Cool Ranch

Slouched in a blue folding chair in front of Ann Arbor's city hall, James Brinker has all he needs for the moment: a copy of High Times magazine, a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, a 16-ounce bottle of Mountain Dew and an Android cell phone loaded with rock tunes. An associate of a proposed medical marijuana dispensary on Packard Road, Brinker has been camped out in front of city hall since Monday night. He has slept the last five nights curled up with a blanket in his chair, using an umbrella to shield him from the elements on what has turned out to be a rainy week. "It sucks being out here," he admitted on Friday afternoon. "But I'll sit out here as long as I have to — this is my livelihood I'm talking about." Read the story.