NO FUNDING FOR GREEN HARVEST TILL NOISE PROBLEM IS ADDRESSED

Worried that continual helicopter flights to check for marijuana
cultivation have become an invasion of privacy, Big Island Sen. Andy
Levin wants the state to either modify the flights or stop Operation
Green Harvest.

The Big Island's marijuana eradication program has been going on since
1976. State and county law enforcement officers fly over rural areas
and cane fields looking for marijuana patches, but Big Islanders have
complained for years that the flights are noisy, scare livestock and
invade privacy.

So Levin, Senate Ways and Means Committee co-chairman, canceled money
for Operation Green Harvest unless the state meets with Big Island
communities affected by the flights.

"I don't believe there should be a continuing Green Harvest," Levin
said. "But I am hoping to start a dialogue where community can voice
concerns and officials will be in position to listen."

Gary Moniz, chief of enforcement for the Department of Land and
Natural Resources, said the state knows about Levin's provision in the
budget and says it will comply with the meeting requirement.

"There is a concern from the community caused by the noise," he said.
"We are concerned, so whenever we do fly, we actively try to avoid
residences."

Levin said if the state can hold meetings and reach agreement with
residents in his sprawling district which represents the southern half
of the Big Island, he would agree to continuing Operation Green Harvest.

The provision included in the budget states that "no state funds shall
be expended ... for Operation Green Harvest or other marijuana
eradication programs that involve the use of helicopters" until the
state holds a public hearing on the Big Island and "adopts procedures
for the use of helicopters that address the concerns of those living
in the areas over which the helicopters fly."

"If it can be modified in a way that the community can accept, I
wouldn't mind it continuing," he said.

But he added that "there are too many complaints to
ignore.

"There are too many complaints from responsible, middle-class
residents to write this off as just marijuana dealers complaining,"
Levin said.

Moniz, however, said the state is accused of all noise violations in
the area, including times when the state-leased helicopters are not
even on the island.

"If there is a way we can change our activities, we will, but we are
already obeying all the regulations for low-flying aircraft," Moniz
said.