By Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writer
Article Launched: 06/20/2008 12:22:58 PM PDT
Click photo to enlarge
ALCO Metals crew tearing up the ruined railcars removed from the Willits rail… (The Willits News)Dismantlers have taken out five severely vandalized and burnt out railcars from the Willits rail yard, removing part of what had become a hangout for transients and area teens alike.
Willits issued a Notice of Nuisance to the North Coast Railway Authority in January following a series of fires including a near tragic situation where a homeless man was trapped in one of the burning cars.
The NCRA immediately established a working committee to work with the city, which included hiring a grounds keeper to secure and patrol the rail yard. The first order of business involved a general debris cleanup and boarding up the unsecured cars.
Willits police officers and firefighters have expressed satisfaction with the change observed at the yard once Willits resident Rod Whitney began taking charge of the site for the NCRA. “We now have someone from the railroad willing to sign a complaint,” cited one officer.
At a recent Willits City Council meeting, several council members expressed satisfaction with the recent progress including the removal of the burnt out cars and the other efforts being made in the yard, although they did not consider the issue fully resolved.
The NCRA contracted with ALCO Metals to salvage the five cars. ALCO paid $22,500 for the salvage rights, which the NCRA had to send back to the state transportation fund, says NCRA Executive Director Mitch Stogner.
The NCRA intends to gather the remaining cars together and fence off the site to secure
them.
Measure B passes 52.16%. People are just tired of the garbage.
By ROB BURGESS The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 06/20/2008 11:44:28 AM PDTThe hotly-contested Measure B, which repeals Measure G, the county’s personal use marijuana law, and sets medical marijuana possession limits in Mendocino County at the state limits of six mature or 12 immature plants and eight ounces of dried marijuana, has passed with 14,577 “yes” ballots (52.16 percent) to 13,369 “no” votes (47.84 percent.)
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting at 12:35 a.m. June 4, Measure B was winning 52.15 percent to 47.85 percent, meaning the measure has actually gained a hundreth of a percentage point since initial results.
Doubt was soon cast on the initial results as the Mendocino County Assessor/Clerk/Recorders Office announced that same afternoon that 10,835 absentee ballots and 439 provisional ballots that had not yet been counted and were not part of the unofficial election results released on election night.
At the time, Sue Ranochak, Mendocino County Assessor/Clerk/Recorder, said it is not uncommon to have this many uncounted ballots once the election is over. During the February primary election, close to 9,000 absentee ballots remained uncounted after election night, she said.
Those ballots did not change the outcome of any of the races either.
The three races for the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors remained similarly
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unchanged. In the 1st District, Carre Brown will take on incumbant Michael Delbar in the runoff November election with 2,007 votes (36.94 percent) to 1,935 votes (35.62 percent), respectively. In the 2nd District, John McCowen will take on Estelle Palley Clifton later this year with 1,376 votes (33.14 percent) to 1,056 (25.43 percent), respectively. In the 4th District, Kendall Smith held on to her comfortable lead over challenger Paula Deeter to win reelection with 3,435 votes (62.84 percent) to 1,998 votes (36.55 percent), respectively.Despite the passage of Measure B, opponents have previously said the fight is far from over.
A recent decision by an appellate court found the state medical marijuana limits set forth in Senate Bill 420 unconstitutional, which some argue could pull the rug out from under Measure B. The case in question, People v. Kelly, involves a patient who was convicted of possessing seven plants and 12 ounces of processed marijuana. In its May 22 decision, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District reversed that ruling 3-0 and ordered a retrial for Patrick Kelly, who had a doctor’s recommendation for his ailments including Hepatitis C.
Originally passed in 2003, SB 420 was an amendment of Proposition 215 which set state guidelines regarding how much marijuana patients may grow and possess without being subject to arrest. Under the law, medical marijuana patients were allowed six mature or 12 immature plants and up to one-half pound of dried, processed marijuana.
Also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, Proposition 215 was passed on the Nov. 5, 1996 ballot with 55 percent in favor and 44 percent against.
The No on Measure B Campaign issued a statement on the ruling, stating that the ruling effectively strikes down the basis for Measure B.
In turn, the Yes on B Coalition issued its own statement, which called the claims of the opposing camp “absurd.”
Rob Burgess can be reached at udjrb@pacific.net.
5 homes used for growing marijuana raided after neighbors complain
By Glenda Anderson
THE PRESS DEMOCRATPublished: Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 9:07 a.m.
MARK ARONOFF / The Press Democrat
The exterior of the three-story Fox Road home in Willits’ Brooktrials subdivision, where authorities seized 49 mature plants on Wednesday. The pot was estimated to be worth about $375,000.
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* Pot bust in Willits
Neighbors’ complaints are fueling a crackdown on commercial marijuana cultivation in Mendocino County, where authorities have raided five houses in the past two days.
“People are getting fed up,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Rusty Noe.
On Wednesday, officers searched two Willits-area houses dedicated to marijuana production, seizing 150 harvest-ready plants, 200 starter plants and sophisticated growing equipment.
A couple walking their dogs past one of the homes Wednesday morning smiled and quipped: “Going out of business sale?”
A day earlier officers seized 505 plants, $175,000, a boat, two all-terrain vehicles and a Chevrolet truck at separate Redwood Valley homes occupied by Michael Berry, 54, and his son, Timothy Berry, 29.
Michael Berry was arrested on suspicion of cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale, and his son also faces prosecution on drug-related charges, Noe said. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
An additional 660 plants were found at a home east of Willits on Tuesday.
Noe said Mendocino County residents have become increasingly angry over the cultivation of pot for profit by people claiming it is for compassionate medicinal marijuana use.
The stench of pot, armed drug dealers, barking dogs, noisy generators, and soil and water contamination from fertilizers and herbicides are among the complaints.
Willits City Councilwoman Karen Oslund said residents have been emboldened to step forward by Measure B, an initiative on the June ballot aimed at limiting the amount of medical marijuana individuals can grow.
“Maybe people realize: ‘I’m not the only one who feels this way,’ ” she said.
Pro Measure B votes were leading on election night but mailed ballots still were being counted Wednesday.
Measure B supporters blame liberal pot regulations for attracting outsiders to the county to grow marijuana for profit under the pretext of supplying it for compassionate medical use.
Wednesday’s crackdown began at 8 a.m. with 20 law enforcement officers from the Sheriff’s Office, county Marijuana Eradication Team, and Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force simultaneously approaching the two Willits-area houses.
On Fox Road in Brooktrails, a forested subdivision just north of Willits, they knocked and loudly announced themselves before forcing open the door of a three-story structure.
“Nice house,” Noe commented.
Inside, they found 49 mature plants in a brilliantly lighted room saturated with the overwhelming skunklike stench of budding marijuana. An elaborate ventilation system of fans and ducts kept the room from overheating while an automatic irrigation system attached to two 80-gallon tanks watered the plants.
South of Willits on Walker Road, authorities found 100 or so budding plants, 200 starter plants and several “mother plants” that typically are clipped to create new clones.
A new room was under construction in a warehouse-like building on the property, which commands views of a pond and oak-studded hills near Highway 101.
Indoor growing equipment was scattered around the property.
With marijuana selling at $2,500 or more a pound, the mature plants found in the Brooktrails house — 2-foot-tall budding clones — would be worth about $375,000. Indoor operations yield three crops a year, Noe said.
Rand Graynor of Petaluma bought the Brooktrails home in 2005 for about $394,000 and the Walker Road property for about $275,000 in 2002, according to county records.
Graynor could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A call to his home was answered by his adult son, Brian Graynor, who said his father was not home and then declined further comment.
Sonoma County authorities served a search warrant on his Petaluma home Wednesday, Noe said. He said the case likely would be sent to the district attorney for prosecution rather than executing an immediate arrest.
Indoor marijuana operations proliferated after California voters legalized the use of medicinal marijuana in 1996, Noe said. Statistics on indoor marijuana gardens were unavailable.
Mendocino County’s reputation for having liberal medical marijuana rules further attracted people from outside the county, and sometimes from outside the country, he said.
Buying houses gives operators a place to grow pot and a way to launder their profits, Noe said.
Multiple medical marijuana prescriptions — most listing Sonoma County residents — were posted inside the houses searched Wednesday but Noe was unconvinced, based partly on the size of the operation.
“We’re looking at a commercial grow,” he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com.
Filed under: Mendocino
Seems the Freedom of Speech is only for one side of the debate for some people.
By BEN BROWN/The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 05/02/2008 09:34:11 AM PDTSheriff’s deputies arrested John Purdy, 17, of Redwood Valley, at his home Monday on charges of misdemeanor vandalism.
“They found him at his house with the sign with spray-paint over the Yes’,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Rusty Noe.
Purdy was arrested after he was seen allegedly taking a sign from the 6000 block of North State Street and putting it into his truck. A witness got the license plate number of the truck and reported it to police.
Sheriff’s deputies found the owner of the truck and drove to Purdy’s house, where they found two Yes on B’ signs, Noe said.
Noe said it was possible Purdy had stolen and defaced several signs since they started showing up in people’s yards earlier this month.
According to the Yes on B Coalition, more than 60 of the campaign’s 500 signs have been stolen or vandalized. Some coalition supporters report having had their signs stolen as many as three times.
“The Yes on B Coalition will replace every sign that is stolen,” said Yes On B Coalition spokesman Ross Liberty. “This battle for free speech is just a reflection of the underlying battle for the future of this county, whether we will be dominated by criminal activity or whether we have a future as a place where our quality of life comes first.”
Noe said theft and vandalism of political campaign signs is not uncommon in
Mendocino County and that the Sheriff’s Office typically arrests one person per season on vandalism charges, though he said this year has been different.“It’s not usually this heated,” Noe said.
The case has been forwarded to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
Ben Brown can be reached at udjbb@pacific.net.
