NEARLY 4,000 PLANTS NETTED

GREENUP Four days in a helicopter over Greenup County late last month led
to the discovery of almost 4,000 marijuana plants, all of which were
subsequently destroyed by the county sheriff's department.

Sheriff Keith Cooper took to the air with the help of the Kentucky State
Police, who own the chopper, to scour rural Greenup for marijuana patches,
and more flyovers are scheduled for this month, he said.

The majority of the patches found in the previous operation were situated
between White Oak and Brushy in the northwestern end of the county, Cooper
said. A patch was even found in a small cornfield near the entrance to
Greenbo Lake State Resort.

"What people have been doing is riding a horse out to a small area and
growing about 500 to 1,000 plants," Cooper said. "A horse doesn't leave a
trail like an ATV would. But, from the air, the stuff almost glows at you.
It's pretty easy to detect because it's a different color from everything
around it."

The sheriff's department has been seizing large marijuana crops all summer.
Cooper said he believes growers are producing more this year because of a
good growing season, and because it's been a few years since authorities
have searched the county through the air.

"The KSP only has so many helicopters, and you have to get on a list,"
Cooper said. "We haven't done as many flyovers in Greenup County, so people
get brave."

There are a few arrests pending for cultivation in relation to the patches
that have been found, Cooper said, but more often than not, authorities
simply destroy the patches.

Most growers cultivate their crop on someone else's property without the
owner's knowledge, Cooper said, and it is rare to catch a grower at the patch.

"We coordinate air to ground, and when I see a patch, we usually just have
someone move in, cut it down and destroy it," Cooper said.

While the majority of drug peddling and abuse in Greenup County still
centers around prescription pills like OxyContin, Cooper said the evidence
indicates the marijuana industry is still big.

A good deal of the marijuana grown here is shipped along U.S. 23 to large
markets like Columbus and Detroit, he said.

"We found 3,700 plants over four days in August," Cooper said. "I think
we've proven there's a lot of marijuana being grown here."