POT GROWER SEEKING HEARING

Merced County supervisors Tuesday morning heard Dustin Costa discuss
medical marijuana - this, after he was arrested last Thursday when police
found about 1,000 marijuana plants in his home.

Costa said his marijuana is grown for medical use only, and he wants the
county to realize that. He said officers told him there was no such thing
as medical marijuana, so he was requesting help from the county. He said
people who give marijuana away for free can't be prosecuted.

"I came in peace. We are in a battle, we're waving a white flag. Leave us
alone, please," Costa said.

John Volanti, Merced County public health director, said that a state law,
SB420, requires county health departments to provide approval to medical
marijuana users, if a doctor has approved the use of the drug.

But because the state Department of Health Services has no regulations in
place yet, the county has no ordinance either.

"My hands are tied until the state moves forward," Volanti said.

Merced County Undersheriff Bill Blake said that the Merced-Mariposa
Narcotics Task Force had a search warrant for Costa's residence, where 980
marijuana plants were found, half of which were over five feet high.

"This is not about medical marijuana. He had sophisticated scales and
boarded-up windows. He's a drug trafficker. He just dresses the pig up a
little differently," Blake said.

Costa requested to be put on the supervisors' March 9 agenda.

In other board action, a request for a public hearing for March 9 to
consider an appeal by Lydia Miller was approved. Miller has appealed the
decision by the Merced County Planning Commission to give a conditional use
permit to the Vander Woude Dairy.

That dairy has been given a permit to have a 7,613-animal unit dairy on 123
acres near Rahilly Road and Highway 59.

Supervisors also approved a request to list the Veterans Memorial Building
on West Main Street in Merced as a historically significant building.