8,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS FOUND NEAR STEVENSON, THREE ARRESTED

STEVENSON, Wash. (AP)-- About 8,000 marijuana plants have been seized
in one of the largest pot raids in the Pacific Northwest this year,
and three people have been arrested, Skamania County sheriff's deputies said.

Deputies found the marijuana growing Wednesday near a steep hillside
in the Columbia River Gorge about 10 miles east of town. No houses
were in the area, but items found at the site indicated people had
been living there and tending the plants, deputies and members of the
Clark-Skamania Drug Task Force said.

As many as six people in camouflage clothing were spotted from a Drug
Enforcement Administration aircraft. One was arrested soon afterward
about a mile away and two more were taken into custody Wednesday
night near State Route 14, all for investigation of manufacturing
marijuana, deputies said.

Because of the steep terrain, the pot plants had to be airlifted from the site.

Late last month, in neighboring Clark County, sheriff's deputies
found more than 3,700 marijuana plants worth an estimated $750,000 in
a remote forested area about two miles south of Lake Merwin.

On July 7, Oregon State Police reported the seizure of about 7,500
pot plants 2 to 4 feet tall on U.S. Forest Service land northwest of
Lakeview in southcentral Oregon.