POLICE FIND MARIJUANA

Law enforcement officials seized and eradicated 39 marijuana plants,
which are worth $78,000, Tuesday afternoon.

The Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force, Marijuana Eradication Team
and members of the New Site Police Department and Alexander City Fire
Department found the plants in helicopter fly-overs Tuesday and
Wednesday for the second time this year.

"The 39 plants were found off of Highway 22 and Hillabee Creek," said
Narcotics Investigator Jay Turner. "We had gotten information about
some plants up there. We found about five plants that were 10 to 11
feet tall and the smallest plants were 5 feet tall."

Turner said for marijuana plants to grow that large, someone had to be
regularly taking care of and monitoring them, and they have an idea of
who that person could be.

"We've got a suspect, but there is no chance of an arrest being made
off of it," Turner said. "It was in a wooded area on somebody's
hunting club. It is off a dirt road and a lot of traffic goes through
it."

The task force has eradicated 299 marijuana plants in Tallapoosa
County so far this year, Turner said.

According to the Marijuana Eradication Team Leader Robert Saffold,
approximately 50,000 marijuana plants have been seized statewide this
year, and the team tries to fly over each county one to three times
yearly.