Pubdate: Thu, 15 Feb 2007
Source: Tracy Press (CA)
Copyright: 2005 Tracy Press
Contact: http://tracypress.com/submitletter.php
Website: http://www.tracypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3862
Author: Niko Kyriakou, Tracy Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

SUSPICION GROWS HERE TOO

In the wake of highly publicized raids in which drug agents bust down 
the doors of vacant homes where marijuana grows, it's probably only 
natural that empty homes sometimes draw the attention of their neighbors.

Tracy police have received a number of calls in recent months from 
people who are suspicious that their neighbors are running indoor pot farms.

Calls spiked last year following several marijuana-growing busts that 
involved dozens of Central Valley homes tied to a Bay Area drug ring, 
said police Sgt. Mark Duxbury.

"We take these calls very seriously," he said. "It's a 
quality-of-life issue for these people."

In October of last year, Tracy police raided four homes in the 
Edgewood subdivision for cultivating cannabis, but police are still 
trying to link the growers, four of whom remain in custody. The Drug 
Enforcement Agency shut down an operation in Edgewood last month, and 
on Friday an anonymous caller pointed police toward yet another 
Edgewood residence as a potential pot producer.

The caller said the Riverview Avenue property has been vacant for 
more than a year and that the "For Sale" sign out front lists no real 
estate company, name or phone number to call.

The caller also reported that large, green plastic bags recently 
appeared in the backyard, although neighbors have seen no gardeners.

Police detectives visited the house to look around, but found 
nothing. The police did not have a search warrant, but have other 
ways of determining whether homes are being used to grow pot, Duxbury 
said, adding that police would keep an eye on the house.

The report appeared in the weekend police blotter but did not say 
what aroused the caller's suspicions.

Neighbors pointed to the fact that although no one has been to the 
home in over a year, a light stays on in the garage all night. All 
the house's other windows are also shuttered, but remain dark. One 
neighbor said that in the last few weeks, the back gate was knocked 
off its hinges and blue garbage bins appeared in the driveway. What's 
more, a football-sized pile of salt rocks, possibly Epsom salt, was 
also found on the property's front lawn. Some cannabis growers use 
Epsom salt to provide ill-nourished plants a magnesium boost.

A child who lives nearby said he has seen cars pull up to the house, 
"maybe unloading." However, these stoppers may also be neighbors, 
some of whom park in the driveway when they get their mail from the 
street's collective box.

The last person neighbors saw in the building was a young woman, and 
that was more than a year ago. At the time, the woman told neighbors 
that her aunt had bought the property, but no one ever moved in.

Later, a handwritten "For Rent" sign appeared out front. During the 
course of the year, the sign was replaced with a handwritten "Rent to 
Own" sign, and finally a real estate company's "For Sale" sign went 
up, according to man who lives nearby but declined to give his name.

When a gust of wind blew the company sign off its hooks, the man 
re-hung it. But soon after, the sign disappeared altogether, leaving 
only a white post and the words "For Sale."

Police said they had not contacted the owner.

But at least one neighbor has seen nothing to lead her to think it's 
a place where pot is grown.

"I don't see any activity there at all," said Remy Cantos, who lives 
next door. "I haven't seen anybody and haven't noticed anything strange."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Elaine