ISLETON INSISTS PLANNED POT FARM ISN'T DEAD YET

ISLETON, SACRAMENTO COUNTY -- A plan to build
Northern California's biggest government-sanctioned pot farm in the
Sacramento County town of Isleton may not be dead after all.

Developer Michael Brubeck has put his project on hold in the face of
threats by federal prosecutors, who say they are going after large
growing operations - but Isleton officials say they still consider the
farm deal good.

The City Council is planning to vote on an amendment Wednesday to
waive the farmer's fees until the heat from federal prosecutors and a
related Sacramento County grand jury investigation dies down.

"We still want to go ahead with this project, and we are going to do
what we can to keep it going," City Councilman Mike Gomez said
Thursday. "It's not dead."

The council approved an agreement last fall allowing Brubeck, a nephew
of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, to construct a 4,000-square-foot medical
marijuana farm in Isleton. The delta hamlet of 800 was to collect
$25,000 a month, or 3 percent of gross profits, whichever is more.

Brubeck's Delta Allied Growers had five greenhouses nearly finished on
Monday when the company and Isleton's city leaders received letters
from U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner telling them that even though state
law may permit such operations, federal law does not. If the project
proceeded, everyone involved could be subject to criminal and civil
prosecution, he warned.

William Portanova, an attorney representing Brubeck, said he had told
his client to shelve the farm.

"Osama bin Laden knows what it's like when the U.S. Department of
Justice comes knocking," Portanova said. "You can't ignore it. They
don't go away."

Brubeck's official position is that the project has been suspended.
Delta Allied's spokesman, Scott Hawkins, said Brubeck would now focus
on "research and development of medical marijuana technology."

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully issued subpoenas last
month for Brubeck, several of his workers and nearly all of Isleton's
leaders - from the City Council to City Manager Bruce Pope - to
testify before the county grand jury.

The farm agreement violated state law, Scully wrote. Witnesses have
been testifying before the grand jury since April 27. City leaders
including Pope were given immunity in exchange for their testimony,
but Brubeck has not testified yet.

The federal warning to Isleton is similar to those sent in recent
months to officials in eight states, including Rhode Island, who are
considering expanding the ability to grow medical cannabis.

The Obama administration declared 18 months ago that it would not
arrest people who complied with their states' medical pot laws.
However, Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in
Sacramento, said Thursday that farms such as the one proposed in
Isleton are larger that personal ones, making them "operations
involved in the trade of illegal drugs."

A similar federal warning helped sideline plans late last year by the
Oakland City Council to allow large farms.