Motorcycle Gangs and Marijuana

[MsSparkie]

My ex was just at Sturgis and called it "interesting". LOL

He's the man who doesn't talk. Doubt I'll get much more out of him.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The Hell's Angels/Outlaws riff, has been ongoing. We even had a taste of it here, at a Knight's of Columbus/Toys For Tots, drop off. Since Hells Angels moved much of their political and financial operation to Canada, the Outlaws seem to think that means the Angels are weaker down here. They're not.

12,451 marijuana plants, with an estimated street value of approximately $35,720,000

$2900 per plant....every plant? C'mon.

evidence collected will be valuable in curtailing international marijuana cultivation on public lands.

International? federal hyperbole.

[Elspode]

Someone is overlooking a real quick and easy way to retire the national debt.

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

International? federal hyperbole.

Actually, no. The Mexican drug cartels have set up shop in so many locations around Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks, up the road from me, that we frequently see news about the latest "haul" off the mountainsides. Rarely do the agents actually catch the growers, it appears that they have stationed illegal immigrants at the sites, with sophisticated warning systems set up everywhere so that they escape, leaving irrigation equipment, fertilizers and quite a large cache of supplies and food, sometimes weapons. Rangers now consider international pot growers to be more dangerous in our national parks than almost any other possibility that a tourist can get themselves into, and there is actually a protocol about what somebody should do when they stumble upon one of these operations (back away and run for your life).

[Griff]

In case somebody doesn't understand the dynamic: One reason these folks are growing dope on public property is asset forfeiture laws. For some reason the Feds don't seize National Parks and sell them off when the "owners" fail to adequately police their property for illegal activities.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by Griff

In case somebody doesn't understand the dynamic: One reason these folks are growing dope on public property is asset forfeiture laws. For some reason the Feds don't seize National Parks and sell them off when the "owners" fail to adequately police their property for illegal activities.

Oh for God's sake Griff. Can't you see the writing on the wall? This is exactly how we'll be able to practically hand over the national parks to oil and mineral and logging companies. It's part of the next installment of the cheney halliburton bechtel government by plunder plan.

Jeez, be patient. It will take a couple of years.

[Tonchi]

Originally Posted by Griff

In case somebody doesn't understand the dynamic: One reason these folks are growing dope on public property is asset forfeiture laws. For some reason the Feds don't seize National Parks and sell them off when the "owners" fail to adequately police their property for illegal activities.

I doubt a Mexican drug lord planned for that possibility, they seem to not care much that their operations get discovered and destroyed frequently, they have so many. In the case of Yosemite and Kings Canyon, the main reason seems to be the isolation and inaccesability of the hillsides and canyons where they set up, only backpackers in wilderness areas will ever see them. There has been so much sophisticated equipment uncovered at these bases that it makes one wonder how they got it all in, they could not exactly take a pack train through there without being observed. The feds are now using some of the same technology they took to Colombia and Peru, helicopters with infrared scopes, satellite photos, they know they are in the right area when they draw fire from the ground

[xoxoxoBruce]

I don't believe it, Tonchi. I think the International Drug Lords story is the state/feds trying to freak the public out of attempting to do a little harvesting for themselves, from the pot farms on public lands.

These have been around as long as I can remember, and yes, they have always been seriously defended with booby traps and shit. The guys fresh back from Nam knew lots of tricks. It wouldn't surprise me that the illegals are into it also, they're into everything else.

It might be the state trying to drum up federal money, too. Or the Feds in CA trying to provide themselves with a little job security without actually having to defend the homeland.

[Tonchi]

Well, it just wouldn't be a very fun thing for you to do, and probably you had your tongue firmly in cheek as you wrote that anyway, but if you want you can research it through fresnobee.com. Because I worked as an interpreter, I got some news from the courthouse when the feds would catch one or two of these guys. They did not even know where they were going when they were recruited or that they would be spending 6 months completely alone in the mountains of El Norte, but they liked the money they were promised.

Now, if you want to know where the real heavy-duty pot farming is, look at Sonoma. Practically every native there has at least one plot, and the rumor when I lived in SF back in the 80's was that pot farming was shoring up the entire economy up there, it was just about the only money that many families got, so the sherrifs never tried very hard to search and destroy. Of course, that was before the newly-rich folks and their McMansions came in, maybe the natives can't even afford to live there anymore.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Tonchi

I doubt a Mexican drug lord planned for that possibility, they seem to not care much that their operations get discovered and destroyed frequently, they have so many.

True. Smaller operators are probably more affected.

[Pangloss62]

For some reason the Feds don't seize National Parks and sell them off when the "owners" fail to adequately police their property for illegal activities.

Adequate policing requires adequate #s of police. footfoot is right; underfund the NPS so everything can go to shite, then argue that the private sector can do a better job, and then sell the parks to the private sector and we can then have a nice roller coaster and waterpark at Yellowstone. They already started selling BLM land in Utah for McMansion-oriented sprawl. The JetSki and snowmobile lobby is chomping at the bit to allow those horrid infernal combustion vehicles into our parks. The head of the snowmoble lobby contributes to....who? Take a guess.