Kentucky goes after 'Marijuana Belt' growers

[Stephanie]

Let's wait until the facts are known before we cast blame for the death of the census worker in Kentucky's Daniel Boone National Forest.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-30-kentucky_N.htm

==snip==

According to officials at the Office of National Drug Policy's Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA), Kentucky produces more marijuana than any other state except California, making it home to one of the nation's more intensive eradication efforts — a yearly game of harvest-time cat and mouse in national forests, abandoned farms, shady hollows, backyards and mountainsides.

***

The remote and rugged terrain, including the 700,000 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest, is a pot-grower's paradise — its perfect soil and climate give it a key place in America's "Marijuana Belt."

***

Criminal justice professor Potter, who lives and teaches in Richmond, says he also believes that more powerful dope and greater police pressure has raised the stakes, and the danger.

"Last summer, I was out in the rural part of the county bumming around with my Jack Russell," he says. "I ran into three guys who were heavily armed. One said, 'You really don't want to be here.' Twenty years ago, they would've offered you a joint — now they're chasing you away with rifles."

http://www.sentinel-echo.com/local/local_story_229155639.html

==snip==

“The meth lab is not only a danger to police and firefighters, but to the neighbors as well,” Payne said. “These people are not chemists and they use open flames and flammable substances. A lot of times we find them after an explosion.”

Dave Keller, who is with Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, said cooks will take any opportunity to set up a lab, including on rental property, in hotels and motels and even in the Daniel Boone National Forest. He said that in 2008 alone, 59 labs were found in the national forest and 39 have been found in 2009.

[FarCenter]

1. In last month rounded up 40 drug suspects, mostly dealers, several more arrests in subsequent days

From Feds probe US Census worker hanging in Kentucky
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_us/us_census_worker_hanged

<SNIP>
Manchester Police Chief Jeff Culver, whose agency is not part of the investigation because the death was outside city limits, said the area where Sparkman was found has a history of problems with prescription drug and methamphetamine trading.

"That part of the county, it has its ups and downs. We'll get a lot of complaints of drug activity. They'll whittle away, then flourish back up," Culver said. He said officers last month rounded up 40 drug suspects, mostly dealers, and made several more arrests in subsequent days.

<SNIP>
Sparkman's mother, Henrie Sparkman of Inverness, Fla., told The Associated Press her son was an Eagle scout who moved to Kentucky to direct the local Boy Scouts of America. He later became a substitute teacher in Laurel County, adjacent to the county where his body was found.

<SNIP>
Mary Hibbard, a teacher in Manchester, said she recognized Sparkman on the news as the census worker who visited her house this summer for about 10 minutes. Hibbard said he asked some basic questions including the size of her house, how many rooms it had and how much she paid monthly for electricity.

---

That's a real safe question to be asking people in a marijuana growing area.

[bluedigger]

27. There is an ongoing housing census taking place.

Most people wouldn't be aware of it, but the census bureau has an ongoing housing census. The only reason I know about it is because I was visited by a census taker last month. I am renting in New Orleans and my address was on their list, so they came by for about an hour, asking various questions about the house and neighborhood. The census taker explained that they have a list and revisit the addresses every five years or so. It has nothing to do with the population census done every decade. They are just establishing a benchmark for housing conditions in the USA. If a property is removed from their list, then they add a new one, but generally speaking, the control for their data is the address, not the occupant. It is pretty comprehensive - "Does your roof leak? - "Are there any cracks in the foundation?" - "How many rooms?" - "Are you satisfied with police protection?" "On a scale of 1 to 10, rate your neighborhood." Income and expenses questions, of course, but I don't recall being asked for my SSN. I suspect this is the work that was being done by Sparkman.

And my own gut feeling is that Sparkman was murdered by the same people that have fought "the revenuers" for decades in that part of the world. Exactly the kind of people Bachman, Beck et. al. love to exploit. They have definitely gotten the Federal government's attention, and The Drug War is now "Game On!" in Kentucky.

[SIMPLYB1980]

2. Let's wait until the facts are known before we cast blame for the death of the census worker in

Kentucky. And then you go on to imply it's all the pot growers fault, or meth runners fault. I think you should take you own advice. No drug dealer I know of would be stupid enough to hang someone and write FED on him. These people are very secretive and wouldn't do anything to draw attention to their production areas. I will wait for more info before I go one way or another on this issue, but I lean toward an anti government, possibly neo nazi group.

[kentuck]

4. You don't know the "pot growers" that guard their fields with AR-15's..

and will not hesitate to use them.

[SIMPLYB1980]

6. Got a link to the last time a pot grower in the Appalachian Mountains

didn't hesitate to use his AR-15 to kill anyone. I think that would make the news around these parts.

[Barack_America]

9. I'm looking for a link of anyone else being hung.

Or killed in any manner and identified as a "Fed".

In that area. Whether drug related or not.

Coming up empty-handed.

[SIMPLYB1980]

11. +1

:thumbsup:

[SIMPLYB1980]

16. Still comeing up blank.

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&q=pot+farmers+kill+intruder+in+united+states&aq=&aqi=&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&fp=2084f45e26dfc089
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&safe=off&q=pot%20farmers%20kill%20intruder%20in%20united%20states&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

[Barack_America]

21. There is no one currently on death row in KY for such a crime.

http://www.corrections.ky.gov/inmateinfo/deathrow.htm

No one on death row for drug murders at all, actually. Maybe they don't give death row sentences for that sort of thing in KY? Or maybe people murdered for drugs are not found and/or their cases not brought to prosecution (i.e. careful killers).

Everyone on the list received their sentence for murder. Lots of robberies, rapes, domestic violence, arguments, dumping of bodies in remote locations, but no mention of drug killings or hangings.

[kentuck]

22. We don't know the facts..

He may have been shot before he was hanged. We don't know. I'm telling that there are folks that guard their field with AR-15s. You can believe that or not. These folks are serious business. They are criminals. There's gold in them thar' hills...

[izquierdista]

18. Maybe they ran out of bullets

And had to use a rope instead.

[ixion]

3. simple solution: end the drug war

problem solved.

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Meh. Where's the profit in that solution?

:evilgrin:

[Fumesucker]

5. Copperhead Road..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc86_Weoye0

Copperhead Road
(Steve Earle)
Well my name's John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here
He only came to town about twice a year
He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
He headed up the holler with everything he had
It's before my time but I've been told
He never came back from Copperhead Road

Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge
Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge
Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side
Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside
Well him and my uncle tore that engine down
I still remember that rumblin' sound
Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night
Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right
He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load
You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road

I volunteered for the Army on my birthday
They draft the white trash first,'round here anyway
I done two tours of duty in Vietnam
And I came home with a brand new plan
I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico
I plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road
Well the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air
I wake up screaming like I'm back over there
I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know
You better stay away from Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road

[Barack_America]

7. Are intruders normally killed in such a manner?

That question bears consideration too.

[merh]

8. The hanging reminds me of what used to happen during Prohibition to federal

workers if they went into areas that had stills.

[FarCenter]

12. Had a friend in the '60s whose father was a forester in Eastern Tennessee

The forest rangers didn't tell the revenuers where the stills were.

The moonshiners didn't burn the forests down.

[merh]

20. Revenuers, that is the word I couldn't remember this morning.

Thank you for the reminder and your post.

[TwilightGardener]

10. That actually sounds like a more plausible scenario than anti-government

wackjobs. Maybe poor Mr. Sparkman just saw or heard too much, asked too many questions.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

13. You say we should wait to pass judgement............

but you put in a pretty damning subject line and then follow it with two hit pieces in your post that infer a possible drug motive. Your objectivity is where, again?

[Barack_America]

14. Not to mention that the articles are old.

So there was a fair amount of digging involved.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

19. Back in the day...........

they used to call that "yellow journalism": using fear and sensationalism to drum up readership.

[anigbrowl]

24. That's the point, they predate recent events

If this was news from last week, people would say it was a sign of a cover-up or diversion attempt. I think the OP is just trying to offer context, not conclusions.

[Stephanie]

25. Thank you

I'm appalled at the irresponsible casting of blame before the facts are known.

[Stephanie]

23. They're not hit pieces, they're newspaper articles about that region of KY

And I'm trying to point out that there are other possible scenarios besides blaming Michelle Bachman for this death. But I think you knew that.

[Stephanie]

26. And my "damning" subject line is the title of the USA Today article

Had you bothered to read it, you would know that.

[cbdo2007]

28. I'm sure they "read" it but probably couldn't comprehend it from being to stoned.

[Taverner]

15. Only the perfect zone if you're groing Indica strains

Sativa strains, well, too humid

Wait...did I just say too much?