AS A “WEED AND SEED” CRIME STORE ON 23RD AND UNION??? ONLY A COMMUNITY OUTSIDER, DESTROYER, “WANNA BE GENTRIFIER / EHTNIC CLEANSER LIKE IAN OR A “CIRCUS CLOWN” WOULD ATTEMPT TO ADD TO THE MURDER COUNT ON THIS BLOCK CURRENTLY AT 6 (LARRY WARD 1970, CHICAGO NATIVE 1990s (IN FRONT OF HELEN’S / THOMPSON’S VIEW POINT / NEIGHBOR LADIES, BOTH OWNERS OF FORMER BUSINESS BEFORE MED MIX (ARSON FIRE ENDING) ONE OWNER MURDERED INSIDE BUILDING THE OTHER NEAR BY (1990s), AARON ROBERTS (2001), AND KEVIN BROWN (2014),
WOW WHAT HISTORY NOT INCLUDING THE “FERGUSON STYLE” RIOTING ON THIS CORNER (1968, 1969) AND FORMER MAYOR PAUL SHELL’S ACCIDENT (2001)??? TWO SAYINGS APPLY, ONE “BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, YOU JUST MIGHT GET IT” AND TWO, “THOSE THAT DO NOT LEARN FROM HISTORY ARE BOUND TO REPEAT IT”. 23RD AND UNION HAS BEEN / IS THE CENTER OF AFRICATOWN / CD SINCE THE 1950s. HOW WOULD I KNOW??? BEEN LIVING WITH IN 15 BLOCKS OF 23RD AND UNION SINCE 1946 INCLUDING DIRECTLY BEHIND POST OFFICE ON 24TH. PLEASE RESEARCH AND THEN FILE LAWSUIT AS TO HOW IAN ENDED UP WITH “WEED AND SEED” STORE WITH OUT WINING “WEED LOTTERY’???? STAY TUNED THE BATTLE IS AT THE STARTING LINE BUT THE END IS VERY EASY TO SEE??? NO ONE BUT A FOOL WOULD BE FORE A “WEED AND SEED” CRIME STORE TO ADD TO THE CONFLICT ON UNION?? TEAR DOWN THE “WEED STORE” NOT LIBERTY BANK??????? “IT TAKES A VILLAGE (AFRICATOWN AND CHINATOWN) TO RAISE A CHILD”. SEE YOU ON THE CORNER OF 23RD AND UNION DAILY. Omari Tahir, FOUNDER / PRESIDENT AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE MUSEUM AND CULTURE CENTER, AFRICATOWN / CHINATOWN SUPPORTER.
Reply ↓
Omari Tahir on Monday, September 29, 2014 – 1:31 am said:
BY THE WAY DON’T FORGET TO CONTACT THE MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL PEOPLE AND YOUR LAWYER ABOUT THIS ASININE IDEA TO PUT A “WEED AND SEED” CRIME STORE ON 23RD AND UNION WHILE POLITICIANS WALK THE STREETS AGAINST CRIME AND WASTE MORE TAX DOLLAR$$$$$ HIRING 100 MORE UPRODUCTIVE TAX DRAINING ANGRY AND VIOLENT GOVERNMENT STREET AGENTS WITH GUNS AND BADGES WITH LITTLE EDUCATION (MEDICAL DOCTOR WITH OPERATING KNIFE AND ONLY HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA)??? WHAT ABOUT HIRING 100 MORE TEACHERS FOR MADRONA, LESHI, STEVENS, WASHINGTON, MEANY, GARFIELD ECT WITH COLLEGE DEGREES (MASTERS AND PHDs FOR CHEAPER PRICE??? Omari Tahir

20+ years in the CD
20+ years in the CD
9 years ago
Reply to  Omari Tahir

Wow! All caps AND third person. Super crazytown.

Stephan
Stephan
9 years ago

Some of the lines in Omar’s comment (yes, I managed to read it) sound a bit threatening. Murder this… and murder that…and then “history repeating itself” (sorry, “HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF). I am a bit concerned. Omar has held a gun to the head of a UW police officer and smashed the former mayor in the face with a bullhorn. How long until he snaps again?

HistoryRepeating
HistoryRepeating
9 years ago
Reply to  Stephan

Ian – This is a threatening rant by a man who has faced many struggles in his life. I’d like to say, as a long time member of this community, that this is a bit over the top, even for Omari. He is not able to see reality as it presents itself. Normally he complains and distorts issues, not threatening to harm persons. He has snapped before though.
Please, take this rant seriously in the sense that he is capable of irrational,destructive and unlawful behavior. He is ill. I hope, as always, he is on SPD’s radar.
With Omari, there is no “if”, but “when” he will snap and how bad it will be. Maybe some of those church folk could step up and help this man before he gets into trouble he can’t get out of.

20+ years in the CD
20+ years in the CD
9 years ago

I don’t feel safe walking past him with my 3 year old. Once they tear down the old post office along with his house I’m afraid he is going to run around my neighborhood shooting people while yelling “Africatown.” I sure hope that doesn’t happen, but I hope more that he is on someone in authority’s radar.

J.Washington
J.Washington
9 years ago
Reply to  Omari Tahir

Paul Schell’s accident. You mean the one where Omari broke his eye socket with a bullhorn! That’s hilarious. Didn’t he go to jail for several months for this assault? Omari is writing this crazy BS that no one takes seriously.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  Omari Tahir

Will you never learn, that as long as you type in ALL CAPS, two things happen?

1. Probably 50% of people won’t read ANYTHING you type; and
2. Probably 80% of people immediately assume you’re a whack-job.

3rdEye
3rdEye
9 years ago
Reply to  Omari Tahir

How does Omari make a living? He sure has a lot of time to walk around 23rd and Union spouting his rhetoric. My guess is that he feels like he deserves SSI because of all the wrongs that he has had to endure at the hands of the white man.

20+ years in the CD
20+ years in the CD
9 years ago
Reply to  3rdEye

The owner of the post office property lets him live in that creepy Africatown house for free.

Spiffy D
Spiffy D
9 years ago

Wow is that what the deal is? I’ve always wondered what’s up with that shithole property.

Any more info about that?

I would assume being a neighborhood busybody and poorly-worded sign-waving kook doesn’t pay well, but who knows.

Omari is insane
9 years ago
Reply to  Spiffy D

According to a Komo news report in 2003 after Omari’s court hearing “He also testified he receives disability payments for “delayed-stress syndrome due to racism” and described himself as “a refugee of the African slave trade.” ”

http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4067121.html

This guy is completely cuckoo in the head.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  Spiffy D

He’s not TOO insane– If it’s true he manages to get by without working and supports himself entirely by living off the dole. How dumb is he really? Sitting on your ass and ranting/raving about everything sure beats workin’.

LMAO
LMAO
9 years ago

Omari FTW. Needed a pep talk on the road to sanity.

Peter
Peter
9 years ago

Thats right! Don’t let “those” people tell white owned buisnesses what they can and can’t do. Its our neigborhood now and soon we will keep “their kind” from gathering anywhere near us for any reason, especialy to practice the religion that unified them in the fight for cival rights!

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  Peter

trite argument, much?

Manny
Manny
9 years ago

All this headache just to sell legalized pot in this town. I was told the lab is rejecting over 80% of all pot samples sent to it as well which will just add more underground pot into the “evil” black market I presume. I am interested to know if this is true actually if anyone can confirm.

calhoun
9 years ago
Reply to  Manny

It would be good to get an official report of what the percentage is. Meanwhile, one of the goals of legalization is to make pot supplies safer, so I don’t think there should be any objection to a lab rejecting some of the harvest. This will get the growers to up their game as far as the quality/purity of what they bring to market.

Manny
Manny
9 years ago
Reply to  calhoun

I agree the supply needs to be safe. My concern is whether or not a 0% contaminated particle policy is needed. It’s not a food product, after all this is why Mcdonald’s washes their meat with ammonia so they can “comply”. Is this the slippery slope pot regulators want to go down?

Friendly Neighbor
Friendly Neighbor
9 years ago

This is some crazy stuff. So what they sell weed, I haven’t seen anything change since the stores opening. Crazy stuff does still happen in this part of the CD…..ie Horrace Mann occupation with threats of snipers on the roof, Medmix building torched time and time again. Yikes, hope there can be peace and people realize that the liquor store across the street does far more damage to the community.

COMTE
COMTE
9 years ago

Oh, but they keep making the point that they CAN’T protest the liquor store or the gas station because both predate the occupancy by the church, because, apparently, anything that was there before something else was there is sacrosanct and untouchable. You can only complain about something that came AFTER your whatever dropped into the neighborhood. Which I suppose means we’ll be seeing the churchies picketing The Neighbor Lady, Chuck’s, Central Cinema & any other purveyor of mind-altering substances – oh, just about any day now, I imagine – because otherwise, one might assume they’re either hypocrites or using a very narrow-minded definition of what constitutes a “harmful” substance.

Katie
9 years ago

If you are going to protest the weed shop you HAVE to protest the liquor store. They are just as legal/illegal.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  Katie

No, not really, they aren’t just as legal/illegal. They don’t have the same licensing processes/ requirements. Some of those restrictions don’t apply to liquor stores. The Church’s lawsuit claims the restrictions of where a pot shop can go weren’t followed.

COMTE
COMTE
9 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

Which prompts one to ask exactly why they failed to bring up this apparently egregious oversight BEFORE Uncle Ike’s opened? Everyone within a 10 block radius KNEW what was going in there months ago – are they REALLY going to argue “gosh-and-gee-willickers, we simply had NO IDEA!”? Because, that’s a complete load of B.S.

And as for this so-called “teen center” – try looking it up online: no web site, no hours of operation, no listing of events or activities scheduled, in fact no mention of the place whatsoever that isn’t at least a decade old, based on what I’ve seen and read. And we’ve already heard from many people who live nearby (including myself) testifying that the building has gone completely unused for as long as anyone can remember.

No, you never heard a peep out of these people until suddenly it’s open and, coincidentally, all their free Sunday parking went – “pifft!”

Spiffy D
Spiffy D
9 years ago
Reply to  COMTE

Yup! That sums it up nicely.

Teen center my A. It’s an empty decaying building.

Spiffy D
Spiffy D
9 years ago
Reply to  Spiffy D

http://mountcalvarycc.com/

It’s interesting if you poke around the Mt. Cav website. No page for the “teen center”, no listings of any “teen center” event upcoming, and the phone number listed for the “teen center” is the same as the Church.

LIARS. Repent!

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  COMTE

Yup, we all pretty much know what happened here. The pastor of this church was either gleefully oblivious to what’s going on around him; or he totally didn’t care. Which is worse? Parking disappears, the rest of this congregation (equally clueless to what’s going on around them) erupts in a shit-storm when the parking disappears. Chaos ensues, threatens pastor’s cushy job (the pastor several have pointed out drives a Mercedes?); he immediately takes decisive action (albeit a bit late). Cue the “victims” card, grasp at straws citing the long-since-abandoned teen center. He has to divert attention from his ineffectiveness and somehow justify his existence, or his congregation will chuck him out. And here we are.

20+ years in the CD
20+ years in the CD
9 years ago
Reply to  Jim98122x

This whole this is surely a cash windfall for Witherspoon. “I need your cash to make this pot house of sin to go away. Reach deep into your wallets, my sheep. For I am your pimp, er, I mean pastor.”

20+ years in the CD
20+ years in the CD
9 years ago
Reply to  COMTE

The church is able to pick up properties like the “teen center” only to have them sit unused except as a parking lot or the rare church party because they don’t have to pay property tax on them. Then when it suits them they can claim it’s a teen center to quash whatever they in their righteous mind deem a sin. Churches, at the least, should pay property tax.

sandoval
sandoval
9 years ago
Reply to  COMTE

I think you’re confused about the parking situation. The church has always had and still has its own parking. Ike’s didn’t take over any of it. It was the same scenario as when MedMix and the Philly Cheesesteak place were there before. Plus, it’s not like it’s difficult to find parking on 24th.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
9 years ago
Reply to  sandoval

Nobody’s saying Ike’s took over their parking. They’re saying the congregation got accustomed to parking in Ike’s lot while there’s been no businesses there. And yes it IS hard to find street parking around there. The congregation fills up all the street parking around that church and into the immediate neighborhoods while they’re having services.

Ian
Ian
9 years ago

If anyone wants to do more than post on this site send me an email [email protected]

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[…] one court win under its belt and the current legal fight shifting to sort out the latest attempt to shut the shop prior to the […]

Brooke
Brooke
9 years ago

When and where will the hearings be held next week?

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[…] and Union is currently the closest I-502 shop to Capitol Hill, and is doing quite well despite an ongoing lawsuit from the neighboring Mount Calvary Christian Center. Under state liquor board rules, Seattle has […]

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[…] though seldom used. However in a bit of good news for the pot shop a King County Superior Court judge rejected a restraining order filed by Mount Calvary until the case was […]

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[…] put down the neighboring church’s first attempt to shutter the shop with a temporary restraining order, the Central District’s I-502 pot shop Uncle Ike’s was back in court Friday as lawyers […]