Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 22:25:27 -0700
Subject:Do you have a So.Dak. Courtroom Horror Story? Up TOC?

Group offers $4500 for "Courtroom Horror Stories" about South Dakota
injustices. PLEASE, if you know anyone in prison in South Dakota, mail
him or her a copy of this email, so that prisoners have a chance to
circulate this contest offer.


Posted by Bob Newland
http://www.CommonSenseJustice.Us


RAPID CITY (SD) 25 April 2002 -- Common Sense Justice, the group
sponsoring Amendment A, will be encouraging every South Dakotan to enter
a contest by submitting a personal "courtroom horror story", with a
prize of $2002 going to the "worst story we hear", according to the
group's founder Larry Dodge of Rapid City. Two additional prizes of
$1001 each will be awarded by random drawing from the non-winning entries.

The contest rules state, "We are looking for instances where injustice
resulted because you were prosecuted according to the letter of the law,
and where you probably would have been found not guilty if you had been
able to make a common-sense argument that the law itself was either
wrong or wrongly applied."

Dodge said the idea of the contest is to demonstrate that South Dakota
pays for a large number and variety of absurd criminal prosecutions
every year, so many that the state ranks among the top few in per cent
of its population behind bars.

"When I think of how much injustice that adds up to, how many lives are
ruined, and how much taxpayer money is wasted paying for excessive law
enforcement, unnecessary trials, and for extra prison space, it makes me
ill," Dodge said. "So we've decided to dramatize how bad things really
are by asking people to tell us their own 'horror stories' about how the
justice system didn't work for them."

To obtain these stories, flyers annoncing the contest and its rules will
be mailed to taverns, barber shops, beauty parlors, health food stores,
and other businesses where the group estimates that people gather and
"talk a little politics", as Dodge puts it. The group is also inserting
the flyers or placing ads in newspapers around the state.

"Most appropriately of all, we're sending flyers to all thirteen state
correctional institutions, so that the inmates may enter," Dodge said.
"That way, we should obtain a number of current horror stories to add to
the stories we get about past problems from people living in our communities."

Dodge urges potential entrants to hurry: "Your entry must be postmarked
by October 21," the flyer states. Winners will be announced on
Halloween, a date selected as "the perfect day for telling horror
stories," according to the contest rules.

All qualifying stories will be posted at
http://www.CommonSenseJustice.Us, and the winning story will be sent to
the media for possible publication, including the newspaper serving the
area in which the winning contestant currently resides.

Dodge said that as an incentive for business owners or prison wardens to
offer the flyers to clients or inmates, respectively, Common Sense
Justice will pay $500 each to whichever business or prison facility
posted the flyers that inspired the three winners to enter the contest.


============================
COURTROOM HORROR STORY CONTEST RULES

1) To qualify, your entry must be a true "horror story"? an instance in
which you "did the right thing", but were arrested and charged with a
crime anyway, then were either found guilty or were pressured into
pleading guilty to a lesser charge. The stories we are looking for are
instances where injustice resulted because you were prosecuted according
to the letter of the law, and where you probably would have been found
not guilty if you had been able to make a common-sense argument that the
law itself was either wrong or wrongly applied.

2) All entries must begin with the words, "I'm for Amendment A because
of what happened to me (or a member of my family)".  These first few
words will not be counted toward the maximum of 1001 words.

3) Your story may be submitted either by e-mail to
mailto:horrorstory@commonsensejustice.us, faxed to 1-877-687-5297, or
snail-mailed to the address below. If sent by fax or snail-mail, entries
must be signed. Entries must also include your printed name, address,
and phone number.  We also request that you give us the name of your
local newspaper, so that we can notify it if you should win.

4) All stories must be true accounts of criminal prosecutions that you
or a member of your family actually experienced.  (It doesn't matter
whether your case went to trial or not, but to assist us in documenting
your story, we request that you include the case number. If you don't
recall the number, please supply us the name, date, and place of your trial.)

5) You are encouraged to send the same story you send us to your local
newspaper, as a letter to the editor, or as an "op-ed" piece.  In most
cases, this will mean reducing the number of words to the limits allowed
by your newspaper.  We will post the full-length version of every story
we receive on http://www.CommonSenseJustice.Us. If you are one of our
winners, we will announce your win, and send your story, edited only as
necessary for grammar, spelling, and punctuation, to your local paper.

6) All entries will be assigned a number as they are posted to our
website. Winners of the drawing will be determined by randomly selecting
two numbers from the full list of numbered entries, not including the
number which was assigned to the winner of the "best entry" prize.

7) Common Sense Justice reserves the right not to publish or award
prizes to entries which contain profane language, or which exceed the
word limit, or which lack enough detail to make them intelligible, or
which cannot be documented as actually having occurred as described.

8) Winners will be announced on Thursday, October 31. ?. Halloween, of
course, which is the perfect day to tell horror stories.  Prizes will be
awarded on or before December 31, 2002. The names of winners will be
sent to every newspaper in South Dakota; however, if you do not see them
published, they will also appear on the http://www.CommonSenseJustice.Us
website.

Or, you may write to us at the address below, and we will send you a
copy.  It is the same address to which all entries should be mailed:

Horror Story
c/o Common Sense Justice
426 E. Fairmont Blvd. #9
Rapid City, SD 57701
Or email your entry to mailto:horrorstory@commonsensejustice.us

9) So that we may give credit where credit is due, your entry must
include the name of the establishment where you picked up your entry form.

Please copy this Contest Information and distribute it to your friends,
family, and EVERYONE!
==========================------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 22:27:36 -0700
Subject:WA: Massive marijuana plantation eradicated in cooperative law enforcement operation Up TOC

       Massive marijuana plantation eradicated in cooperative law 
enforcement operation
       Marijuana discovery largest ever found on state-owned land

                   Photo by Jesse Burkhardt
                   TALL TASK -- Working with members of the Washington 
National Guard, Washington Department of Natural Resources law enforcement 
officer Gary Margheim carries a bundle of marijuana plants taller than he 
is. Last Thursday, the team helped destory 6,000 plants that were recently 
discovered growing on DNR land in Klickitat County.

       By Jesse Burkhardt
       With its rotors blowing up huge clouds of brown dust and grit, a 
military helicopter hovered just above the trees, then dropped cargo nets 
laden with marijuana plants.
          The scene was repeated about 10 times on Thursday morning, as a 
Black Hawk helicopter from the Washington National Guard ferried 
approximately 6,000 harvest-ready marijuana plants from an elaborate grow 
operation to a junction on an obscure logging road for disposal.
          The illegal marijuana grow -- referred to as a "plantation" by 
law enforcement authorities -- was recently discovered on a scenic expanse 
of land owned by the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The 
land, all of which is within Klickitat County, is approximately six miles 
north of Northwestern Lake.
          Three separate plots with intense marijuana cultivation were 
located in the area. Combined, the parcels covered about 10 acres.
          "This is the biggest grow plantation on DNR land we've found," 
said Gary Margheim, a DNR law enforcement officer. "It's not untypical to 
find grows on DNR land, but this size is extraordinary. It feels really 
good to get this marijuana so it won't get into our communities."
          Authorities estimated that each plant -- which ranged in height 
from five feet to about 13 feet -- were worth between $1,000-$1,500 each. 
The total "street value" of the harvest was estimated at anywhere from $6 
million to $9 million.
          "This represents three tons of dried product," said Sgt. Erik 
Anderson of the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office.
          Margheim explained that the marijuana plants were first spotted 
from the air. He described the field where they grew as an old clear-cut on 
flat ground just outside the treeline.
          "We never would have found it without the helicopter flyover," he 
said.
          No one has yet been arrested in the case, but authorities at the 
scene said they believed those responsible for the grow were "Mexican 
nationals," and they had been living on the site to care for the plants.
          "These plants were probably tended daily," Margheim explained. 
"Their hooches were just inside the trees so we couldn't see them from the 
air. I'm pretty sure that when we first flew it, they probably scared 
everyone out. We haven't seen anyone."
          Anderson said there were several reasons why authorities believed 
that those responsible for the plantation were from Mexico.
          "We found handwritten items in Spanish, and food products with 
Spanish labels, that kind of thing," Anderson explained.
          The marijuana grow was discovered through a cooperative 
counter-drug detection effort coordinated by the U.S. Forest Service with 
the support of Joint Task Force 6, a Department of Defense military unit 
geared to support the nation's law enforcement agencies.
          Under the auspices of Joint Task Force 6, agencies involved in 
the operation included DNR, the Forest Service, Klickitat County Sheriff's 
Office, Skamania County Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the 
Washington National Guard.
          Sgt. Anderson said he was impressed by the sophistication of the 
sites.
          "I was astounded," Anderson said. "Even the engineering involved 
in plugging waterlines into a water source. At one site they had a mile and 
a half of tubing plugged into a creek for irrigation."
          According to Anderson, Buck Creek was tapped to supply water to 
the plants.
          One of the Washington National Guard members who helped remove 
the marijuana said those responsible knew what they were doing.
          "It was pretty rustic, but they were living well," he said.
          Anderson added that he believed several people were directly 
involved in the illegal endeavor.
          "There were separate encampments. They've been living here 
probably all summer. Judging by the amount of labor and all these plants, 
I'd say there were four to six people here on a full-time basis," Anderson 
said. "That's my personal opinion."
          Anderson characterized the marijuana plantation as "a 
professional operation."
          "They did a good job of covering up their trails. I think they 
were living at each site and rotating around," he explained.
          Authorities searching the sites found evidence that those tending 
the plants were armed.
          "We found ammunition and ammunition packages, and we found areas 
where they had been doing target practice," Anderson explained. "And they 
had been poaching animals for food."
          Representatives from DNR and the Forest Service expressed relief 
that the operation had been discovered.
          "Unfortunately, this is becoming more common in state forests, 
but with the cooperation of other agencies, we have been successful in 
finding and destroying them [illegal drug operations]," said Doug 
Sutherland, Washington Commissioner of Public Lands. "Our enforcement 
officers should be congratulated for their good work and for keeping our 
forests safe for hikers and others who want to recreate in these public 
forests."
          "This is a good opportunity to eradicate the growing of drugs on 
public lands," added Linda Turner, public affairs specialist for the U.S. 
Forest Service.
          After the helicopter dropped off the netted loads of plants, the 
marijuana was stacked in a pile, then loaded onto two dump trucks. The 
plants were then hauled to SDS Lumber Co. in Bingen for incineration in the 
lumber plant's hog fuel boiler.
          "They are providing their incinerator for us," Anderson said. 
"They're nice enough to handle that for us."
          Anderson added that the furnace is so hot that it basically 
"atomizes" the plants, and all emissions are controlled through the SDS 
plant's high-tech filtering.
          Many laughed at the thought of the plants being burned at SDS, 
and what effect that might have on local residents. Members of Portland 
television news crews who flocked to the scene were among those who 
chuckled at the idea.
          "I was wondering if the whole town was going to get a little 
loopy tonight," joked Elaine Murphy, news reporter for KOIN TV (Channel 6), 
as she interviewed Sgt. Anderson.

       http://www.whitesalmonenterprise.com/WSENews0.html

------------------------------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 22:28:53 -0700
Subject:Nat'l Hemp Lobby Day! Up TOC

*** NATIONAL HEMP LOBBY DAY - October 2nd, 2002 ***


Vote Hemp Supporters and Friends of Industrial Hemp,

HEMP LOBBY DAY is Wednesday, October 2nd
Attendees of the 9th Annual Hemp Industries Association (HIA)
Convention will be meeting with Senators and Representatives on
Capitol Hill to discuss the steps needed to re-authorize industrial
hemp farming in the USA.

We realize that everyone can't make it to DC so please CALL, FAX, or
EMAIL your Senators and Representative on 10/2/02 and let them know
that you support allowing US farmers to grow industrial hemp just
like farmers in Canada and Europe. If you have the time, you can
also
arrange a visit with staffers at the district office in your area.

You can get their address and phone number at:
http://www.capwiz.com/votehemp/home/
Just enter your zip code in the ELECTED OFFICIALS box and click GO.

There is a LETTER ONLINE ready to send by just clicking and entering
your name.
SIMPLE. EFFICIENT. EASY.
http://www.capwiz.com/votehemp/home/
(Enter your zip code - Write your elected official.)

This is what we will be saying to our Representatives:

1) Congress pass legislation to differentiate between industrial
hemp
and marijuana. As Dr. David West always says, "It's in the SEED."
A low-THC cannabis seed will ONLY produce a low-THC plant. There IS
a
difference. It CANNOT get you high. If the Canadian mounties and
British
bobbies can tell the difference, why can't US law enforcement?
Fourteen states have passed bills or resolutions supporting allowing
farmers to grow hemp and the National Conference of State
Legislatures
passed a resolution asking Congress and the President to change the
law to allow it.

2) The USDA - US Department of Agriculture should be the regulator,
as they are for every other commodity crop. (Not the DEA.)
Industrial
Hemp for Fiber, Food, and Fuel. $$$ for our Farmers. Improve our
soil, air and water quality.

Please mark your calendar and make HEMP LOBBY DAY a day to remember!
October 2, 2002

Thanks!
HIA  VOTE HEMP



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Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 16:00:07 -0700
Subject:CA: Staggering Blow Dealt to the Victors' Up TOC

via Lanny Swerdlow

The scene unfolding tore at me like the death of a loved one.

Marty put his arms and embraced LaVonne as she dissolved into tears as Judge
James Warren refused to dismiss the charges against them and bound the
Victor's over to trial. I was simply blown away as I had come to believe all
that had been told me by their attorney and other legal professionals - that
their case would be dismissed because of the Mower Decision by the California
Supreme Court. Once again justice has been subverted to expediency and
deference to law enforcement.

Although Judge Warren ruled that Marty and LaVonne were bona fide medical
marijuana patients and had the right to possess and cultivate marijuana, he
decided that the amount of marijuana they had stored (somewhere between 8 and
21 pounds depending on whose figures were accepted) created a reasonable
doubt that they possessed it for sale. The Mower decision specifically didn't
allow sales and so, the judge reasoned, he wouldn't make the decision as to
whether the marijuana in excess of their needs was for sale or not. Taking
the easy way out, he left it to a jury to make the decision.

That is such rot. It is a decision that Judge Warren could make and should
have made. I really don't know why he didn't make the decision to dismiss. My
gut feeling is that judges usually defer to law enforcement and if the
district attorney wants to take a case to trial, then the judge will very
rarely go against their desires. It is a Pavlovian response that is very hard
to overcome.

What makes Judge Warren's ruling so cruel is that it was patently obvious
that the Victor's didn't have the excess marijuana for sale. It was merely
the amount harvested from their very first crop and they stored it
haphazardly in jars. They were absolute novices and never even gave any
thought to the possibility that they had more than the law would allow -
especially since the law didn't specify any amounts. At the trial, a
sheriff's officer even testified that Marty called him in an attempt to
obtain that kind of information. The officer told Marty that he had no idea
what amount he could grow - so if a police official doesn't know, how can a
judge expect an ordinary citizen to know. Judge Warren felt that Marty should
understand the law better than the police.

Since our legislators have passed the buck at establishing guidelines and
this judge refused to recognize that the law gives patient's no guidance,
police will continue to have free reign to make the decision on their own as
to what is an excessive amount. This is akin to driving down a highway not
knowing how fast you can go and each police officer makes their own
individual determination if you were going to fast. ALTHOUGH THE MOWER
DECISION WAS THOUGHT TO BE A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH, THE RULING BY JUDGE WARREN
RENDERS IT VIRTUALLY MEANINGLESS.

So it is still the same old game. You get the law changed and then law
enforcement refuses to recognize it and the District Attorneys and the
judges' work hand in glove to thwart it cause they disapprove of it. Although
we had hoped that this judge would render a verdict in support of the right
of California citizens to determine what is in their own best interests, we
should have recognized his antipathy to Proposition 215 when he stated during
the trial "this law is insane."

The victims, of course, are the Victor's. They are just plain folks from
Temecula. LaVonne found that marijuana helps control the muscle spasms from
Multiple Sclerosis and Marty used it for his optic nerve condition. They read
about Proposition 215 and believed it and followed it. They didn't belong to
any groups or know anyone. They just did it on their own because it was the
law. And now they face the prospect of losing their home and spending
anywhere from four or more years in jail if convicted.

What with the horrendous DEA raids swooping down on medical marijuana
patients, doctors, caregivers and providers and the refusal of our local,
state and national elected officials to do ANYTHING, it has become so
disheartening. This country is chopping at the bit to go to war, saber
rattling and fighting terrorism subverts all other concerns, the economy is
in a shambles, crime is on the rise while we continue to foul our own nest
with pollution of our air, land and water.

We are all shouldering a major burden. I don't know of anyone who is not
fearful, depressed, outraged and alienated. These are certainly not the best
of times and for many they may very well be the worst of times. What has
befallen the Victor's is symptomatic of the distrust and cynicism that
underlies the feelings of so many American's towards their own government.

The Victor's are our friends, our family, and our compatriots. Those of us
who are truly concerned about our rights, our civil liberties and the future
of American democracy recognize that that what has happened to the Victor's
is a microcosm of what is happening to our nation.

We feel helpless in controlling the major events unfolding around us. They
are enormous, impersonal, inexplicable, complex and unfathomable. There
really is little any of us can do about them. But we can help the Victor's -
that is one thing we can all do.

The Victor's must raise $15,000 to pay for an attorney to present their
defense when they come to trial. They don't have it. They don't run around in
circles with people who have that kind of money. They have no idea where they
can get it.

For the last two years, I have done my best to keep the Marijuana
Anti-Prohibition Project functional and operational as the first and only
drug law reform organization in Riverside County. Today I am undertaking the
task of attempting to raise the $15,000 for the Victor's defense and have
formed the Victor's Legal Defense Fund. I have never done anything like this
in my life and I'm agonizing over my ability to succeed. I am going to do as
much as I can, but I can't do it all myself - I need your help - the Victor's
need your help.

First, if you can donate money, please write a check today to the Victor's
Legal Defense Fund. All monies received by the Victor's Legal Defense Fund
will be placed in a special Trust Account of the law firm of Margolin and
Shevin to be used for their legal expenses. All monies will be scrupulously
accounted for and what is not used will be returned. So please send in a
donation today - whatever size contribution you can make will be greatly
appreciated and can make the difference between justice and tragedy for the
Victor's.

Whether you can donate or not, you can also help by working with us to raise
money for the defense fund. We will be setting up tables at public events,
phoning for donations, holding fundraisers and soliciting contributions. Your
help in this way can also make the difference between justice and tragedy for
the Victor's.

Make checks payable to the Victor's Legal Defense Fund and mail them to:
Victor's Legal Defense Fund, c/o MAPP, PO Box 739, Palm Springs CA 92263. If
you can help, either email me back or call me at 760-799-2055.

The Victor's are paying a terrible price for believing in a law we all
support. We cannot let them down. We will never succeed if we do not support
those who blaze the trail we hope to follow.

Thank you,

Lanny Swerdlow
------------------------------
End of Restore-Digest V2002 #205
********************************