Pubdate: Tue, 05 May 2015
Source: Porterville Recorder (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Freedom Communications Inc.
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/AJm5UIc8
Website: http://www.recorderonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2887

POT-GROWING OPERATION BUST SENDS A MESSAGE

When officers with the Tulare County Sheriff's Department and other 
law enforcement agencies raided a large, sophisticated 
marijuana-growing operation last month, they removed a significant 
threat to the safety of anyone who might have stumbled upon the 
illegal operation.

On April 23, officers went to the location northwest of Delano where 
they found more than 12,000 marijuana plants in various stages of 
growth inside 49 separate green houses. Tulare County Sheriff Mike 
Boudreaux said it appeared the operation had been there a while.

While surprisingly few weapons were found at the site, such 
operations are a huge threat to public safety. The value placed on 
the plants and processed marijuana seized was more than $27 million, 
certainly enough for someone to be willing to use violence to protect it.

We are again in the marijuana growing season - although it appears 
that is becoming a year-round business - and officers will be taking 
down scores of illegal gardens, many guarded by people with weapons. 
Even those who support the legalization of marijuana have to agree 
those illegal growing operations are a threat to public safety and 
need to be removed.

We encourage citizens to notify authorities of any suspicious 
activity. It is surprising an operation as large as the one busted 
April 23 went unnoticed for so long, but it was in a fairly isolated 
area and according to the sheriff, looked from the roadway like any 
other farming operation. Only from the air in the Sheriff 1 plane did 
it look suspicious.

Also, such operations are putting a lot of marijuana on the streets 
and some of that ends up in the hands of young children. We commend 
the sheriff's office for its diligence in tracking down and busting 
illegal grow operations, making rural areas much safer and sending a 
message that Tulare County is not a good place to grow marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom