SENIORS LOSE BID TO QUASH DRUG CASE

LANCASTER -- A Lancaster Superior Court judge refused to drop charges
against three grandmothers and a grandfather accused of illegally selling a
component used in manufacturing methamphetamine.

While sympathetic to the defendants' assertion the 1999 law may be
burdensome, Judge Randolph Rogers said he thought it appropriate for the
state to regulate sales of iodine crystals, since the substance can be used
in producing what he described as "a scourge in the high desert."

"It's just about an out-of-control problem in the high desert, where people
come to manufacture methamphetamine," Rogers said. "It appears to me the
statute is appropriate in terms of one mechanism that's been enacted by the
government to address that problem."

Defense attorneys say the 1999 state law requiring sellers of crystallized
iodine -- used for treating horses' hoofs as well as for making
methamphetamine -- to get names, addresses and vehicle license numbers from
buyers is unconstitutionally vague.

It also could subject businesspeople to retribution from vengeful drug
dealers, the defense attorneys say.

"Under the law, you have to become frontline police informants," said
Robert Sheahen, attorney for two of the defendants. "A statute that
requires that of elderly shopkeepers is unconstitutional."

In addition, the law discriminates against California store owners because
Internet sales of the substance are not subject to the state law, he said.

Judge Rogers says his reading of the state law make him believe it does
apply to Internet sales, and he said he understands federal authorities are
moving to regulate Internet sales.

"Maybe the legislature went too far in requiring people to go outside to
take down license plate numbers. That does seem to be burdensome or
problematic, if you have proprietors incapable of doing that," Rogers said.
"That doesn't make it unconstitutional."

Before the hearing, about 20 supporters of Armitta and Robert Granicy, who
own the Granicy Valley Wide feed store, and Armitta's two sisters, Ramona
Beck and Dorothy Manning, who work there, picketed outside the courthouse.

The hearing had to be moved to a bigger courtroom to accommodate the crowd
and three television news cameras, and to provide a stand where Armitta
Granicy could testify on her knowledge of iodine.

Armitta Granicy, 59, Robert Granicy, 63, Beck, 61, and Manning, 67, have
pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges that they failed to obtain and
maintain records relating to iodine sales. If convicted, they could be
sentenced to up to a year in jail on each count.

The Granicys' feed store opened in 1967. The store contains a gift shop, a
horse gear room and truck rental business, as well as a petting zoo visited
by local schoolchildren.

The three women have nine grandchildren among them, and none of the four
has a criminal record.

In their motion asking for charges to be dismissed, the four defendants'
attorneys said the state law makes no provision to protect business people
from possible reprisal from irate drug dealers. Moreover, Armitta Granicy
asked for but was refused police protection, the motion said.

"In that the drug violator will probably be out on bail at the time of the
discovery that it was Mrs. Granicy who turned him in, it will only be a
matter of time before Mrs. Granicy is personally harmed or the feed store
is burned to the ground," the motion said.