POT TASK FORCE FINDS SLIM PICKINGS IN RHEA BUT SCORES BIG IN BLEDSOE

The Governor's Task Force on Marijuana Eradication made a brief stop in
Rhea County last week and came away with only a small amount of marijuana,
but while searching Shut-in Mountain, helicopter spotters located about
65,000 marijuana plants just across the county line in Bledsoe County.

Two helicopters from the Tennessee Army National Guard and the Tennessee
Highway Patrol, along with ground teams made up of national guardsmen, and
officers with Tennessee Highway Patrol Special Operations, the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation and Tennessee Valley Authority Police arrived in
town on Monday.

Rhea County Sheriff's deputies Mike Owenby, B.J. Johnson, Chris Hall, Mike
Bice, Chase Boyd, Matt Rose, Barry Shaver, Jeff Taylor and Greg Whitehorn
joined the task force in searching for marijuana.

Most the marijuana found during the three days of operations were located
deep in pine thickets on the mountains of Walden's Ridge. The patches
ranged in size from just a few plants to about 300 plants. Some of the
patches were well tended and had been visited frequently. The confiscated
plants were burned each evening by the task force.

The task force, using the helicopters, four-wheel-drive trucks and
all-terrain vehicles located about 1,000 marijuana plants from Grandview
Mountain all the way to the Roane County line along the Cumberland
Escarpment on Monday, according to Detective Hall.

On Tuesday the task force began work with both helicopters until the THP
helicopter located an estimated 65,000 marijuana plants planted among the
rows in several large cornfields in Bledsoe County.

Deprived of the THP helicopter for most of the day, the other team worked
the Shut-in Mountain area and found several large marijuana patches. Two
patches in particular were well cultivated and fertilized and held 200 to
300 plants each. The 8-10-foot plants were fenced in and tied up for
support, Deputy Shaver said. One of the patches had been visited recently
and about a hundred or so plants harvested already.

On Wednesday one of the helicopters developed engine trouble and had to cut
short its flight operations. But a special operations team rappelling out
of a Blackhawk helicopter took care of two small patches buried in the gulf
off Walt Reed Road on Grandview Mountain. Spotters said it would have taken
ground teams at least half a day to reach the 45 marijuana plants that the
rappelling team collected in just a few minutes, Hall said.

Most of the marijuana was found in extremely remote locations far from
roads, but officers did confiscate a few plants growing close behind some
houses in the High Point community. Rhea County detectives are continuing
to investigate how those plants came to be there.

In all, the task force located and destroyed 2,132 marijuana plants in Rhea
County with an estimated street value of $4.2 million, according to Sheriff
Leon Sneed.

Several of the deputies took time off from other jobs to participate in the
task force operation. Shaver said he didn't mind taking time off from
La-Z-Boy to join in the effort.

"This is a passion of mine," he said Friday. "Every plant we harvest out
there is just more dope we take off the street. It's definitely worth it."

John Carpenter can be reached at jcarpenter @xtn.net