POLICE CHIEF DELIVERS HIS SUSPECT CROP TO CRIME LAB

Bunker Hill Police Chief Jesse Cunningham nurtured his crop for a month. He
watered the tiny plants every 36 hours. He kept the light on in his office
day and night. He even set the plants near a window so that curious
passers-by could take a look.

On Thursday, Cunningham delivered his harvest to the Illinois State Police
crime laboratory. He expects the results to confirm what he already
suspects: He has been growing marijuana.

"The (Macoupin County) state's attorney said to me, 'I've never heard of a
police chief growing his own evidence,' " Cunningham said Thursday with a
chuckle.

The Police Department seized 50 to 60 of the plants March 25 from the
greenhouse at Bunker Hill High School, where an agriculture student had
apparently planted the seeds under the guise of growing tomatoes.

Cunningham asked State Police how he could tell whether the tiny plants,
which had just poked through the soil, were actually marijuana. They
advised him to raise the plants to maturity, then dry them and bring them
to the lab for testing, he said.

So that's what he did.

No charges have been filed, pending the results of the tests, but
Cunningham said the department has already identified the Bunker Hill High
student who planted the seeds.

"I honestly think the kid just wanted to see if he could get by with it,"
said Cunningham, who suggested that the student probably planted the seeds
as a prank.

Police found out about the plants from the parent of another Bunker Hill
High student.

As the plants grew, Cunningham said, it became apparent that "they're
definitely not tomato plants. They look like all the pictures we've got of
cannabis marijuana plants."

Only about 30 or 40 of the school's 197 students have access to the
greenhouse, which is used by the school's agricultural classes, said Bunker
Hill Superintendent Michael Cox.

Cox said he had a hard time believing that the student who planted the
seeds meant to harvest them.

"I can't imagine that someone was going to do something with them," he said.

But even if this was a prank, Cox said, it will carry serious consequences.

"If we would prove who it was, it would probably warrant expulsion," he
said. "And we would probably go through the courts to see what else could
be done, because this is an illegal substance on school property. It's
big-time."