Pubdate: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 Source: Dothan Eagle, The (AL) Copyright: 2003 The Dothan Eagle Contact: http://www.dothaneagle.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3077 Author: Ann Henderson MORE THAN 6,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS BURNED More than 6,000 marijuana plants were cut down and burned this week during an eradication effort along the Alabama-Florida state line. Along with the illegal plants, law enforcers also rounded up a 63-year-old Bonifay, Fla. man who had marijuana growing on his property, according to authorities. "This shows we will put people in jail, not just pull up their plants," said Holmes County Sheriff Dennis Lee. The Holmes County Sheriff's Department was the center of the operation that included the Geneva County Sheriff's Department, U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Alabama Department of Public Safety-Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Alabama National Guard. "We still have old-time marijuana growers in the area," Lee said. "They probably thought we would be so tied up with meth labs we would not be doing this this year." One suspect found out the department could do both. The suspect is Melvin L. Beall, 63, of Bonifay. Holmes County Chief Deputy Eddie Ingram said 166 mature plants were found on Beall's property in a patch off Beall Packing Road along Holmes County 177A. "In a search of his residence we found an indoor-growing operation with 40 to 50 plants," Ingram said. "We also found some methamphetamine." Beall is charged with cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and possession of a controlled substance. He is currently in the Holmes County Jail without bond. Ingram said the largest number of plants were found Thursday afternoon. The patch of 644 plants was pulled from a forest east of Miller's Crossroads off Florida State Road 2. The tallest plants were found Wednesday afternoon along Roping Road, a dirt road north of Florida 2 near Bonifay. More than 200 plants, ranging in height from 18 to 22 feet, were found in a scrub oak tract near a planted field. In Alabama, 20 plants from six to eight feet tall were found south of Geneva on Buck Holland Road Thursday. "It's still important we do this type of activity," said Geneva County Sheriff Greg Ward. "Marijuana plants will produce the illegal drug of marijuana and it will eventually be sold on the streets." With an average sale value of $2,000 per mature plant, the haul this week took about $12 million out of the growers' pockets. "The tallest plants could have generated almost $5,000 per plant," Ingram said. "This put a major hurting on somebody," Ward said. "But I'm still surprised that that much marijuana is being grown in this area. Most of the growers have either gone out of the area, gone indoors or are going elsewhere to get it. "It's important to keep doing this because if we don't, it will be more and more and more marijuana sold on the street," Ward said. The most successful year in Geneva County was in 1992 when 15,000 plants were taken during a week of eradication. Geneva County ranked in the top five marijuana producing counties that year.