Orange County Recorders Office

Jennifer Lynn McHenry appears in court on murder charge

ZANESVILLE -- Jennifer McHenry looked frail Thursday morning as she stood before Muskingum County Judge Jay Vinsel.

McHenry, 19, dressed in jail house orange jumpsuit with chains on her hands, waist and feet, spoke clearly but softly as Vinsel explained she was being charged with one count of aggravated murder with a gun specification. If convicted, she faces life in prison.

McHenry is accused of killing her father, Donald L. McHenry, 56, with a .22-caliber revolver the evening of June 15.

That night, a 911 call was received by the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office from the McHenry home at 600 Irish Ridge Road and a frantic, screaming Jennifer McHenry was heard saying someone had tried to kill her.

Dispatchers repeatedly tried to speak to her, but she was so distraught they couldn't understand much of what she was saying.

Jennifer McHenry's mother got on the phone and said her husband was lying in the front yard, not moving, and covered in blood.

She also told dispatchers her daughter was on the front porch, also covered in blood. She said she had been in bed, but a "commotion" woke her and she thought she might have heard a gunshot.

Sheriff Matt Lutz was first on the scene and started CPR until EMS personnel arrived.

Donald McHenry was declared dead at the scene by Muskingum County Coroner Perry Kalis.

Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox has not yet released the results of the autopsy, but did say he is planning on presenting Jennifer McHenry's case to a grand jury next Wednesday.

McHenry told Vinsel she did not have an attorney and asked to be appointed one by the court.

Vinsel set a preliminary hearing for July 15, but if McHenry is indicted Wednesday that hearing will be terminated.

McHenry is being held at the Muskingum County Jail on a $1.2 million surety, property or cash bond.

Petition puts Butte County cultivation law on hold | CalPotNews.com

OROVILLE — Butte County’s much-discussed and hotly debated marijuana cultivation ordinance is on hold.

The ordinance that was supposed to go into effect today was suspended when supporters of a referendum aimed at blocking the measure delivered petitions containing 12,308 signatures to the county Elections Office, Roger H. Aylworth reports in the Chico Enterprise-Record.

The submission of the petitions put the ordinance on hold while the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office reviews the petition to determine if they include the minimum 7,605 valid signatures necessary to move the referendum ahead.

CalNORML press release

Andrew Merkel, president of the Butte County Citizens for Compassionate Use , the group that spearheaded the petition drive, said there is no doubt in his mind the petitions will more than surpass the required minimum.

In a telephone interview, he said his group has already compared the signatures to the county voter rolls, just to make sure.

Assuming the minimum signatures are validated, the Board of Supervisors has two options: repeal the ordinance, or put it before the public in a countywide election.

Merkel said medical marijuana patients are “buzzing” about the petition drive’s success.

“They are happy. They are excited,” Merkel said.

He said if his group has its way, the supervisors will repeal the newly passed ordinance, and then sit down with the medical marijuana community and produce an ordinance that is fair to patients.

“We need to move Butte County along,” he said.

The approved ordinance is not a criminal item, but a land-use measure. It prohibits the cultivation of marijuana on any plot of land smaller than one-half acre.

It also prohibits gardens within 1,000 feet of a school, church, residential drug/alcohol treatment facility, school bus stops, parks and some other locations. There are registration requirements and fees for larger gardens, as well as rules involving fencing and setbacks from property lines.

The supervisors conducted three different hearings on the proposal, each of which attracted hundreds of mostly anti-ordinance speakers.

After the third hearing that took place at May 24 in the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley, the supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of the ordinance.

Chico Supervisor Larry Wahl was the lone member of the panel to vote no. He had proposed an ordinance that prohibited all marijuana gardens within the county’s unincorporated area. He said the county would be in violation of federal law that forbids marijuana cultivation if the supervisors approved any ordinance that allowed gardens.

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