FIRST PERSON: ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER POT BUST

Given the subject I was covering, wearing green khakis to work was an
inspired choice.

The Kern County Sheriff's Department invited several reporters on
Tuesday to watch as they served search warrants at two marijuana grows
in east Bakersfield. The grows, near each other off Fairfax Road north
of Brundage Lane, contained a total of 376 plants.

It was already sunny and warm at 8:15 a.m. when we pulled into a
grassy area just south of the grows. One was mazelike and being
examined by deputies, so we went to the westernmost, smaller grow first.

Senior Deputy Ryan Dunbier escorted us through the property, which was
good because he was also the only person among the couple of dozen
sheriff's personnel present who could talk on the record. Most of the
others were undercover investigators and couldn't give their names or
be photographed.

The undercover officers had arrived about an hour before the media to
secure the area, detaining five people and seizing a handgun. I didn't
mind much that they started before us, as I'd left my bulletproof vest
at home and didn't fancy being chased by one of the pit bulls used as
guard dogs on the property. Too hot for that kind of exertion.

As we walked toward the grows -- which, as with most grows the
sheriff's department comes across, were surrounded by large plywood
walls -- I saw large piles of cut wood on the property. Dunbier said
that may have been a side business of the property owner.

There were a couple of dozen goats in another section, along with a
skinny horse that was later taken by Animal Control. The animals were
in a dirt field outside the grow. The smell of manure was strong.

Just outside the grow, two people were being detained by officers.
They didn't look happy.

Several rows of marijuana plants had already been removed by the
owners before officers arrived. Dunbier said helicopter surveillance
footage caught them harvesting the grow earlier in the week, and
officers realized they had to move soon to get the rest of the pot.

Each plant had a black water line connected to it. The plants were
four to five feet tall.

"They're not completely mature," Dunbier said.

Kern Narcotics Enforcement Team officers started clipping the plants
and stacking them about 8:45 a.m. The team placed white wooden stakes
around 12 plants, marking them as the 12 the owner could keep under
the new county ordinance limiting pot plants.

The officers didn't remove the half a dozen pepper plants that were
next to the pot plants. Those pepper plants looked kind of lonely
after the marijuana was harvested.

Three men were detained in the second grow. A tied up pit bull barked
incessantly as officers interviewed the men.

The plants at the second site were fuller, with larger buds. There
wasn't an extravagant watering system, just a hose.

A cross and M * D was painted in red on a couple of the plywood walls.
Dunbier said the markings may have been an attempt by the owner to
indicate the marijuana was for medicinal purposes.

Several medical marijuana recommendations were posted on the walls of
both grows, but under the new ordinance limiting pot plants to 12 for
each legal parcel of land those recommendations, some of which allowed
99 plants, no longer carry the weight they once did.

Dunbier said one of the reasons the sheriff's department is concerned
about grows is they're finding them in urban areas. There's potential
for violence.

"Look how close they are to homes, business areas," Dunbier said as we
stood in the second grow, where houses and stores were visible.
"There's the opportunity for theft and violence. (The growers) are
going to defend their property."