12 July 11 - 17, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents sidered illegal marijuana. If the shops didn’t remove the products with illegal levels of THC, they could stand to lose their certificates of occupancy to do business in the city. This most recent notice, which was sent out in late June, is a bit more chilling to local business owners. It said, in part, “Allen is holding a hearing that will determine whether you may lose your rights to continue using your property for its current business use.” This hearing will be before the city’s planning and zoning commission at 7 p.m., July 16, at Allen City Hall. Some Allen hemp shop owners are worried what this could mean for them moving forward. The notice says the hearing will be “to determine proposed amendment that would provide a definition for a new CBD shop use and would further provide regula- tion to separate development and opera- tional standards for CBD shops in order to mitigate the negative impacts associated with the consumption of these products.” CBD is also found in cannabis but doesn’t get users high. People generally use it for therapeutic purposes, such as reducing anx- iety and pain relief. Chris James, the owner of Modern CBD and Wellness in Allen, told the Observer he was worried for the future of his business in light of the recent notice from the city. “If they, for whatever reason, reclassify the building use and they say that CBD is not allowed, I mean, they’re going to pull my [certificate of occupancy] and I’m going to have to close my store,” James said. “Allen’s the only city that’s getting out of control like this.” He said he has three other stores in other cities and has no issues. We reached out to the city of Allen about the notice and heard back from its police de- partment. Officer Sam Rippamonti told us the city is considering an ordinance to set distance requirements between CBD shops. He said this would only apply to new shops, but that’s not at all what the recent letter said. When we asked Rippamonti for clarifica- tion, he insisted that he was told this ordi- nance would only apply to new shops. It’s all worrisome to Maria McReynolds, the owner of Leafy Wellness Co., a hemp shop in Allen that sells CBD and hemp-de- rived THC products. “As a small business owner, clearly I was really concerned, especially since this is my personal livelihood,” McReynolds, who has been in business for about five and a half years, told the Observer. “The other thing that also worried me about the situation was my customers.” She said a lot of people may be using hemp-derived THC products recreationally, but others, like many of her customers, use them for therapeutic purposes. McReynolds said her business serves a lot of seniors and veterans. “So, that was one of my biggest con- cerns with this was that they’re taking some- thing away from people that are using it for medical purposes,” she said. Asked how she would feel if the notice pertained only to new CBD shops, as Rip- pamonti maintains, McReynolds said it was a tough question. “I don’t want to saturate the city with hemp shops, but I also do feel that people should be given the opportunity to come into the industry,” she said. Between the letter and what we were told by Rippamonti, it’s difficult to tell ex- actly what the city of Allen is trying to do with CBD shops. Regardless, James is wor- ried what kind of precedent this could set for the future. “It’s definitely concerning because then what happens if Allen is successful in shut- ting down CBD stores all throughout their community?” he asked. “What’s going to stop others in other cities from trying to do the same thing? You know, it takes one.” ▼ CITY HALL ETHICAL METAL DALLAS EMPLOYEES REPRIMANDED FOR ALLEGEDLY STEALING METAL. BY JACOB VAUGHN L ast October, a Dallas resident saw something they thought was unusual. In the middle of the day, a city of Dal- las building services truck pulled up to the house next door. A man exited the vehicle and started to haul metal materials from the truck onto the property. The resident called the city’s building services department to report what they saw. What followed was an investigation into two Dallas employees ac- cused of stealing from the city. The alleged theft was a violation of the city’s code of ethics, according to Bart Bev- ers, Dallas inspector general, who is tasked with finding corruption in the city. Oscar Ceja, an employee in Dallas’ build- ing services department, is accused of taking the metal materials from the city. Rene Ro- driguez, another employee in the building services department, allegedly drove Ceja to Ceja’s residence to drop off the materials. During an evidentiary hearing of the city’s ethics advisory commission, Ceja pleaded true to the allegations. Rodriguez denied them. Laura Phelan with Dallas’ inspector general’s office presented the case against Ceja and Rodriguez to the commission. “This is a case of employee theft,” Phelan said. In the middle of the day in October the neighbor saw a city of Dallas truck with two men in it pull up to a neighboring house. One of the men unloaded metal materials — apparently exhaust fans. All of this was caught on the resident’s security camera. The resident called Brian Thompson, assis- tant director of facility maintenance and op- eration with the city’s building services department, that month. Unfair Park from p10 Wikimedia Allen is confused with its hemp shops. >> p14 D DIGITAL MARKETING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE INTERESTED CANDIDATES PLEASE SEND YOUR COVER LETTER AND RESUME TO [email protected]