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4B – Daily News – Saturday, November 6, 2010 In Humboldt County, deputies' jobs can get hazy SHELTER COVE (MCT) — Fantasy often mixes with reality in the work life of Deputy Sheriff Robert Hamilton of Humboldt County, the center of Califor- nia's marijuana outback. It happened again a few months ago in the isolated coastal resort of Shelter Cove, where Hamilton lives and patrols. The deputy came upon nine young men tending a marijua- na plantation. They said they'd come from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington and Ohio. They'd rented a few apartments, then bought a half-acre of hillside. They clear-cut the land, put in "No Trespassing" signs and a couple of greenhouses, and ter- raced the rest of the property for farming. They were raising 200 marijuana plants, each of which could produce 2 to 4 pounds of weed. One of the young men, Jake Berlingeri, said the pot was for their own medicinal use. He recited the ailments afflicting these strap- ping men in their 20s. "Well, Matt, he's got insomnia. I got shoulder problems, a torn rotator cuff," Berlingeri said. "Those two, they're not patients. But my boy Trav, he's got ... " Behind sunglasses, Hamilton smiled wryly and looked at the plants, labeled for their vari- eties: Headband, Mr. Nice, L.A. Confidential, Blue Dream, Amnesia, Purple Diesel, Ice Queen, Grapefruit, Blueberry and Sour Diesel. He spent 13 years as a cop in Fresno, where mere possession of mar- ijuana could lead to a “PRIVATE PARTY” CLASSIFIED ADS ALWAYS FREE By Popular Demand Boats/Autos too! 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D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY Classified 527-2151 “We like to move it, move it!” Attorney Local Bankruptcy Attorney Jocelyn C. Olander 530-824-0288 Free Consultation Payment Plans Available Web: www.jcoattyatlaw.com email: mail@jcoatty atlaw.com A federally qualified Debt Relief Agency under 11 U.S.C. 101(12(A)) Clock Repair 530-736-7079 Grandpa’s Clocks Jim Paul 20910 Pebblestone Dr. Red Bluff Shelf & 31 Day Clocks Repaired Call for appt. Member NAWCC Cuckoo Clocks, Anniversary, Wall, Clock Repair felony arrest. But on this day, he made no arrests. Instead, he accepted a root beer from the growers and told them to display their medical marijuana prescriptions where he could see them. That way they'd have no problems with him. "I'm a realist," Hamilton said as he drove away. "I know how this is working. It does no good to rip all these plants out or nit- pick on fine details when nothing's going to happen." In a region where marijuana is not merely tolerated but is a pillar of the economy, there isn't much a deputy can do but play along with the fantasies that sur- round semi-legal weed: that unemployed 20- somethings who buy $50,000 trucks earned the money legally; that supply shops for mari- juana farmers are inno- cent home-and-garden centers; that growers who flash medical mari- juana cards are not pro- ducing for sale but sole- ly for their own medical needs. "Cheech and Chong cannot smoke that much dope," Hamilton said. To work in law enforcement in Califor- nia pot country is to come face to face every day with the state's con- flicted attitudes toward cannabis. Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos supports legal- ization of pot, and law enforcement officials say the office rarely prosecutes small-scale growers, who form a large and active politi- cal base here. Nor can Hamilton or his fellow deputies do much about the thou- sands of unpermitted structures, essential to hiding indoor marijuana plants, that dot Hum- boldt County like buck- shot. A proposition on the Nov. 2 ballot would have make it legal for people 21 and older to grow and use small amounts of marijuana, and allow California cities and counties to regulate and tax com- mercial cultivation. The boundary between legal and illegal weed would have depended to a large degree on policies set by local governments. A promise by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to enforce feder- al laws against recre- ational marijuana, even if the proposition passed, further compli- MCT photo Brian Adams tends to marijuana crops in Shelter Cove, where fantasy often mixes with reality in the work life of Deputy Sheriff Robert Hamilton of Humboldt County, the center of California's marijuana outback. cates the picture. So most likely Hamilton, 48, will con- tinue to work in a gray zone. A year into his assignment as Shelter Cove's live-in deputy, he is fed up with the ambi- guity: "I wish they would totally ban it — zero tolerance — or just make it totally legal." The resort was estab- lished in 1964 as a place for vacationers and retirees to build second homes on breathtaking coastline accessible by a single, winding two- lane road. Over the years, mari- juana farming came to Humboldt, first as a countercultural state- ment, then as a busi- ness. Shelter Cove was isolated, with minimal police presence, which made it attractive to growers. By the time Hamilton arrived in the fall of 2009, the place had become a concen- trate of California's weird weed world. Pot growers occupied about half of the nearly 600 houses. Young growers hung Scarface posters, drew the blinds and raised marijuana beneath 1,000-watt lights. Others put in greenhouses on denuded patches of hillside. Some installed sensors and hidden cameras to detect intruders. When they raided large indoor operations, deputies often found photographs of the growers vacationing in places like Costa Rica and Bali. "There's this outlaw mentality," Hamilton said. "They think they're these drug lords and they're going to take over southern Hum- boldt. You see them dri- ving $40,000, $50,000 vehicles and they have when this started," said Richard Culp, the resort's general manag- er. "We're seeing 5,000, 6,000, 8,000, 9,000 kilowatt-hours of use a month." no jobs." For many years, development at Shelter Cove was limited by lack of electricity. Homeowners depended on generators. In 1983, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. ran an electrical line along the 21-mile road that connects the cove to Highway 101. The line's limited capacity was more than adequate for a commu- nity where the average household use was a modest 500 to 1,000 kilowatt hours of elec- tricity per month. Then growers moved their crops indoors and installed high-intensity lights. "We maxed out our system very quickly Hoping to halt the trend, the resort's utility nearly tripled the hourly rate for usage above 2,000 kilowatt-hours a month. When that made no difference, the rate for heavy usage was raised to five times the normal charge. Growers simply added more plants and lights to gen- erate income to pay the extra cost. The cove's backup generator had to be replaced, at a cost of $500,000. Last year, PG&E informed Shelter Cove that it would have to kick in $300,000 to expand the capacity of the electrical line. In all, the resort esti- mates that indoor pot- growing has cost its res- idents more than $1 mil- lion since 2005. Residents say indoor growing also brought a lawless feel to the cove: nighttime gunfire; planes landing and tak- ing off in darkness from the resort's airstrip; late- night parties; trashed rental housing; truck races along Upper and Lower Pacific drives. "It was the wild, wild West," said Roger Boedecker, a member of the Shelter Cove Resort Improvement District board of directors. "The D.A.'s office is reputed not to be inclined to prosecute small grow- ers. You can grow with impunity." Tehama County’s Personal/Professional Service Directory Bankruptcy AT YOUR SERVICE! $ 9900 3 month Advertisement If this was your Service Directory ad customers would be reading it right now!! Call us at 527-2151 For more information James W. Tysinger, Jr. M.D. Eye Physician & Surgeon Fellow American Academy of Ophtalmology We accept Medical, Medicare & most Insurances Office Hours: Tues-Wed-Thurs 8am-4:30pm Mon & Fri 1pm-5pm For Emergencies, After Hours, Week-ends, Call 530-567-5001 345 Hickory St. Red Bluff Tel: (530) 529-4733 Fax: (530) 529-1114 Orthotic Therapy is our Specialty, also treating all aspects of the feet including Bunions, Hammertoes and Plantar Fasciitis with conservative and surgical intervention. 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