Pubdate: Tue, 25 Mar 2014
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2014 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Note: Does not publish letters from outside their circulation area.
Author: Marc Benjamin

FRESNO COUNTY SUPERVISORS TO HEAR FROM FIRST GROUP FINED FOR POT GARDENS

KERMAN - Behind the doors of a padlocked garage, Bret Harmon tended 
to dozens of marijuana plants, some he said that measured more than 
four-feet tall.

Those plants are gone now, ripped out by Fresno County sheriff's 
deputies enforcing a new ban on marijuana cultivation.

Harmon, who has a medical marijuana card and suffers from persistent 
back pain, is facing more than just the loss of his plants. He could 
be fined $30,000 today if county supervisors uphold Sheriff Margaret 
Mims in the first set of judicial hearings since the ban took effect.

Every person who is growing marijuana will have to pay $1,000 per 
plant if deputies find it growing on their property -- medical 
marijuana card or not.

The plants were discovered in January when Harmon's neighbor and the 
neighbor's live-in girlfriend had a fight. Harmon's girlfriend, 
Terrie Metzler, called sheriff's deputies, who interviewed the 
neighbor. The neighbor told deputies that his girlfriend was hiding 
in Harmon's garage.

Metzler told deputies the girlfriend couldn't get into the garage, 
but she opened it at their request anyway.

"The deputies said they didn't care what was in there as long as it 
wasn't a meth lab," Metzler said.

When they saw Harmon's plants, they warned Metzler that Harmon had to 
get rid of them because a new county ordinance that would soon go 
into effect prohibited all marijuana cultivation in Fresno County.

Under the new ordinance, Harmon had 15 days to get rid of his plants. 
He removed several of them, but when deputies returned, he still had 
30 in the garage.

The owners of the property, who live in the Bay Area, also were 
notified and could be on the hook for the county's penalties through 
a lien on the property.

"Ignorance is not a defense," said Supervisor Henry R. Perea. "They 
are responsible for their property and in this situation our job is 
to protect the county from illegal behavior."

Harmon is not the only grower facing fines. At a home west of Sanger, 
a woman and her daughter are looking at a $43,000 fine for growing 
medical marijuana plants in a greenhouse in their fenced backyard.

The women -- Pheath Holapatiphone and her mother, Linhkeo 
Holapatiphone -- also will have their case heard today by county supervisors.

Billy Holapatiphone, Linkheo's son, said deputies came to the 
property and removed the plants. Next thing they knew the family 
received a mailing notifying them of the fine.

Undersheriff Steve Wilkins said deputies will focus on serious safety 
issues in stopping marijuana cultivation, but he said the two cases 
being heard today may not have topped that list.

Wilkins said deputies have identified about 80 marijuana growing 
sites throughout the county. Documents for additional hearings will 
be prepared for supervisors in April, he said.

Enforcement has been done in about 20% of those cases, he said.

Last year, he said, 500 cultivation sites were discovered in the 
county. There also were 20 violent crimes connected to marijuana 
cultivation, including murders, home-invasion robberies and violent assaults.

The level of violence linked to marijuana cultivation was a major 
reason the county sought a cultivation ban, Mims said in January.

"We have been dealing with mostly indoor (growing operations) but the 
way the weather has been I'm sure the outdoor grows will be popping 
up because the indoor plant will be ready to move outdoors," Wilkins said.

At some of the sites, he said, deputies found copies of the new 
county ordinance, which proves that those growing marijuana know about the ban.

Fresno County supervisors approved the cultivation ban in January 
after the city of Live Oak, near Sacramento, banned cultivation 
outright, won in county court and the state appeal court. The case is 
being appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Joe Elford, a San Francisco lawyer who is fighting the Live Oak case, 
said 2003 state legislation allows a qualified patient to cultivate 
six mature plants or 12 immature plants. That number could be 
exceeded by a local government, he said.

But, perhaps a failure in the law, he said, is that it did not state 
the limits local governments could make on cultivation.

That's a distinction made by Andreas Borgeas, Fresno County Board of 
Supervisors' chairman.

"A local entity can regulate to a stricter degree," he said.

Medical marijuana patients are expected to address the board today 
complaining about having to travel long distances to get the drug 
because they can't grow it themselves.

"It's open season on medical cannabis growers in Fresno County," said 
Michael Green, a medical marijuana advocate who runs the of 
fresnocannabis.org website.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom