Church files lawsuit against Seattle marijuana store

SEATTLE — A Seattle church has filed a lawsuit claiming missteps were made in the licensing of its neighbor, a legal marijuana retailer.

Frustrated church and community members shouted their opposition when Seattle’s second pot shop opened a week ago in the Central District.

Officials from the Mount Calvary Christian Church Center say Uncle Ike’s is breaking the rules. The church filed suit this week against the shop, the City of Seattle and the state Liquor Control Board for allowing the shop to operate within 1,000 feet of a recreational center run by the church.

“We have three youth entities with a thousand feet of this madness,” said the church’s Reginald Witherspoon.

The law says a state licensed pot shop can’t operate within 1,000 feet of a rec center. That law was ignored, according to church leaders, when Uncle Ike’s opened roughly 250 feet away from a rec center and basketball court.

“Somehow the inspectors come and look at this and don’t identify what it is, they don’t talk to anyone to find out about its function,” said Greg Alex with the Matt Talbot Center Ministries.

Alex said he spent years helping the church stop the sale of illegal drugs at its corner on 23rd and Union, and he believes that hard work has now been undone.

“The city has permitted and the state has licensed someone to do the very thing (we fought against), now its come down to a lawsuit that we fought to clean up,” he said.

As for Uncle Ike’s, business seems to be booming. The shop’s owner had no comment about the lawsuit on Friday.

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Church files lawsuit against Seattle marijuana store