FEED STORE 'GRANNIES' TRIAL OPENS

Courts: Four Are First To Be Tried Under '98 Law That Requires Logging Of
Sales Of Iodine Crystals--Which Are Used To Treat Hoof Disease Or To Make
Methamphetamine.

A jury trial began Wednesday to determine whether the "Lancaster
Grannies" acted in stubborn defiance of the law or were caught in the
web of an overzealous drug enforcement sting in the sale of tiny jars
of iodine crystals.

The "grannies"--three sisters plus one grandpa, all in their 60s--run
the oldest feed store in Lancaster. They are accused of failing to
properly record sales of iodine crystals, sometimes used in the
illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, but also used to treat hoof
disease in horses.

They are the first to stand trial under a 1998 law requiring merchants
to log detailed information--including driver's license and vehicle
license numbers--on all iodine crystal buyers.

Facing up to a year in jail if convicted of misdemeanor charges are
Armitta Mae Granicy, 60, and her husband, Robert Roy Granicy, 63,
owner-operators of Granicy's Valley Wide Feed. Also charged are
Armitta's sisters, Dorothy Jean Manning, 67, and Ramona Ann Beck, 62,
who run a gift boutique out of the funky, 40-year-old store on the
outskirts of town.

In opening statements in Lancaster Superior Court on Wednesday,
prosecutor Robert Sherwood accused the defendants--who have become
known as the Granicy Four--of acting out of "good, old-fashioned
greed" by allegedly selling thousands of two-ounce jars of the
crystals without keeping proper records.

"Armitta Granicy, from the very beginning, said she was not going to
comply with the law," Sherwood told the jury.

Defense attorneys said they will argue that the four did all they
could to comply with an "insidious, crazy law" that they say forces
unqualified private citizens to act as front-line drug informants.

"These are good, churchgoing, law-abiding people, and this hearing is
an outrage," attorney Robert Sheahen said. He said investigators
allegedly "set them up, snared them and brought this into court."

Iodine crystals, sold by the ounce, have been used for decades to
treat hoof disease in horses and to purify stored water. More
recently, they have been used to manufacture methamphetamine, a
powerful stimulant often associated with violence.

The sale of iodine is not illegal, but a law that went into effect in
January 1999 requires merchants to log detailed information on buyers,
which can be used by drug enforcement investigators. A task force in
1999 shut down 68 suspected meth labs in the north county area, triple
the number of the previous year, according to the state attorney
general's office.

Sheriff's drug enforcement investigators cracked down on the Granicy
Four a year ago, after they reportedly refused to comply with
regulations requiring detailed records. But the proprietors contend
they did all they could without putting their lives in jeopardy.

At the opening of the trial at the Antelope Valley Courthouse,
Sherwood, a deputy district attorney, said undercover agents on five
occasions purchased jars of the crystals while using an alias and were
not asked to produce identification, as the law requires.

Defense attorney Alison Bloom said she will show that the law is
confusing and that the defendants did not understand what they were
supposed to do. She described the feed store as a throwback to a
country general store that sells "tackle, books, cards and has a
petting zoo."

The four defendants earlier this month turned down a plea agreement
that would have dismissed the charges but required them to pay a $500
fine and to stop selling the tiny $16 jars of crystals for two years.

The defendants, "on principle, believe they have done nothing wrong,
so it is very hard for them to accept the idea of compromise," Bloom
said in an earlier interview.

"They've been on this planet for many years with a clean record, and
that's how they want to go to their graves," Bloom said.

Distributors for feed dealers and saddleries say many in California
have stopped selling the crystals because they do not want to be
bothered with the required record-keeping. Investigators said they
cracked down on Granicy's after the shopkeepers repeatedly refused to
produce records.

Granicy's sold about 16,000 ounces of iodine crystals in a 15-month
period--triple the amount typically sold by similar outlets, according
to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Tom Holeman.

The three sisters were arrested and briefly jailed during a raid in
March 2000. Robert "Grandpa" Granicy turned himself in later. The
women said they sat barefoot on a concrete bench in a cell, singing
church hymns for four hours until deputies released them.

Dozens of supporters in the past have rallied repeatedly behind the
four during previous pretrial hearings. But only five demonstrators
showed up Wednesday, carrying fluorescent placards and chanting "Free
the Grannies" before a single freelance television cameraman.

Protester Betty Maki, 64, of Lancaster commented on the jury selection
process, which consumed three days during questioning of 142 potential
jurors. "You'd think they killed somebody, with all this bother," she
said of the Granicys, from whom she has purchased feed for more than
30 years. "This is a giant waste of taxpayer money."

The family represents five generations of business, community and
church leaders. Married in 1958, the Granicys opened the feed store in
the 1960s on land purchased by Robert Granicy's parents in 1943. The
sisters have lived in Lancaster since the 1950s, when their parents
left a family farm in Missouri.

Armitta Granicy, who has led the fight against authorities, maintains
that undercover drug enforcement investigators should monitor the
store, rather than requiring merchants to record information on
possible drug traffickers.

The trial is expected to continue for five days, attorneys said.