Pubdate: Mon, 13 Aug 2012
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Author: Lewis Griswold

COUNTRY DWELLERS FUME OVER NEIGHBORING MARIJUANA SITES

Carl and Maggie Huddleston's country home near Strathmore boasts a
horse corral, fig tree, grape arbor and a view of the foothills.

But their view also includes a marijuana farm across the street that
has turned their country dream into a nightmare.

"One of the things we're really concerned about is gunfire," said
Maggie Huddleston, a nursing instructor at a private college who moved
to the country six years ago.

It's a valid concern. A man guarding another marijuana grow site half
a mile away was shot and killed last fall, a murder that still is unsolved.

Pot producers taking advantage of the state's medical marijuana law by
growing an estimated 5 million marijuana plants on the San Joaquin
Valley floor are encroaching on bucolic neighborhoods.

Rural residents like the Huddlestons complain about funky smells,
mysterious nighttime activities and loss of property values, and ask
authorities why the grow sites are allowed to flourish.

Alfalfa grower Steve Petersen, whose farm southwest of Fresno is
across from a former grow site that included menacing guard towers and
people coming and going at all hours of the day and night, says
authorities are too slow to act.

"I called the cops and I never saw any response," Petersen said.
"They're up there in a $1,000-an-hour helicopter, why can't they come
down and rip it out? It'll take 10 minutes."

State law allows medical marijuana for personal consumption, so
investigators must find evidence that a cultivation is intended to be
illegally sold before they can swoop in to rip out plants and make
arrests, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said.

"We get to as many as we can," Mims said. "We can't do them
all."

Until a few years ago, marijuana was grown almost exclusively in
mountain hideaways. Not anymore.

About three years ago, grow sites began to sprout across the Valley
floor; growers post medical marijuana recommendation letters from
doctors and tell law enforcement they are caregivers growing for those
too ill or unable to grow it themselves.

Those claims are met with deep suspicion. "Ninety-five percent are
criminal operations," said Tulare County sheriff's Lt. Tom Sigley, who
is in charge of that county's marijuana eradication efforts. "I have
yet to see a legitimate caregiver."

Mims said law enforcement officials are stuck in the middle between
Proposition 215 and criminals growing pot for the black market.

"It would be easy to pull plants, but the people of California voted
the initiative in," Mims said. "It's morphed into something that's out
of control."

State law allows people with a doctor's letter to grow marijuana;
federal officials have said they won't investigate grows of fewer than
100 plants.

Drug traffickers compile dozens of medical marijuana recommendation
letters and post them next to rows of marijuana plants, so even a
suspiciously large grow requires a time-consuming investigation of a
month or longer to get search warrants for a raid, said Fresno County
sheriff's Lt. Rick Ko, who oversees marijuana eradication.

The enforcement process starts with letters sent to property owners,
warning that their property could be seized under federal law unless
the pot plants are destroyed.

In Fresno County, about half who get the letter comply; in Tulare
County, it's about 70%, officials said.

Still, the rural grows continue and residents worry that their
neighbors could be linked to drug cartels.

"Absolutely, people are afraid," Ko said. The department gets six or
seven complaints a day, he said.

Officials say they have identified on the Valley floor about 150 grow
sites in Fresno County and 300 in Tulare County.

>From San Joaquin to Kern counties, an estimated 5 million to 8
million plants are under cultivation, said Bill Ruzzamenti, chief of
the federal Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

The lure is money. A pound of high-grade marijuana sells on the street
for $1,500 in California and up to $6,000 out of state, Ko said. One
plant can yield a pound of processed marijuana; if pot were a crop,
it'd be worth $19 million an acre compared to $4 million for an acre
of grapes, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department said.

Tulare County Supervisor Allen Ishida said marijuana cultivation is
sweeping through the county's rural areas.

"It's the No. 1 complaint I get," Ishida said. "They are worried about
the crime that comes with it."

Eight homicides were connected to marijuana grows last year in Tulare
County, the Sheriff's Department said. Four were at grow sites. A
16-year-old Sanger teen was killed in April after attempting to steal
marijuana from a grow site but his body has not been found. Madera and
Kings counties report no grow site-connected murders.

Weapons often are found at busts. Since January in Tulare County, 47
guns were seized at 68 busts.

Neighbors say the grow sites aren't just a public safety problem --
their property values are getting hammered.

"I hate it," said Michael Pavone, a neighbor of the Huddlestons. "The
first thing people are going to see is a pot farm across the street."

"I'm told I'm devalued another 20% because of a grow across the
street," Carl Huddleston said.

>From their homes, Pavone and the Huddlestons can see outdoor
enclosures of solid plywood, chain link and cloth, with white netting
poking skyward like tent tops behind the fencing.

A rural home next door to a "plywood grow" is a turnoff for buyers,
said Patty Decker, a real estate agent in Woodlake who specializes in
rural residential properties.

"A family person doesn't want to put his family in harm's way," Decker
said. "They look at it and say, 'I don't want this.' "

To bust pot growers who claim to be legal but are suspected to be
operating a criminal enterprise, sheriffs and police have been teaming
up with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Even though medical
marijuana is legal in California, growing any amount is illegal under
federal law.

Ko said virtually all of the busts in Fresno County involve the
federal government.

Recent raids under Operation Mercury, a collaborative effort among six
San Joaquin Valley sheriff's departments, district attorneys' offices
and the DEA, include:

- -- A site directly across the road from Central Unified's newly opened
Glacier Point Middle School west of Highway 99 last month netting 385
plants and two arrests.

- -- A 20,000-plant haul in eastern Madera County in
July.

- -- A bust near Alpaugh in Tulare County that netted 4,000 plants and
eight arrests, including three from Mexico.

- -- A grow of 959 plants near Mendota on Friday.

- -- A site in Three Rocks in western Fresno County netting 700 plants
- -- some as tall as 12 feet high -- in July.

- -- A bust south of Kettleman City in Kings County that seized 1,000
plants and made two arrests, including a Mexican national.

The Huddlestons say they still are waiting for a raid. They hoped for
one last year, but the marijuana growers harvested one night in
mid-August and then removed the fence. But they're back this year.

"We see the sheriff's drive by, I know they see it. But I don't know
why they don't do anything," Maggie Huddleston said.

The Sheriff's Department is fully aware of the grow site, said Tulare
County sheriff's Capt. Mike Boudreaux. The site is actually three
adjacent grows, he said. One appears legitimate under California law
but the other two are under investigation as potential criminal
enterprises, he said.

"We completely understand the frustration of those in the community
who believe they are flagrantly violating the law," Boudreaux said.
The Tulare County Sheriff's Department shuts down two or three sites a
week, he said.

Marybel Gonzalez, who lives on five acres north of Strathmore and can
see a grow site from the corner of her property, said helicopters --
she assumes they are from law enforcement -- fly over the neighborhood
almost daily. Her nose will tell her when a pot farm is close to
harvest time.

"In the summer, you can smell it at dusk," Gonzalez said. "I call it
'body odor.' "
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt