Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jul 2012 Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) Copyright: 2012 The Press Democrat Contact: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/348 Author: Mary Callahan TWO ARRESTS, WARNINGS IN LAKE COUNTY MARIJUANA CRACKDOWN Enforcing a disputed 10-day old emergency ordinance, Lake County authorities arrested two Santa Rosa men Thursday and warned marijuana growers at three other properties they had 48 hours to dispose of excess pot plants. The day-long enforcement operation resulted in the seizure of 399 plants, most of them from a St. Helena Creek Road property near Middletown. Two Santa Rosa men encamped in a trailer had an elaborate grow of 303 plants they claimed were for Southern California medical marijuana co-ops and for themselves, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said. The plants were illegal because the regulations adopted July 9 by county supervisors prohibit marijuana cultivation on unoccupied land. All of the plants that were seized came from properties without residential structures. In addition, authorities cited conditions off St. Helena Creek Road that included a pit for disposal of human waste and an illegal well drilled next to a spring used to irrigate the potted plants, the sheriff's office said. The suspects, Michael Joseph Simon, 30, and Peter Jefferson Wainwright, 41, also had a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol and a substantial amount of methadone for which neither had a prescription, the sheriff's office said. Elsewhere, growers with 84, 80 and 94 marijuana plants respectively were given 48 hours to bring their cultivation into compliance with the new regulations. The ordinance includes thresholds for the number of plants that can be grown depending on the size of the property. The maximum is 48 plants on parcels of 40 acres or more. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom