Keego Harbor legalizes marijuana use, possession

Voters in Keego Harbor made marijuana legal for adults. It was among many key proposals that passed in Tuesday's election across metro Detroit.

The marijuana proposals -- legalizing the "usage, possession and transfer" of an ounce or less of cannabis by anyone 21 or older, and only within a private non-public space such as a house -- passed with 260 votes, or 55%, with 210 voters opposed, or 45%.

• Wayne County voting results

• Oakland County voting results

• Macomb County voting results

• Outstate voting results

The city in Oakland County's lakes district joins half a dozen other communities in the county and more than a dozen across Michigan to have legalized cannabis possession for adults or to have the drug made their community's lowest law-enforcement priority. A proposal very similar to the Keego Harbor measure also passed in the Kalamazoo County city of Portage.

Elsewhere in marijuana balloting, Ohio voters rejected a proposal that would have made the state the fifth to legalize marijuana use. Initial tallies showed the proposal failing by a 2-to-1 margin, apparently defeated by a coalition of strange bedfellows -- those who saw it as promoting drug abuse and those who support legalization but not in the manner of the proposal. Many Ohioans who want to "free the weed" said the ballot measure would've created a series of monopolies for production of cannabis, driving up prices and shutting out small-scale growers.

In Keego Harbor and Portage, opponents of the local legalization measures that passed had said they would conflict with state and federal laws against marijuana. But those in favor said that passing the proposals would put fresh pressure on Lansing lawmakers to consider statewide legalization bills.

Elsewhere in Oakland County:

Berkley: Voters passed a quirky proposal that requires a public vote of approval before anyone can change the city's traditional-oriented, half-century-old city logo. The vote came despite the city's hiring months ago of a Lansing marketing firm to design a new logo. The vote was 1,524 yes, 488 no.

Updating the logo has been strongly favored by the current mayor and outgoing city manager Jane Bais-Di-Sessa, while opposition was led by former mayor and Berkley history maven Maybelle Fraser.

"I'm just so proud of our voters -- this is a tradition that's worth defending," an exuberant Fraser said, after the victory.

Ortonville: A $20-million sewer proposal endorsed by County Executive L. Brooks Patterson as a way to reduce pollution from aging septic fields badly lost, with 88% of voters opposed, tallying 486 no votes, while only 65 voters or 12% said yes. The county was to issue bonds that Ortonville voters would pay down to finance a sewage-treatment facility.

Wayne County

Gibraltar: Voters approved a 10-year road millage with 767 yes votes, for 54%, and no voters at 651 or 46%.