Task force slashes crop of marijuana--unbelievable alibis

[Kolesar]

This writer must be oblivious. Several "upstanding" local farmers claim that they had no knowledge of 2000 prime, twelve-foot tall marijuana plants growing on their land. The farms in this part of Ohio only get as large as 200-400 acres. They claim that they have no knowledge that somebody was planting and tending plants on their land. It is more likely that the police know who is involved and is cutting them some slack.

Task force slashes crop of marijuana

By: Jonathan Tressler
Staff Writer
09/05/2003

More than 2,000 plants
found and harvested by agents

Somewhere out there, there's a farmer who is really upset because his plants are missing. But he's not your average garden variety green thumb. According to area law enforcement agencies, this type of agriculturist sneaks onto other people's property to plant the kind of cash crop that gets people high: marijuana.

The latest haul in the Trumbull, Ashtabula and Geauga (TAG) drug task force's continuing investigation into the illegal cultivation of cannabis is the largest sheriffs in those three counties ever remember seeing, according to Geauga County Sheriff Daniel McClelland.
"We were just talking, and none of us can remember a seizure close to this," McClelland said. "To the best of my knowledge, in the 28 years I've been in the business, this is the biggest."

...snip.....
All three counties' officials agreed that it is unlikely the farmers who own the hundreds of acres victimized by such tactics have any involvement in the marijuana cultivation themselves. "These are upstanding members of the community," McClelland said. "Some of these farmers have been in the community for generations, and there's always a concern that someone else is going to ruin their good name." Chief Deputy Ernie Cook, with the Trumbull County Sheriff's Department, said the farmers themselves have been extremely cooperative. "They have kids, too, you know," he said.

...end.....
I recall that the Geauga County Sheriff was a real tight-assed narc, but they buried him a few months ago.

[damnraddem]

1. "They have kids, too, you know"

Says it all. Now, the poor kids' crops are gone. Damn narcs!

[Heddi]

2. sooooooo

why aren't the farmers' land, property, money, homes, valuables, cars, savings, etc, being wiped out and held as 'seized property'? Because that's what would happen if the cops busted down my door and found a couple of hundred plants growing in my house.

Why aren't the farmers being given mandatory life sentences for the amount of plants growing on their fields? That's what would happen if cops found the same number of plants growing in my yard. Mandatory minimum....

Why are the farmers being absolved from this? They had NO KNOWLEDGE whatsoever that these plants were being grown on their property? Give me a fucking break. Either they're really dumb, or are just bad farmers who don't look after their property.

And I thought the drug laws were such that even if it WASN'T YOURS (supposedly), if it's on YOUR PROPERTY, YOU ARE REPSONSIBLE FOR IT.

Something stinks to high heaven in this case, and it's not the mounds of MJ they're burning out in the fields either.

Why why why aren't these farmers being treated "guilty until presumed otherwise" like nearly everyone else found with grow rooms, grow fields, etc, are?

It would be interesteing to know if they (the cops) show the same amount of leniency to say, a black person who had plants growing on their property but claimed they weren't theirs, or a poor person growing plants on their property but claimed they weren't theirs.

Note to self: Move to Ohio, grow several hundred plants in my yard, and when they bust me, say the plants aren't mine, I didn't know they were growing there, and I had nothing to do with it. Then, when I'm arrested and am set to spend the rest of my life in prison b/c of manditory minimum sentences, I can sue the FUCK out of the state of Ohio for doing to me what should have been done (but wasn't) to these poor, beleagured farmers....

[1a2b3c]

3. Hey go easy on the farmers

They work their ass off to supply us with food and they get paid shit for it. Farmers may be the only chance for the legalization of marijuna and hemp.

[DoNotRefill]

5. Not necessarily....

I own a few acres of heavily forested land. I've never set foot on 70% of it, because most is blocked by very dense brush and undergrowth, and I have no desire to go kicking about in the brush mucking it up. I leave it that way for the critters to use as habitat. They own several hundred acres, which is a lot of land. If I don't know what's on a lot of my much smaller property, what makes you think they would? It's not like they patrol it every day...

[Nikia]

4. This is common

We cannot say for sure whether the farmers are involved with the planting and cultivation of marijuana on their land or lot. Some probably are, some might know but not interfere, and some really might not be aware. I just know that growing up, the police flew over fields, spotted crops, and confiscated the plants without charging the farmers. Often it is grown between the rows of corn fields. I asked a friend from a farm family about it. She said that many farmers know its there but do not alert the police because marijuana is a good natural pesticide.

[Nikia]

6. Some farmers do report it too

Some farmers do call the sheriff's office when they discover marijuana plants on their land. Often these plants are quite mature when they are found. If law enforcement found them before that, I do not think that these farmers are guilty of anything. If farmers were regularly arrested for marijuana crops grown amongst their crops, I think even more people would get out of farming. Many farmers have second jobs besides farming and do not have time to regularly search their land for illegal crops.