MARIJUANA CAMPS CITED IN TRINITY PINES AREA

After months of complaints from residents that their rural wooded
neighborhood near Hayfork is being clear cut into messy marijuana
camps, local officials this week conducted a multi-agency sweep geared
toward cleaning up the Trinity Pines area.

Dave Cox, an investigator with the Trinity County Sheriff's Office,
said that on Wednesday, county, state and federal investigators joined
forces with county code enforcement officials to act on complaints
that the woods were being cut down and people were living in shoddy
conditions on private land converted to pot farms.

"It wasn't a marijuana thing," Cox said. "It was an environmental
thing."

He said three men were cited by building code inspectors for living
permanently at a marijuana grow in a trailer that had been dumping raw
sewage.

The property owners of six locations also will be cited by the
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for improperly
converting forestland to grow marijuana without a proper land-use
permits, Cox said.

The sites had been clear cut and cleared with heavy equipment to make
room for the marijuana grows.

When land is converted from one land use to another a conversion
permit is required from Cal Fire, Cox said.

Forest Service officers issued a federal citation to someone for
transporting marijuana on federal land, Cox said.

Three others also were issued warnings by Christine Edwards, Trinity
County's animal control officer, Cox said.

Edwards accompanied the team after a two pit bulls and a Rottweiler
mauled two people this spring in separate attacks at a home on Trinity
Pines Drive. In one of the attacks, a man had lost his leg.

Edwards said a judge ruled today that the three dogs had to be put
down. Their owner, Timothy Smith, 19, had said he was going to appeal
in the case of the Rottweiler, but he didn't get his paperwork to the
court on time, she said.

The dogs probably will be put down on Monday, she said.

A Department of Fish and Game warden found that two grow sites were
violating the state's clean water rules, Cox said.

Cox said he didn't know the identities of those cited. Cox said the
trip to Trinity Pines was about more than just citations.

He said law enforcement and county code enforcement officials wanted
to educate those living in the area that they had to abide by the same
rules and regulations as their neighbors.

"If you want to be out there, be lawful," Cox said. "You guys have to
follow the rules."

Trinity County Supervisor Roger Jaegel of Hayfork said neighbors have
a right to live without the sound of gunfire, vicious dog attacks and
garbage piles, all common complaints he's heard.

"At least some of those people aren't good neighbors," Jaegel said.
"They're there for one reason. It's not to support community and be a
good neighbor. It's there to grow pot, or medical marijuana or
cannabis or whatever your verbal preference may be."