SECRET RAIDS NOT TOO SECRET

A trickle of rumors that started on anonymous blogs in recent weeks
was mostly discounted as a hoax by many of the hundreds of people who
commented on the posts' warning that a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
action was on the way.

Tuesday's raids, which brought a small army of federal agents who
said they were here to bust a single organized marijuana-growing
operation focused mostly in Southern Humboldt, weren't the swarm of
agents rumored to have been planning a crackdown on large-scale
medical marijuana grow houses and pot dispensaries in Arcata this week.

But it was close.

Wherever the anonymous information on the Humboldt Herald blog came
from, the timing and accuracy of the anonymous tips turned out to be
surprisingly accurate -- as the federal official who confirmed the
operation Tuesday admitted.

"There was some accuracy to the rumors and the dates were pinned down
pretty well," said FBI Special Agent Joseph Schadler Tuesday.

But as the tempo of the rumors picked up pace last week, an in-depth
story effort launched by The Eureka Reporter staff to verify the
rumors proved difficult, as many local law enforcement agencies
didn't respond to calls and comments from federal agencies left more
questions than answers.

Calls to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office were directed to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation office in San Francisco.

On Friday, FBI spokesperson Patti Hansen wouldn't confirm or deny
that agents would be in Humboldt County this week, although DEA
officials told KMUD radio station that the DEA was planning training
exercises in northern Mendocino County set for this week, including
flyover missions that might cross over into Humboldt County.

"Our DEA is conducting annual training in the area next week," said
DEA spokesperson Casey McEnry in an interview Friday. The DEA
regularly comes to the area to train with other agencies.

As to what agencies would participate in the training exercises,
McEnry said she wasn't sure which ones planned to attend.

When asked whether the DEA planned to investigate or conduct raids on
"grow houses" in the area, McEnry said it planned to conduct "aerial
observation" training exercises.

"Whatever comes of that, I don't know," she said, adding the agency
couldn't disclose that kind of information anyway.

In Arcata -- whose marijuana grow houses have been in the spotlight
of recent national media attention -- rumors of an impending drug
raid spread throughout the community.

At some of the four known medical marijuana dispensaries within
Arcata city limits, employees were reluctant to comment to questions
about the rumored raid.

A moratorium on marijuana growing prevents the dispensaries from
growing their own plants.

The issue of illegal marijuana grow houses in Arcata came to a head
in fall 2007, when several house fires were a direct result of indoor
marijuana grow scenes.

In subsequent months, the Arcata City Council and its Planning
Commission struggled to find remedies that appeased marijuana
advocates and opponents.

Feds in Humboldt County -- There's precedent

This week's operation that brought 450 federal officers to the county
wasn't the first time federal law enforcement agents made an
impressive showing in Humboldt County to target marijuana with
large-scale, coordinated operations.

A surprise, nearly two-week-long marijuana eradication raid in July
1990, called "Operation Green Sweep," by an estimated 200 California
National Guard soldiers and Bureau of Land Management agents sealed
off approximately 640 acres in the King Range National Conservation
Area, according to archived Times-Standard articles.

It was reportedly the first operation of its kind in U.S. history in
which the military assisted in marijuana eradication.

It was reported that the raids were part of a national effort by
then-President George H.W. Bush to convince Colombian leaders --
skeptical of U.S. troops efforts to eradicate drugs in their country
- -- that the U.S. was serious about eradicating drugs at home.

Residents who witnessed the raids reportedly reacted with outrage and
anger at the armed soldiers who pointed rifles at residents, which
led to a lawsuit by the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project that
resulted in guidelines for drug eradication in Northern California.

The operation netted 11 arrests and 1,408 marijuana plants worth $4.2 million.

Another visit by the DEA in 2003 as part of "Operation Pipedreams"
and "Operation Headhunter" targeted vendors who sold drug
paraphernalia across state lines via the Internet, which led to the
arrest of three Arcata businessmen who owned 101 North Glass Inc.

Federal laws trump state marijuana laws

Pulling out a 215 card won't protect marijuana growers under the
federal government's laws.

When California voters passed Proposition 215 -- also known as the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996 -- it allowed medical marijuana
patients to use "up to three pounds of marijuana per year" and to
grow up to 99 indoor or outdoor plants at one time.

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered setbacks for the state's medical
marijuana users in 2001 when it upheld in a ruling that "given the
absence of medical usefulness, medical necessity is not a defense to
marijuana prosecution" and again in 2005 when it upheld that the
federal government can prosecute medical marijuana patients
regardless of a state's compassionate use laws.

While marijuana is classified federally as a Schedule I substance,
which means it is listed as having high potential for abuse and no
medicinal value, the county's lead law enforcement official takes a
different stance.

"The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office will not prosecute
patients whose use and possession of medical marijuana are within
these guidelines," the District Attorney's Office's Health and Safety
Code prosecution guidelines state.

But the district attorney's policy does warn about potential
consequences from other agencies.

"Persons using or considering the use of marijuana, its possession,
transportation or recommendation must be aware that the policies of
other counties may differ," the document stated. "More significantly,
the federal government and other states criminalize marijuana and all
activities associated with its possession, cultivation, use,
transportation, distribution and sale."

Grower, landlord find common ground

Although they may have different opinions on the enforcement of
marijuana laws, a local landlord and a local marijuana grower have at
least one thing in common -- both think grow houses are a big problem
in Arcata.

For the landlord just outside Arcata's city limits -- LaVina
Collenberg -- the possibility of DEA agents raiding grow houses in
Arcata might be a good thing.

She said she had never had any issues with marijuana personally until
one day she realized she had been duped.

A house she thought she had rented to be a home for a young couple
and their baby was not that at all, but was being used exclusively
for growing a large amount of marijuana.

That grow operation caused a fire last September, and since the
couple's marijuana 215 cards were taped to a wall in the home, local
authorities could not pursue any charges against the renters --
leaving an unsuspecting Collenberg with a bill for $55,000 in damages
that her house insurance covered.

But if federal agents had discovered the grow operation first,
Collenberg said her former renters would not have gotten away with
the damage they caused to her property.

"I don't think we can handle it ourselves; it's not being done,"
Collenberg said. "I'm not against anyone smoking marijuana, but when
they do it for profit and hurt people, it's horrible. It's all about
greed and money and they don't care who they hurt."

An Arcata marijuana grower -- who wished to remain anonymous for
legal reasons -- agreed that grow houses are a problem, but not one
that the DEA should stick its nose in.

"The DEA going around busting people for small marijuana grows is not
different than the government busting people for making liquor in the
1920s," the grower said. "It's not working; it's making no productive
change. It's not the gateway drug to the problems it is proposed to cause."

The grower, who is also a 215 card holder, said she was not worried
about being targeted by a raid, since she grows a small number of
plants in a 10-by-6-foot room in her home and sells excess plants to
a medical marijuana dispensary for approximately $1,000 per month.

"There's nothing about my situation that would cause a person to
wonder what's going on," she said of the grow inside her residence.
"If I were in a position that the PG&E bill was astronomical, the
windows were covered and the neighbors were irritated -- which I know
to be the case to many in Arcata -- I think it would lead the DEA to
your door."

Ultimately, the grower said she thought the local community could
figure out its troubles with marijuana itself and that if marijuana
were legal, there would be no need for the DEA to come for a visit in
the first place.

"Maybe I'm old fashioned," Collenberg said about her stance on grow
houses. "I just don't think it's right."

Burning down the houses

John McFarland, Arcata Fire Protection District chief, poses just one
question with regard to the issue: If growing marijuana is so
legitimate, why is it done so sneakily?

"Everyone knows if you want a 215 card which doctor you go to,"
McFarland said. "The issue of medical marijuana is controversial, but
we're looking at the safety standpoint of it."

Residential fires in which marijuana grows were contributing factor
or were present have been on the rise in the past two to three years,
McFarland said.

"We are trying to build realistic statistics," he said. "It's easily
half of our structural fires, but our intentions are to come up with
realistic numbers instead of wild guesses."

McFarland says he doesn't have an issue with medical marijuana, but
when his firefighters' safety is at risk due to the conditions of the
home, he's not so easygoing.

In some cases, firefighters' efforts have been obstructed by "severe
locks, and even concealed or secret doors," McFarland said. "We've
had to take out a window, only to find that six inches behind the
drapes is another wall," he said. "The alterations are done behind
the scenes and not appropriately -- it's just flat luck that they
don't burn the house down the first day."

In two home fires this year, McFarland said propane and butane
canisters were present.

"If it was to detonate, it's going to level the structure and
severely damage and harm the neighbors' homes," McFarland said. "And
it has implications of a fatal outcome for the firefighters -- this
is where the fire chief gets concerned."

An 'Eye' on growing marijuana

Like many Humboldt County residents who have watched the blogs,
Arcata Eye Publisher and Editor Kevin Hoover said last week he was
"waiting for the big bust-olla to happen."

Hoover, who runs Arcata's weekly newspaper, has felt the brunt of
some residents' anger recently, as he has given considerable coverage
to the pot issues over the past year -- even sending letters to
homeowners of suspected illegal grow houses.

"This has put the fear of God into the existing paradigm here," he said.

Since Hoover started sending "Dear Growhouse Owner" letters in
mid-May, he's received both praise and death threats. In the past two
weeks, four local businesses pulled their advertisements from the paper.

But Hoover, who showed a New York Times reporter a suspected grow
house and was interviewed by various national media outlets, said
he's simply doing what he loves -- his job.

"I'm just asking questions," he said. "This has predictably been
misconstrued and interpreted."

The letter informs the recipient that their house may be a grow house
and that neighbors are concerned, Hoover said. "They give me an
address, I look up the property owner and I send the property owner a
letter," he said. "I simply report a fact -- your neighbors are
worried about pot."

Hoover has received mixed reactions, but most homeowners have been
thankful, he said. "Three-fourths of the people who own the houses
have called me and said thanks," he said. "I've heard from three
people who are very unhappy with me."

The national media attention has put him in the spotlight and angered
some, but Hoover said he just did what he'd want his sources to do -- talk.

"When I call somebody in my job as a reporter, I'd like them to
answer my questions," he said.

As far as pot smoking, Hoover could care less.

"We all just wish it was legalized," he said.

But when marijuana cultivation, under the guise of the 215 law,
brings crime into neighborhoods, Hoover's had enough.

"I don't see how protecting this organized crime business protects
medical marijuana," Hoover said. "It's corporate now; it's big business."

Politics of marijuana

Arcata City Councilmember Harmony Groves supported Proposition 215
when it appeared on the ballot in 1999 and said she doesn't think the
federal government should regulate marijuana grows in Arcata.

But Groves said she recognizes that marijuana cultivation in Arcata
is a problem and that she knows of residential neighborhoods where
there are no houses available to rent because they are used to grow marijuana.

She said she doesn't think that's a good thing, but she doesn't want
the federal government to roll into town and uproot people's lives either.

For her, the pot dispensaries and the grow houses are the
responsibility of Arcata and Humboldt County, not the federal government.

"It will be unfortunate if the DEA comes into town," she said.

Arcata City Councilmember Paul Pitino, who said the city is making
progress addressing the grow house issue, thinks the number of grow
houses being circulated by officials and media is exaggerated.

"A sheet covers a window," he said, "and then you have a grow house."

Councilmember Michael Machi said he doesn't have a problem with 215
patients converting small sections of homes to grow medical
marijuana, but he does take issue with houses that are used for
growing and selling.

"It ruins the housing market," he said, and takes away housing for students.

Machi agreed the numbers of grow houses in the city may not be
accurate, but said he doesn't want to downplay the severity of the situation.

"It's an issue that we can deal with through our zoning regulations,"
he said. "Even if it's only a few hundred of them -- which is a lot
- -- it's going to take awhile to clean up that mess."

Machi said he wants people to come to Arcata for what the city has
done for the Arcata Marsh, the community forest or the trail system.

"I don't want Arcata to be famous for supposedly being taken over for
marijuana grows," he said.

PG&E not lighting up grow houses for feds

Among the speculations circulating ahead of the raids was that
Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which supplies power to the homes
suspected of growing marijuana, tipped off the police to which houses
held the biggest grows.

A PG&E official said last week that short of a court order, the
utility company would not go out of its way to provide information to
anyone or to police.

PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris said she was unaware of the Arcata grow
house controversy that had attracted national media attention until
she received an unusual flurry of Humboldt County media inquiries last week.

Morris said PG&E is not a law enforcement agency and it doesn't
investigate a customer's unusual or increased electricity usage, and
she was adamant that the company doesn't share its customer
information with the public.

"We truly respect our customers' privacy," Morris said. "We take that
very seriously."

While it wouldn't volunteer customer usage information to another
person or police, Morris said, PG&E is required under state and
federal laws to cooperate with law enforcement agencies if the
utility company is subpoenaed or a search warrant is served.

Morris said she hadn't heard anything about any such a subpoena
related to Arcata's grow houses, but acknowledged that information
wouldn't necessarily be known or available for release.

But with the increased focus by the media, and the considerable
misinformation propagating on area Internet blogs, Morris said there
are concerns at PG&E over the safety of its workers who live in the
community and are responsible for walking door to door to read
residences' meters.

"Our first concern is our employees," Morris said.