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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom