By BEN BROWN The Daily Journal
Article Last Updated: 05/22/2008 08:17:41 AM PDT
Codefendants Jeff Burrell and Steven Laino did not enter pleas to marijuana cultivation charges at their Wednesday arraignment because the District Attorney's Office was not prepared to charge them.
"The district attorney has not reached a filing decision," said Deputy District Attorney Katharine Houston.
Burrell and Laino were arrested April 21 on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana for sale and maintaining a place for drug sales after the Ukiah Police Department served a search warrant on a storage shed leased by Burrell and seized a reported 140 plants.
Laino was additionally charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.
Police have said that Burrell and Laino were splitting the work and the profits from the garden. Burrell's attorney, David Eyster, said Laino has signed a letter saying that Burrell leased the building and knew the marijuana was growing there, but was not involved.
Eyster represented Burrell in court Wednesday; Laino was represented by Ukiah attorney David Peterson.
No date was set for the two men's arraignment Wednesday, and their bail was dropped.
Burrell was a part time coach and teacher at Ukiah High School, as well as being the owner of Accurate Construction. He has been suspended from his teaching job pending the outcome of his trial.
Ben Brown can be reached at udjbb@pacific.net.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Marijuana case please postponed
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Ukiah Unified School District Board of Education endorses Measure B
They are listed at http://www.yesonbcoalition.org/endorsements.php
The school board's resolution stated:
UKIAH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
RESOLUTION 28, 2007-08
Support for Measure B
WHEREAS, the Ukiah Unified District has a legal and moral responsibility to promote the health, safety and welfare of all students that attend Ukiah Unified School District schools, and
WHEREAS, the Ukiah Unified District has a legal and moral responsibility to provide a school environment that promotes and focuses on student learning, and
WHEREAS, the Ukiah Unified District Board of Trustees has a moral and legal responsibility to promote a school environment that is respectful and compliant with both federal and state laws, and
WHEREAS, the Ukiah Unified District Board of Trustees has had to rule on proposed expulsions of students involving the use, possession and/or sale of marijuana, and
WHEREAS, the Ukiah Unified School District Board of Trustees has received input from its administration that marijuana related behavior violations among students is a significant issue and that students have had greater access to marijuana since the adoption of Measure G., and
WHEREAS, the current state of the local law has, in the opinion of the Board, contributed to an inconsistent message to students regarding illegal drug use, and specifically the use of marijuana.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Ukiah Unified District Board of Trustees herein resolves its support for Measure B.
ADOPTED by the Governing Board of the Ukiah Unified School District on the 13th day of May, 2008 by the following vote:
Ayes: 7 Noes: 0 Absent: 0
Beatriz Arkin
President, Board of Trustees
Ukiah Unified School District
Mendocino County, California
I, Myrinda Head Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the Ukiah Unified School District, do hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was regularly introduced, passed, and adopted by the Board of Trustees at its meeting held on May 13, 2008.
Myrinda HeadClerk, Board of Trustees
Ukiah Unified School District
Mendocino County, California
Who is minding the children?
Another voice
BY JEANNE KING
Children merit every diligent consideration and care we can provide them. One of the most important concerns in the current debate about marijuana should be in regard to the health, safety and welfare of the children in this community. Despite the importance children should take in this controversy, I barely hear it discussed at all. There is a lot of talk about the rights of medical marijuana users, but what about the rights of the children we are raising here? Before we cast our votes on Measure B, each of us should answer this question in our hearts: What effect does the rampant growth of the marijuana industry have on children in our community?
Example 1.
It is a graduation requirement at Willits High that the student put together a writing portfolio that includes an essay on a controversial issue. Many choose issues like gun control or racism.
But in 2002 (maybe it was 2003), all the boys but one in my English class chose “medical marijuana” as their topic. Each wanted to get his “card” as soon as he turned 18. These boys wrote glowingly
about their plans to grow marijuana so they could pay bills, purchase big trucks, and have money for trips. (There was no mention of paying taxes.) In the wake of Measure G’s passage, it was clear that commercial marijuana growing had become the dominant vocational goal of this group.
I recently looked through a supplement in the Willits News about businesses in town that gave the names of employees. Two or three years after their graduation, not a single one of these students was listed as an employee of a legitimate business in this community. What are these guys doing today? What message did we send them when we passed Measure G?
Example 2:
A former student of mine, who got most of her credits at another school, badly wanted to graduate from Willits High. She showed up toward the beginning of her senior year with a mixed-bag of credits and determination to graduate with her class. Her counselors, teachers and the administration bent over backwards to help her. But in October the student told us she had to leave town with her mother for a week, and asked us to make up an “independent study” packet so she would not lose ground. We told her it would be best not to take off the week, but she said she had to go.
Upon her return she had little to say about the trip. A few days later, she admitted to a staff member that she had not left town at all; her mom’s crop had come in and she was nee ded at home to trim the dope. Who came first, the crop or the student?
Example 3:
Another student, whose mother had an indoor grow, related the information on how her mother would line her and her siblings up in the morning before school and spray them with Febreze so they wouldn’t go to school smelling like ripe marijuana. Was the mother’s concern for her children or her crop?
Example 4:
My last story did not happen at school but at a local health food store. I was picking out produce near the register when an obviously pregnant woman came in. She approached a clerk wanting to know if the store had a product that would protect her fetus from the marijuana oils she was absorbing through her skin. “You see,” she said, “I am working as a trimmer and am worried about the effect the oils may have on my baby.”
Children do not get to pick their parents or their community. It is our responsibility as adults to secure the next generation with the best head start we have to offer. Mendocino County used to be an absolutely awesome place to grow up. Unfortunately, I have only to look around me to realize that is no longer the case. Houses surrounded by six foot fences. Guard dogs now the dogs of choice. The ability to walk in the woods no longer an option. Trucks loaded with various grow chemicals.
When casting your ballot I hope you think about the children who will be growing up here. I think that humankind owes the child the very best it has to give. What is our best in Mendocino County? If you know a teacher or someone who works with kids, ask that person about the societal effects that Measure G has had on our county.
Please think about the children when you cast your vote on Measure B on June 3rd.
Jeanne King is an inland
Mendocino County resident.
SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2008 – A- 7 & A - 13
Monday, April 28, 2008
Rethinking pot laws Measure amounts to backlash against nation's most liberal regulations
By MIKE GENIELLA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
UKIAH -- Laura Hamburg, medical marijuana advocate and daughter of a former congressman, grimaces when she recalls the day she was arrested for growing pot in Mendocino County, long considered one of the most tolerant places for marijuana in the nation.
"Feelings of shame, embarrassment and humiliation overwhelmed me," said Hamburg. Anger soon set in.
Hamburg felt she had followed the letter of the law in a county that eight years ago, with 58 percent in favor, adopted some of the country's most relaxed rules for growing pot for personal use.
But sheriff's deputies who raided Hamburg's marijuana garden last fall claimed they found an excessive number of plants and about 50 pounds of processed pot. Although all criminal charges against Hamburg were later dropped, her case fueled community concerns that local pot production is out of control.
Ukiah businessman Ross Liberty, leading the campaign to repeal current county guidelines in the June 3 primary, said in 2000 he was among voters who supported the current laissez faire pot policies.
"At the time I thought, 'what's the big deal?' "
But since then, he said, surging marijuana production, an influx of outsiders and a perception that violent, pot-related crimes are increasing have changed his mind. "I think many of us realize now it was a big mistake," Liberty said.
For four decades, marijuana has been widely cultivated, used and sold in Mendocino, providing a source of unprecedented wealth in an otherwise poor, rural region.
Even by conservative estimates of a $500 million annual cash crop, marijuana's value dwarfs by at least a 3-1 margin the combined income of wood products, premium wine grapes and all other legitimate agricultural production.
Mendocino's "mom-and-pop" marijuana scene began to change after Proposition 215 -- the landmark medical marijuana initiative -- passed statewide in 1996. Subsequent state legislation protected individuals from prosecution if they had a physician's recommendation for marijuana for medical use, and if the amounts in their possessions were within local guidelines.
In 2000, Mendocino voters took it a step further by becoming the first in the nation to locally legalize marijuana for personal use. Rules under "Measure G" allow 25 plants per person rather than the state standard of six plants. The rules remain in place even though marijuana use and production remains illegal under federal law.
Today, the Mendocino measure is viewed by many local law enforcement officials, educators, community leaders and leading physicians as a failed experiment. They believe it wrongly put out the welcome mat to pot growers under the guise of medical marijuana.
Many residents, however, view medical marijuana as essential to their way of life and argue that repeal of Measure G would only make it easier to subject local patients to arrest and felony prosecution while doing nothing to address the problem of large-scale commercial operations. Repeal only assures a reduction in allowable pot plants, and offers law enforcement no additional ammunition against large-scale commercial marijuana operations.
Hamburg's arrest is one of a string of high-profile cases that have helped stir a public backlash. The latest occurred six days ago when a veteran Ukiah High School teacher and a friend were accused of commercially cultivating marijuana in a converted rental storage unit.
Dr. Robert Werra, a respected retired Ukiah Valley physician, believes current county guidelines should be repealed because they've become a "front for rampant commercial growing."
Willits City Councilwoman Karen Oslund said widespread marijuana cultivation has altered the character of her small town of 5,000.
"I see residences in our town taking on the look of fortresses, with tall fences and intimidating dogs, and realize this is not the town I decided to raise my children in 15 years ago," said Oslund in a statement of support for the repeal effort, Measure B.
Measure B is being debated at forums around the county, including at a recent luncheon in Hopland that attracted county business leaders, top law enforcement officials, political candidates and longtime residents.
Hamburg faced a crowd that was decidely pro-Measure B, but she tenaciously made her argument that the June initiative is a knee-jerk reaction to otherwise legitimate concerns.
To some groans, Hamburg said Measure B, if passed, will be a step backward.
"There's nothing in Measure B that will help law enforcement rid the county of big-time, outside commercial growers, criminals who are the real sources of the problems we face," said Hamburg.
Hamburg, a sister, and a neighbor had medical marijuana identification cards to grow a garden at her home, located on the property of former Rep. Dan Hamburg, D-Ukiah, and wife, Carrie, a cancer patient. Deputies said more than 75 plants were found, but Hamburg's attorney said only 39 existed.
Hamburg decided to head up the opposition campaign after she was cleared of her criminal marijuana charges.
"I thought it was the responsible thing to do. I don't want any other medical marijuana user to experience what I did," said Hamburg.
The opposition's argument on the ballot was framed by Hamburg's mother, county Supervisor David Colfax, folk musician Ronnie Gilbert, and civil rights attorney Susan B. Jordan.
The signers acknowledge widespread community anxiety, but they too argue that Measure B is not the answer.
"Mendocino County sorely needs to regulate large-scale gardens and to attack illicit grows and commercial trafficking. Measure B is a bogus diversion that does neither," according to their statement.
At debates, Laura Hamburg recites local crime statistics compiled by the sheriff's department, figures that show fewer than 1 percent of the 43,500 calls made in 2007 to the dispatch center involved marijuana-related crimes.
But statistics also show that since 2000 the number of marijuana plants seized by local and state authorities has soared in Mendocino County, as it has statewide and in the neighboring counties of Sonoma, Lake and Humboldt.
About 332,000 pot plants were chopped down last year in Mendocino County, nearly 100,000 more plants than the year before. In Lake County the total was 489,000 plants, the most anywhere in the state. Humboldt posted a 271,000 plant total; Sonoma trailed with 138,000.
Law enforcement authorities said the spike in pot seizures primarily is a reflection of its growth as a commercial industry. State authorities estimate that the seizure figures represent less than 20 percent of marijuana being grown.
If Measure B is approved, Hamburg said, she fears local growers will suffer at the expense of big-time operators who are behind the pot explosion.
"All it does is set the stage for more local small-time medical marijuana users like me to get arrested."
Sheriff Tom Allman has declined to take a stand on Measure B, choosing to make methamphetamine-related drug crimes his priority.
New District Attorney Meredith Lintott is supporting Measure B, saying she believes the repeal measure could bring clarity to marijuana prosecution efforts.
Despite its marijuana notoriety, Mendocino is not the only county to allow more pot plants to be grown than state standards.
Sonoma County, where there's an estimated 3,000 medical marijuana users, allows an individual to grow up to 30 plants. Fifteen other counties allow more than the state standard.
"We're not all that unique despite the uproar," said Hamburg.
Hamburg a few years ago led a successful voter drive to ban genetically modified foods in Mendocino County, another national first.
She believes marijuana should be legalized and turned locally into a premium, organically grown product that could generate millions of dollars in new tax revenue.
"Look what the wine industry has done for our county," said Hamburg.
But the recent felony arrests of high school teacher Jeff Burrell and friend Steve Laino on marijuana growing charges has left local residents wondering if the string of high-profile criminal cases will ever end.
Burrell has said he is innocent, but whatever the outcome of his case, some people believe it's yet another example of how pervasive marijuana has become in the county.
Fundamentally, marijuana use is a social issue that affects the entire community, said Ukiah High School Principal Dennis Willeford.
In a talk to school trustees about marijuana's role in the county, Willeford said that its widespread use and general acceptance of marijuana presents "a unique challenge to this area."
You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@pressdemocrat.com.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Second Ukiah man arrested in grow shed case
Another Ukiah man was arrested in the case of a North State Street storage facility marijuana growing operation that the two men arrested say was supposed to help them get out of debt.
Steven Laino, 46, of Ukiah, was arrested on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale, cultivation of marijuana for sale and maintaining a place for drug sales Monday afternoon. Jeff Burrell, 50, of Ukiah had already been arrested under the same charges.
Laino was additionally charged with conspiracy to commit a crime.
Officers arrested Burrell and Laino after a search warrant was issued for a storage shed at 765 N. State St. and police found 140 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, according to police reports.
Officers arrested Burrell, a Ukiah High School teacher and owner of Accurate Construction, at scene and later arrested Laino at a home on Kenwood Drive.
UPD Detective Sgt. Dave McQueary said Laino had a medical marijuana recommendation but that he told officers that the grow was not medical.
"He claimed they were in financial debt," McQueary said.
According to police reports, Laino told officers that he had known Burrell for years and that the two of them had fallen into debt and come up with a plan to grow marijuana to make money. The two planned to split the proceeds evenly, according to police reports.
Laino gave Burrell $15,000 to purchase the necessary equipment and build the grow room, according to police reports.
The storage shed contained a second completely enclosed building that had been equipped with the necessary grow lights, filtration systems and ventilation and cooling systems to support the grow. Another room had been converted for drying a processing marijuana, according to police reports.
The construction had an exposed electrical and watering system that was deemed to be a safety risk by the City of Ukiah code enforcement officer who "red tagged" the building and had the electricity shut off.
Burrell and Laino were booked into jail on a $30,000 bond each.
Officers from UPD and the Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force obtained a search warrant for the storage shed following neighbor complaints of a smell of marijuana in the area.
Ben Brown can be reached at udjbb@pacific.net
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
UHS teacher arrested after marijuana raid
The wiring at Monday's indoor marijuana bust was not up to city... (Sarah Baldik/The Daily Journal)
A tip from a neighbor led to the discovery by Ukiah Police Department officers of a 150-plant commercial marijuana growing operation in a facility leased by a Ukiah High School teacher, according to police reports. Ukiah police officers raided the grow rooms at around 3:30 p.m. Monday at a storage facility in the 700 block of North State Street. Police said more arrests may follow.
Chris Dewey, UPD chief, said a search warrant was obtained by officers for the storage facility after a nearby resident called and filed a complaint about the smell.
Dewey said the investigation led to the arrest of UHS teacher Jeff Duane Burrell, of Calpella.
When officers arrived on scene only a series of dim green lights were illuminated in the grow rooms. UPD Capt. Justin Wyatt said the reason the high-voltage, high-heat grow lights situated directly above the plants were off at the time of the raid was because they had been set by a series of timers that were attached the operation's homemade electrical system.
"They do their best to duplicate the growing cycle," he said, motioning towards the fixtures above. "I think right now this is supposed to simulate night."
Wyatt said the adjoining two rooms where the gardens were situated contained different strains of marijuana.
"The ones in this first room are shorter, but they are budding," he said, pointing to the top of a plant in the front room of the facility. "These are less than a month away from harvest. None of these in the other room have budded yet even though they're taller."
In addition to the pair of gardens, officers also discovered the remains of several harvested plants stacked in one corner. A drying room which contained several pounds of dried marijuana in various stages of processing was also found. In the small space between the two doors was an automated trimming appliance called a TrimPro which officers said utilized a series of whirling blades to clip leaves away from the buds. The device was named Best Trimming Product in 2005 by "High Times."
Dewey said the loose wiring and high voltage involved was the most dangerous part of the operation.
"This is typical of illegal growing operations," he said. "The amount of electricity being used didn't fit the building. They were using four to five times as many kilowatt hours as the average household. This is just an accident waiting to happen."
Burrell was head coach of the UHS girls basketball team and was honored two years ago by the Mendocino College Hall of Fame as a standout football and baseball player who matriculated to Humboldt State University, where he started for two years at fullback.
Rob Burgess can be reached at udjrb@pacific.net.
