Several Elberta residents attended last week’s town council work session to share their displeasure about the signage recently posted for a new hemp product store that has located in the town.
Those who spoke out said they did not like the message being sent by what they called a “pot leaf” on the signage for Seedless Green, a hemp product store soon to be opened by businessman Christian Butts.
“My concern is where it is located and the stigma it will bring to this town,” one resident said. “how is Elberta going to profit from you being here and how will it enhance the youth? How is this going to work with our children? It’s a stigma that goes with that leaf and I don’t feel comfortable having that right in the center of our town.”
Butts came to the meeting to speak to residents at the request of the town council members and said he saw the sign and his store as a way to help educate locals about the cannabis plant.
“There has been many years of propaganda that has made that particular leaf something that has scared a lot of people,” Butts said. “Hopefully, we can help educate you and all our children about cannabis - what it is and how it is for healing.”
Butts’ store will be selling hemp products legally allowed after recent changes made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but residents and some council members remained concerned about the image it could portray for the town.
“For most of the people, the business doesn’t scare them,” Councilwoman Vicky Norris said. “But the sign was an overwhelming slap in the face and a cause of overnight madness. That was what welcomed a lot of people Sunday on the way to church. The location was a big issue for a lot of people.”
Several residents questioned whether the town could regulate what Butts would be allowed to put on the sign, but town officials cited state and federal law that said towns do not have the ability to regulate the content of signage placed within the town.
Elberta Mayor pro team Michael Hudson said he has had family members who have benefitted from products like CBD oil and said the town should be encouraging of new businesses.
“We are begging businesses to come into town,” Hudson said. “We have a business owner who is trying to come into our town and we’ve got people trying to beat him with a stick just because they don’t like what’s painted on his sign. The town will not try to do anything about that. There’s nothing to settle on this. Whatever he puts on that sign is not my prerogative. It’s not my business - it’s his business.”
