CORUNNA (WJRT) -
(02/01/12) - For the past 10 days, a handful of protestors have been standing on street corners in Corunna. They're upset with the Shiawassee County's prosecutor's stand on medical marijuana dispensaries.
What the group lacks in size, it makes up in determination.
"I need to come out here and let everybody know what's going on. We need to get this guy out of here. He's just no good," said Joshua Lawler, protest organizer.
'This guy' that he's talking about is Shiawassee County prosecutor Randy Colbry, who recently ordered several medical marijuana dispensaries to close. Lawler says he was threatened with arrest after he showed up at one of the stores in Owosso.
"They turned me around, started to put my hands behind my back and told me if I didn't show them my medical marijuana card I was going to jail," Lawler said.
Lawler met with the prosecutor's office to protest the decision to close the shops.
"This Joshua Lawler became very confrontational with one of my assistant prosecutors. So there's a personal protection order in force," explained Randy Colbry, Shiawassee County Prosecutor.
"I'm just a big pothead, is all I was put out to be," Lawler said.
Lawler gathered some friends and they have been waving signs and encouraging motorists in downtown Corunna to honk their horns.
"We get a lot of thumbs up and calls of "good job." They say to keep up the good work," Lawler said.
The protestors are usually out for about six hours a day near the courthouse.
"They've got a right to protest, to picket, whatever you want to call it. As long as they don't go over that line to harassment," Colbry said.
The protestors want Colbry to resign.
"They're endeavoring to make an issue of my drunk driving that was two and a half years ago," Colbry said.
In 2009, Colbry pleaded guilty to drunken driving charges and was sentenced to probation.
"I'll keep it up all the way to election time. That way I'll make sure he doesn't run for prosecutor again, or some kind of judge," Lawler said.
