UKIAH MAN PROPOSES CITIZEN PATROL OF FOREST TO RID IT OF MARIJUANA

A Ukiah man's hopes of rallying volunteers to tear down marijuana
gardens in the Mendocino National Forest have law enforcement dubious
- - but not against the idea.

Ken Good wants to recruit 50 to 100 volunteers - outdoorsmen,
ranchers, hunters and others - to patrol the forests and remove the
water piping, structures and gardens that pollute the forest and leave
residents in fear for their lives.

"There seems to be a feeling of almost resignation here that, hey, in
the summertime don't go into the national forest because you might get
shot,'" Good said. "That's unacceptable. It's public land and it
belongs to everyone. It's time to tell them (drug cartels), no mas.'"

Bob Nishiyama, a state Department of Justice officer assigned as
commander of the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force for the past eight
years, said he has mixed feelings about the idea.

The Task Force eradicates marijuana gardens in the forest and on
private land, coordinating with other law enforcement agencies.

"With the people law enforcement takes on, and the people who are
shooting at law enforcement officers, I would hate to think what they
would do to civilians," Nishiyama said.

He continued, "I have that fear, but by the same token, law
enforcement by itself is not going to be able to deal with this issue."

Nishiyama said he knows of people who announced their intention to
tear down gardens in the forest and then disappeared.

"It's easy to get rid of a body in the forest," he
said.

Good said the volunteer groups would include at least five people at a
time who would ride four-wheelers on trails and rugged train in the
forest and stay together.

"It wouldn't be hard-core," Good said. "But there's safety in numbers,
and the more the better."

He continued, "Yes, this will be dangerous for us to do this, but it
would be more dangerous for teenagers who wander into it."

Good said the volunteer effort would be primarily focused on sending a
message to illegal immigrants working for drug cartels that the
marijuana gardens they tend will be torn down.

Although he notes the volunteers would have a right to be armed on
public land and could make citizens' arrests, he emphasized,
"confrontation in those situations is always a last resort."

He continued, "I know the response by law enforcement is going to be,
this is dangerous, let us do it,' but they're broke. I'm not doing
this because of their inability to handle the problem, but because
they don't have the resources."

Good said it's been more than 20 years since he worked as a police
officer in Visalia and Porterville, and he is currently a contractor
who has been in Ukiah for about a year. He said he wants to draw
people to the group of volunteers who know the lay of the land.

Good said volunteers could do a variety of things, including helping
with communication, maintaining vehicles and equipment, watching
ingress and egress points to the forest for vehicles with suspicious
license plates and gear, which Nishiyama noted might include carloads
of soil, fertilizer and gardening gear, rather than camping gear.

"We would let the Sheriff's Office know what we were doing," Good
said.

Nishiyama said the best thing for any group volunteering to take on
the problem of drug cartels in the forest is to "come to us and ask
where we need help."

He added, "We could always use eyes and ears."

Good said anyone interested in volunteering can contact him via e-mail
at takebackourforest@yahoo.com.