MARIJUANA FLIGHTS

The Sept. 8 News-Times story "County gets update on marijuana fight"
includes a description by the Lincoln County forest enforcement
officer, a recent candidate for sheriff. Bergman describes the
practice of discovering marijuana patches in the woods during aerial
surveillance.

Bergman claims that he has had special training which allows him to
spot the marijuana because of its distinctive color.

This claim is the basis for a long-used hoax by law enforcement which
allows them to protect their informants, otherwise known as
"snitches." The article mentions Bergman's use of "phoned-in tips that
earn the tipster a reward." According to Bergman, "the informant's
name is kept anonymous."

Naturally, no snitch is going to want to go to court and publicly
testify in support of the police application for the search warrant
necessary to enter private property and seize the pot.

The way the cops avoid violating defendants' constitutional right to
confront their accusers is to fly over the site of the patch that has
been located by the snitch, hover, take pictures, pick out the plants
under a magnifying glass, and claim in court to have made the
discovery in the course of routine overflights.

The clear proof of the absurdity of police claims of discovering small
marijuana patches during aerial surveillance can be shown by anyone
using binoculars and, while riding in a car at 40 miles per hour,
attempting to identify particular plants on a heavily overgrown
hillside. No one, no matter what kind of training, can make such
identifications reliably. As to the unique coloration of marijuana,
any botanist will tell you that plant color varies depending on what
nutrients the plants obtain.

Aerial surveillance for marijuana really began in Humboldt County,
Calif., in the mid-to late-'60s. There, on the brown hills, the green
of irrigated marijuana patches stood out like flags, easily spotted
from the air. The technique was credible under those conditions, and
it went unchallenged when it was imported into the Northwest for the
purpose of getting search warrants while protecting snitches.

Carl Reynolds, Sherwood