SPOKANE PILOT HELD AS POT SMUGGLER

Ex-Guard Captain Was At Center Of 24-Year Legal Battle

SPOKANE -- A former Washington Air National Guard pilot involved in a
24-year legal battle concerning his conduct and appearance in the military
has been charged with smuggling marijuana from Canada.

John "Country Doug" Edgar, 61, was being held without bail yesterday in the
Spokane County Jail for investigation of federal drug-smuggling charges.

Edgar was arrested Aug. 23 after landing his plane at the Deer Park
Airport, about 20 miles north of Spokane in Stevens County.

Court documents say authorities found 125 pounds of marijuana in the
Beechcraft.

Edgar was arrested after investigators got court authorization to secretly
hide a tracking device in his plane, court documents indicate. The device
allowed investigators to track the plane's whereabouts, aided by radar at
the U.S. Customs Service Air and Marine Interdiction Center.

Court papers allege Edgar was part of a smuggling ring, involving at least
30 conspirators, that has brought $83 million worth of the marijuana into
the United States since 1999.

The potent "B.C. Bud," primarily supplied by the Hells Angels motorcycle
club in Canada, was bought for about $1,500 a pound, then sold in the
United States for as much as $5,600, court documents state. Edgar, through
his attorney, Bevan Maxey of Spokane, declined to comment.

Edgar and another former member of the Washington Air National Guard were
at the center of a decades-long legal battle recently settled for $4 million.

The money went to four senior Guard officers who claimed they were wrongly
dismissed from the military unit in 1978 for taking disciplinary action
against Edgar and the other Guard member in 1974.

At least one of the officers at the time suspected Edgar of drug use and
drug trafficking, although he never was charged.

Edgar got a job as a navigator and weapons systems officer with the Air
National Guard in the early 1970s, and flew in F-101 fighter-interceptors.

Retired Lt. Col. Richard Main, who was in charge of evaluating air crews
for the Guard, was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

When Edgar showed up to fly the Guard's jets, he frequently arrived on his
motorcycle, wearing a German-style helmet, Main recalled.

Edgar eventually was discharged from the Guard for violating the Air
Force's human-reliability program governing military units with nuclear
weapons.

The incident led to the removal of nuclear weapons from Guard units nationwide.

Edgar, a captain, and another captain who eventually left the Guard, said
they were singled out because they had long hair and rode motorcycles.

"I did my best to get rid of him," said retired Col. Lloyd Howard of
Spokane, who was an Air Guard commander at the time. "He acted like he
didn't have to conform or obey the regulations."

Edgar took the position that "what he did and what he wore on his own time
was his own business," Howard said. "He looked like a Hells Angel, and here
we are with nuclear-equipped jet aircraft."