SUIT FILED OVER DESTROYED PLANTS

Officers, Agents Took Marijuanalike Plants Used As Deer Feed, Suit
Says

A Harrison County hunting club owner has filed a lawsuit in federal
court seeking compensation for law enforcement officers' destruction
of kenaf plants, a look-alike for marijuana that's used as feed to
attract deer.

Authorities raided the Boargog Hunting Club in September and seized
500 suspicious plants.

After the raid, Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. said the plants were
thought to be marijuana. Payne later said his deputies were only
assisting agents assigned to a federal drug enforcement team. Marian
Waltman, the club owner, sued Payne and his department for damages.
The plants were on land leased by the club from a timber company.

While a trial date has not been set, the case appears on the U.S.
District Court schedule for November.

Waltman sought $225,000 in compensation before his attorney filed the
civil suit in federal court.

Crime Lab results from tests of the plants have not been made
public.

Waltman was not charged in the raid. His complaint accuses the sheriff
and his agents of negligence, trespassing, invasion of privacy and
defamation.

Africans grew kenaf as early as 6000 B.C., and within the past century
it has been grown in India, Asia, Africa, the Near East and Latin
America. U.S. farmers devoted about 12,000 acres to kenaf in recent
years, mostly in Texas, Mississippi and Georgia.

Kenaf comes in two varieties: One with leaves that resemble marijuana,
the other with heart-shaped leaves similar to the hibiscus plant, a
kenaf cousin.

Waltman said the kenaf plant has seven leaves at the top and
okra-looking leaves at the bottom. He said marijuana only has five
leaves.