Yakima County Moratorium on Pot, Man Hit by Vehicle

The Yakima County Commissioners have imposed a 6-month moratorium on producing, processing and selling marijuana within the unincorporated areas of the county.

Commissioner Mike Leita says this is not an attempt to circumvent the law just an attempt to gain more information. He says they are currently looking at creating ordinances that would regulate the sales, distribution and growing of pot in the county.

“We need to create those ordinances and we need an adequate amount of time to place those ordinances into county statue.”

Leita says because the new ordinances may need legal work it could cost the county to create the new laws. The moratorium takes effect immediately.

Meanwhile the Washington State Liquor Control Board is one step closer to implementing rules for Initiative 502 (I-502). The board will decide whether to adopt a proposed set of rules to implement I-502 at a meeting today in Olympia.

A 49-year-old Yakima man was hit by a vehicle in the 1200 block of North 1st Street at about 9:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Yakima Police say officers found the man in northbound lanes when they arrived last night. The driver cooperated with authorities.

The man was taken to a Yakima hospital and transferred to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with serious injuries.

The cause is under investigation.