Source: The Porterville Recorder, Calif.迷你倉最平Sept. 20--Lt. Tom Sigley and his team of marijuana busters are going six days a week this summer to keep up with the huge number of illegal grow sites in the county.It is marijuana growing season and the hard work is really just beginning.So far this summer, deputies with the sheriff's department's Special Tactics Enforcement Patrol have pulled up 220,742 plants -- as of last week. That is already nearly as many as they dug up all of last summer and the busy time of the year is just beginning.Last Thursday, the team pulled up more than 100 plants at a residence on West North Grand Avenue near Porterville."Some of those were 12-feet tall," noted Sigley, who has been heading up the special detail for more than three years. While many of the plants destroyed so far have been much smaller than 12-feet, he said they will now regularly find plants that size and larger. That is because the end of the growing season is near and plants are nearing peak sizes, which can mean 20-feet tall with trunks like trees, not weeds.Fifth District Supervisor Mike Ennis likes to use the word "hammer" when he talks about the county's effort against the marijuana growers."They [growers] know we're here for sure," said Ennis.It was two years ago that a definite shift took place from growing marijuana in the foothills and mountains to growing it on the Valley floor. Last year, deputies took down several large grow sites, many around Porterville and Terra Bella and some with more than 2,000 plants. This year, the grow sites appear to be a little smaller, but the gardens are plentiful."It hasn't shifted, just gotten worse. In past they tried to hide behind the medical [cards]. This year they're doing both."He expects this year's haul to surpass last year's.Ennis said he has gotten numerous calls from residents, many in the Terra Bella area, of suspected grow sites. He estimates he has followed up on more than 30 gardens this year. He did say the number of calls are not as many as last summer.Sequoia National Forest Supervisor Kevin Elliott said more than 70,000 plants have been taken out of the national forest above Porterville this year, more than last year. He said it does not appear the drought has had a big impact, but Sigley said they are running across a few abandoned grow sites in the mountains where they ran out of water and let the plants die.It was at a large grow site above Springville that a well-known volunteer was killed Thursday during a reclamation project to clean up that site. Seth Krogen with the High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew died when he fell from a helicopter above the site that officials said was littered with chemicals and other garbage.Sigley said his eight-man crew is sometimes going six days and the challenge to keep up is daunting. So far, they have hit 116 grow sites, 100 of those on private land and the remaining in the forest, so far this year. Of the plants seized, it is about a 50-50 split."We've been busting four or five a week," he said, adding it will take longer now to clear a grow site because the plants are getting bigger.Sigley said most of the gardens on the Valley floor have been 700 t迷你倉 900 plants in size, but they took 4,900 plants out of one of the mountain grow sites."I think they're spreading those out," he said of the tactics seem to be taken by growers this year.Growers are bound by both the laws stated in the Compassionate Care Act and county zoning laws. The act limits the number of plants a person can grow based on what are called "recommends," which are letters from doctors giving the person the permission to grow, normally, no more than 99 plants. However, the county has placed strict zoning ordinances on grow sites, requiring them to be indoors, secured, and only in industrial zones, not in ag areas."You can't grow it except in industrial zoned areas," stressed Ennis.Sigley said if they visit a grow site and it is under the 99 plant limit, but not in a properly zoned area, the case is turned over to the county code enforcement department and abatement procedures are begun. If the owner does not remove the plants, the sheriff's department gets involved again.Growers of marijuana face not only prison time, they can also be fined for every day they are out of zoning compliance and that can become very costly. Although seldom used, authorities can also seize property if the owner does not comply, which Ennis said might occur on a recent bust in the Terra Bella area where those growers might face federal charges as well.The supervisor said those who are growing pot in violation of county zoning laws are given 10 days to take down the garden. If they don't comply, they can face a fine of $100 a day for every plant."There is some property where they owe us as much as $800,000," he said.Sigley said deputies have only walked away from a handful of gardens that did meet part of the law, but all have at least violated the zoning laws."I don't think we've found one yet that meets all the laws," he said.There is no one area more prone to the growing. "It's spread out everywhere. We have to prioritize and hit them when we can."He said he knows some residents who call in a site get frustrated when they don't see something happen immediately, but with the backlog, they get to them as fast as they came. Still, he knows they will not get to them all by the time the growing season ends, although some operations are year-round."We've busted some green houses," he said.He said citizens have been good in contacting them with tips, and with plants now taller than most fences, those tips are coming in faster and faster."We do a lot of compliance checks," he said of the tips, then take the appropriate action.While the number of homicides related to the growing of marijuana is down, there still have been two deaths connected to grow sites. Two years ago there were more than eight deaths.Still, they are seizing weapons at many of the grow sites -- 234 weapons to date -- and have made 92 arrests.Rick Elkins is interim publisher of the Porterville Recorder. He can be reached at 784-5000, ext. 1040, or by email at relkins@portervillerecorder.com.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Porterville Recorder (Porterville, Calif.) Visit The Porterville Recorder (Porterville, Calif.) at .recorderonline.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存
留言列表
