Pubdate: 1 Oct, 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press
Note: Headline by MAP

SANTA CRUZ TURNS DOWN $12,500 CANNABIS ERADICATION FUNDING

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) -- The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors 
turned down money needed to pay overtime for deputies who hunt down 
marijuana crops.

Losing the money will "significantly hamper our ability to move forward 
with our yearly eradication efforts," said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Kim 
Allyn.

The supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to accept $12,500 from the Federal 
Department of Justice to cover the overtime. After the vote was taken, 
however, the board learned it required four votes to accept the money 
because it is "unanticipated revenue." The cash would have been given to 
supplement the $275,000 already awarded for the program.

The vote came after several members of the audience pleaded with 
supervisors to refuse the money. Andrea Tishler was upset over the 
sheriff's marijuana eradication efforts.

"This has gone too far," he told the supervisors.

He was particularly upset over an anti-marijuana operation where detectives 
staked out a hydroponics store. Deputies would follow people home who 
bought pipes and other material used to grow marijuana indoors, and then 
check their Pacific Gas and Electric bills to see if there were unusually 
high charges.

That operation resulted in dozens of arrests on cultivation charges. 
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MAP posted-by: Thunder