An emotional town hall meeting on Colorado Springs’ north side Thursday night was dominated by medical marijuana proponents.

The meeting packed far more than the 71 people allowed by fire code into the community room at Fire Station No. 19.

It was hosted by Councilman Darryl Glenn and El Paso County Commissioner Wayne Williams, who represent the northern part of the city, to address city and county policies on medical marijuana regulation and pending ballot issues on the subject.

“I believe there is enough ambiguity in Amendment 20 that this issue could ultimately be decided in the courts,” Glenn said. “Much of the discussions at City Council have turned into debates about the validity of medical marijuana. But to me, the real issue is the definition of a caregiver. I believe the best ones to answer that is the voters.”

There was little progress made toward defining what Glenn’s constituents believe a “caregiver” is.

Glenn spent a lot of time refusing to engage in debates on his opinion of medical marijuana, throwing one man out of the meeting and threatening to remove Councilman Tom Gallagher when he challenged Glenn’s interpretations on recently passed state regulations on dispensaries.

Before the meeting, Glenn said “a lot of people” in his district had sending him e-mails requesting a community discussion about dispensaries.

Few people who identified themselves as district residents spoke, and the majority of those who did were in favor of the dispensary model of distributing medical marijuana.

Glenn said the three Springs residents who want to place an initiative on the November ballot asking voters whether dispensaries should be banned in the city live in his district.

Steve Wind, who heads the group Let Us Vote Colorado Springs, which wants to place a measure as early as November asking voters whether medical marijuana dispensaries should be banned from the city, did not speak.

“I am going to force this to a vote,” Glenn said.

Capt. Patrick Dowdell, right, stands with Capt. Zach Maxcey Thursday, June 17, 2010 at Fort Carson under a World Trade Center memorial built from a steel beam salvaged from the towers during a rehearsal for Saturday’s dedication ceremony. Dowdell, who’s father, Kevin, was a New York firefighter who died when the towers collapsed, acquired a separate piece of steel from the towers which he will be taking with him to Afghanistan when he ships out in July. Photo by Anthony Souffle, The Gazette