Below is a decent piece by Nick Miller of the Sac News and Review detailing the Montel soap opera in a little more detail. I was contacted this morning by two senior women who told me Montel Wellness owes them $8,500 and refused to pay them. It was heartbreaking to have ladies my mother’s age who live of of fixed incomes and depend on their harvest to supplement their income telling me how this has affected their lives. I was appalled to think that this group spent probably a undred thousand dollars on renovations and upgrades and “celebrity consulting” and they have made no effort to manage the debt of the organization. These women have gone without, as this organization has spared no expense on their “message.” Their “everyone else is doing it wrong and I am here to save you” BS is unbecoming. I just cannot fathom how these snakes sleep at night. Ugh… Montel Williams’ fight The former talk-show host opens a new medical-cannabis dispensary in Midtown to fanfare, controversy By Nick Miller

“There won’t be a cure for MS in my lifetime. Period. It’s not happening.”

Montel Williams, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999, accepts this. He accepts it when he gets up each morning and is in too much pain to lift his feet out of bed. Or when his body can’t regulate its temperature and he’s the only guy in an air-conditioned room sweating uncontrollably.

He says these words on a recent Thursday morning at downtown Sacramento’s Hyatt Regency hotel amid sips of a warm espresso drink. The former talk-show host, whose Montel Williams Show ended in 2008 after 17 years, says he’s on a single-minded mission to mitigate, abate and assuage his MS symptoms. And share what he’s learned with patients worldwide.

“Everything I’m working on is a spoke in the wheel,” he says.

CW: I guess the history of the organization and its obligations are like the playing card stuck in that spoke getting whacked every time it passes by until it withers and is no more….

Williams’ latest spoke, however, is a divisive one: Abatin Wellness Cooperative, a medical-cannabis dispensary he launched this past Monday in Midtown Sacramento. A long-standing advocate, Williams has spoken at city halls across the country on behalf of medical pot. But this is his first medical-marijuana business endeavor. He hopes to take what he learns over the next six months here in Sacramento and expand nationwide.

Critics, including many local pot-club owners, say Williams is merely cashing in on California’s marijuana boom. They cite his commercials shilling for cash-advance loans and penchant for hosting psychics on his old TV show as grounds to doubt his compassion.

CW: It is hard to think how compassionate people would bully and intimidate senior citizens and hard working people to get out of paying their debts. They are your goons…

Many also question whether he should be allowed to operate a dispensary in the city, which has a moratorium on new clubs and an ordinance disallowing transfer of ownership. Williams says he is simply “consulting” at Abatin, and that Aundre Speciale—who owned the club that also previously operated at 2100 29th Street as Capitol Wellness Collective—remains on as “executive director.”

CW: Manager. Check the payroll differential from 2009 and now….

A contingent of vendors arrived at the new dispensary on Monday to complain that they were unpaid by Speciale for cannabis and services provided at her old collective, which shut down months ago, only to be remodeled into the existing Abatin club. One disgruntled contractor, Mickey Martin, who owns medical-cannabis consulting firm T-Comp in the Bay Area, argued he’s owed $20,000 from Capitol Wellness and also that Abatin is in violation of Sacramento’s ordinance, which states that any dispensary that closes for more than 30 days will have its permit revoked.

CW: That is correct….

Capitol Wellness says it’s working with vendors to resolve any payment issues.

I have made several calls, sent emails, and have mailed letters in an effort to get a response to no avail. This has been going on since January. Where is the resolution I wonder? Glad they spent everyone else’s collective income on renovations while leaving contractors and suppliers out in the cold.

Williams rebuffs all detractors. “Anyone who would say [I’m doing this for the money] clearly is thinking of how they position themselves, because they’re not thinking about me. I’ve been doing this for the last 10 years. It’s not like I’m doing this because I’m trying to make a buck. …

CW: So…I could care less your motivation. Just pay your bills, dude….and try and play by the rules. Unsavory business practice sucks, but KARMA sucks more…..

For the rest of this story visit the SN&R site HERE…