If you don't already subscribe to the Arcata Eye, you might want to change that, and pick up some back copies, too -
◼ Grow houses: the cost and the carbon
... • A Sunny Brae resident turns on his power saw and his lights dim. On calling Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s customer service line, he’s told that “all the grow houses on your block are maxing out the transformers.”
Officially, PG&E denies the statement. A PG&E spokesman says that the biggest new draw on suburban electrical power has come with the advent of home offices, with all their computers and fax machines....
...Since its two 200-amp electrical meters face his home, a Ninth Street resident tracks electrical usage at his neighbor’s grow house. The house – later raided by the Drug Task Force – consumes a whopping 10,311 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.... Read the rest
◼ Tagged "grow house" turns out to be just that
A house at 11th and A streets which had previously been tagged with the words “grow house” was raided by the Humboldt County Drug Task Force last week, and was found full of pot plants....
◼Multi-grow house bust nets 30-day sentences
On June 4, 2008, Judge Marilyn Miles sentenced John Devoe and Clare Holmes to felony probation and 30 days in jail for cultivating marijuana.
On August 20, 2007, agents with the Humboldt County Drug Task Force served search warrants on six properties that belonged to Devoe and Holmes. The investigation began based upon an anonymous tip. Agents then obtained PG&E records for the properties prior to seeking search warrants for any of the homes....
◼ Kevin Hoover: One more time – neighborhood wrecking bad, compassionate use good. Got it?
Really, great editorial.
◼ Jason Browne: The down-low on the get-high from an old hand on medical cannabis (Part 1)
Then there are the blog rumors... maybe it's true, I've been hearing for a while that the raids were going to be moving north... I guess we will see.
◼ Massive DEA raids planned for Humboldt
◼ DEA raids of indoor grows on the way
From what I have heard it is not just indoor grows. I believe my sources were merely speculating, But you have to wonder how some of this information gets out, IF any of the rumors are accurate, and if there is a major leak at upper levels of law enforcement - how else do the growers know to come in with U-Hauls to clear out the growhouse the night before a raid?
Crooked cops informing growers of impending raids? Say it isn't so!
ReplyDeleteThere have always been and will always be people who will use and abuse their authority for personal gain. Many people have heard credible stories about some of our officers being on the take with the same names being repeated time after time. Some of the boys in blue should be wearing stripes, but that is nothing new.
The Feds are not exactly known for tiptoeing around the country. Take for instance Waco, where a operation based on secrecy was known to the entire town! And we all know what happened on that one.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that all it takes is for someone working at the Red Lion to notice Federal credit cards and the use of 'special agent' to put two and two together. When you think about it, there are many logistical points at which word could get out about 300 agents coming into Humboldt.
Maybe someone at PG&E told someone about the feds accessing electric bill records. Maybe another someone at a hotel said something about rooms being booked by feds. Bits and pieces gets put together. This is a small community and word gets around.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's all baseless and all the rooms are really booked for a police conference. Time will tell.