DRUG RAID TARGETED TOMATOES

Copter Spotters Thought It Was Pot

SALUDA - Glen Coberly was culling bad tomatoes from his vines when he saw
the dark green helicopter circling.

Minutes later police cars converged on his Middlesex County home, and
officers ordered Coberly and a friend to lie on the ground.

"They had their guns out," Coberly said of Wednesday's raid. After a minute
or two he was told to get up, and someone started to read him his rights,
he said. Meanwhile, one of the raiders examined the plants and determined
they were tomatoes, not marijuana.

Sheriff Guy Abbott tapped him on the shoulder as he was leaving and said he
was sorry for the mistake.

"We're just trying to do our best to protect our citizens," the sheriff
said Thursday. "And we're not perfect; we make mistakes."

An officer in the helicopter told the Daily Press of Newport News that the
operation involved the Middle Peninsula Drug Task Force, state police and
the National Guard. They were flying over Middlesex looking for marijuana
plants, said the officer, who asked not to be identified because he works
undercover.

He said he and the helicopter pilot, who has flown numerous marijuana
missions, believed the plants were marijuana because they were the right color.

As for marijuana, Coberly, 39, said, "I don't touch the stuff. But I do
like tomatoes." He'll have more for himself this summer. His friend, who
was visiting in the hope of picking up a few tomatoes, told him he would
never come to see him again.