Pubdate: Wed, 05 Oct 2005
Source: Midland Mirror (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Midland Mirror
Contact:  http://www.simcoe.com/sc/midland/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2211
Author: Kim Goggins, The Mirror
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

REPORTER HITS TINY CORN FIELD DURING POT SEIZURE

A Word In Edgewise

Gripping a navy Stetson with two hands, and using it as a shield to protect 
myself from corn husks that paw at my face, I stumble forward awkwardly, my 
feet laden with mud and my nose burning with the pungent, skunk-like stench 
of fresh-picked marijuana.

It's almost 3 p.m. Friday and I'm about a kilometre from Concession 2 East 
in Tiny Township, struggling through a field of corn - too thick to act as 
a decent maze - with three OPP officers.

Seven-foot stalks are weaving back and forth, their rotting husks thumping 
my head and body, while smaller ones trip up my stride.

It's the first marijuana seizure I have experienced as a reporter and, as 
it turns out, the first of the year for the Southern Georgian Bay 
detachment of the OPP. Constables Steve Gray, Peter Leon, and Dave 
Desroches have ripped out 35 pot plants by their roots.

Its heady reek assaults my nostrils but the crop is thrown over the 
shoulders of the officers, nonetheless. In a field of dull yellows and 
browns, the green plants are vivid and stain the officers' hands and dark 
blue uniforms, leaving behind the acrid smell.

It is Leon's OPP-issued hat I clutch in front of me to fend off the stalks 
as we trek through the corn crop which housed the grow-op locations (three 
had already been harvested by the growers), an open field, and then a 
second corn field, until we reach a weathered barn and three police cruisers.

We trudge in procession - two cops, one reporter, and another cop bringing 
up the rear. I plan it this way because I'm afraid if I wipe out and they 
don't notice, this seizure could easily turn into a search-and-rescue mission.

The sky is light blue with hazy clouds drifting across, showing no signs of 
the earlier storm that knocked out power to most of Midland. But the wind 
is relentless in the open field and cuts through my windbreaker.

This seizure recovered about $35,000 worth of pot, somewhat less than the 
initial estimate of about 100 plants. I'm wondering if all this effort is 
worth it for less than three dozen plants and, once we're in Leon's 
cruiser, I ask him if he's disappointed.

"Not at all," he grins. "The way we look at it, it's 35 plants that won't 
make it to the streets."

I'm not sure if it's the exercise, adrenaline rush or the result of walking 
behind the freshly picked pot for half a kilometre but I grin back, just a 
little lightheaded.
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D