Pubdate: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 Source: Bakersfield Californian, The (CA) Copyright: 2011 The Bakersfield Californian Contact: http://www.bakersfield.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/36 Author: Jason Kotowski, Californian Staff Writer FIRST PERSON: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER POT BUST Given the subject I was covering, wearing green khakis to work was an inspired choice. The Kern County Sheriff's Department invited several reporters on Tuesday to watch as they served search warrants at two marijuana grows in east Bakersfield. The grows, near each other off Fairfax Road north of Brundage Lane, contained a total of 376 plants. It was already sunny and warm at 8:15 a.m. when we pulled into a grassy area just south of the grows. One was mazelike and being examined by deputies, so we went to the westernmost, smaller grow first. Senior Deputy Ryan Dunbier escorted us through the property, which was good because he was also the only person among the couple of dozen sheriff's personnel present who could talk on the record. Most of the others were undercover investigators and couldn't give their names or be photographed. The undercover officers had arrived about an hour before the media to secure the area, detaining five people and seizing a handgun. I didn't mind much that they started before us, as I'd left my bulletproof vest at home and didn't fancy being chased by one of the pit bulls used as guard dogs on the property. Too hot for that kind of exertion. As we walked toward the grows -- which, as with most grows the sheriff's department comes across, were surrounded by large plywood walls -- I saw large piles of cut wood on the property. Dunbier said that may have been a side business of the property owner. There were a couple of dozen goats in another section, along with a skinny horse that was later taken by Animal Control. The animals were in a dirt field outside the grow. The smell of manure was strong. Just outside the grow, two people were being detained by officers. They didn't look happy. Several rows of marijuana plants had already been removed by the owners before officers arrived. Dunbier said helicopter surveillance footage caught them harvesting the grow earlier in the week, and officers realized they had to move soon to get the rest of the pot. Each plant had a black water line connected to it. The plants were four to five feet tall. "They're not completely mature," Dunbier said. Kern Narcotics Enforcement Team officers started clipping the plants and stacking them about 8:45 a.m. The team placed white wooden stakes around 12 plants, marking them as the 12 the owner could keep under the new county ordinance limiting pot plants. The officers didn't remove the half a dozen pepper plants that were next to the pot plants. Those pepper plants looked kind of lonely after the marijuana was harvested. Three men were detained in the second grow. A tied up pit bull barked incessantly as officers interviewed the men. The plants at the second site were fuller, with larger buds. There wasn't an extravagant watering system, just a hose. A cross and M * D was painted in red on a couple of the plywood walls. Dunbier said the markings may have been an attempt by the owner to indicate the marijuana was for medicinal purposes. Several medical marijuana recommendations were posted on the walls of both grows, but under the new ordinance limiting pot plants to 12 for each legal parcel of land those recommendations, some of which allowed 99 plants, no longer carry the weight they once did. Dunbier said one of the reasons the sheriff's department is concerned about grows is they're finding them in urban areas. There's potential for violence. "Look how close they are to homes, business areas," Dunbier said as we stood in the second grow, where houses and stores were visible. "There's the opportunity for theft and violence. (The growers) are going to defend their property." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.