FRANKLIN COUNTY EYES MARIJUANA PLANTS FROM SKY

There's a lot more growing in Franklin County fields than corn and potatoes.

Also tucked into some of those fields is the leafy green plant often
referred to as "pot."

Each year, the Franklin County Sheriff's Department conducts aerial
searches over the county in an effort to keep the illegal drug off the
streets.

Last week, Undersheriff Kevin Carle confiscated 36 marijuana plants that
had been hidden in asparagus and corn fields.

He spotted the plants from a Bergstrom Aircraft plane.

The plants had an estimated street value of $108,000, or $3,000 to $3,500
per plant.

Carle has been conducting the searches for 15 years at the end of summer
and during harvest season. The department gets $8,000 to $12,000 a year
from federal grants for the aerial searches.

"It's a little unusual to find this many this year, because you usually
have an off-year," Carle said. "I wasn't expecting to see a lot this year."

He found eight plants last Tuesday in the middle of asparagus fields on a
100-acre plot of land. The plants stood

8-20 inches tall, towering over the asparagus.

On Friday, 28 plants that were 5 to 6 feet tall were found among 12-foot
corn stalks on a 50-acre spread.

"These plants looked like Christmas trees," Carle said. "It was so easy to
spot. We probably could have spotted it from the ground."

Carle said they don't know if the plants belonged to the landowners or to
phantom growers using the fields as a hiding place. Because of that, he
said officials typically just confiscate the crop and don't try to catch
the person responsible.

"If it's theirs, they're not going to admit it," he said. "And it would
cost an awful lot of money for surveillance, and what would really happen
to them?"

Marijuana growers use the fields because they are irrigated and fertilized
during the season, which means the growers don't have to worry about
getting caught while tending the crop.

"We're just taking dope off the streets and out of the hands of our kids
today," Carle said. "It's gratifying knowing that you're doing something
for the community."

Copyright 1998 Tri-City Herald.

Checked-by: Richard Lake