NATIONAL ANTI-DRUG AWARD TO BE GIVEN TO SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

The Tulare County Sheriff's Department will receive a national award
for anti-drug efforts today. Sheriff Bill Wittman will accept the
National Marijuana Eradication Initiative Award in Washington, D.C.
The award comes from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Sheriff's department officials said the award recognizes the success
of Operation LOCCUST, an eradication demonstration project that
sought to combat marijuana cultivation on federal lands -- including
national parks and forests -- in the Sierra Nevada.

LOCCUST stands for Locating Organized Cannabis Cultivators Using
Saturation Tactics. In its first year, 2008, teams of federal, state
and local law enforcement officers raided more than 87 marijuana
gardens, destroyed more than 527,000 plants, arrested more than 50
suspects and seized more than 300 pounds of processed marijuana, the
sheriff's department reported. In addition, officials said,
eradication teams ripped out 33 miles of irrigation pipe and seized
1,800 pounds of fertilizer, 33 gallons of chemicals and 22 pounds of
pesticides, and were able to reclaim half of the growing locations.