Small Time Grower, Long Time Resident Writes of Being Surrounded by Industrial Marijuana Gardens and Being Threatened by Neighbors

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mountain of marijuana money

Image adapted from one distributed by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office in 2015.

Erika Morlan sent a very similar version of this letter on August 3 to Supervisor Bohn. She has not yet heard back.

Dear Rex,

I’m writing to you, my elected representative, to express my sorrow, frustration and anger at the way this so-called Green Rush is destroying Humboldt’s rural communities. As I sit here inside my house in Honeydew, I am bombarded by the noise of two neighbors’ industrial fans and I am assailed by the painful odor of diesel exhaust from one neighbor’s generator. It is about 10:00 am as I write this – I could say the same if it was 10:00 pm or 5:00 am or any time of day or night, because the fans and generators never go off and there is nowhere in my house or on my land where the noise and stink do not reach me.

The open meadows all around me are gone, replaced with plastic: plastic greenhouses, plastic shade cloth, plastic tarps, plastic ground cover, plastic garbage. Where there is no plastic, there is dust, dust which is constantly being churned up by dozens of trucks and 4-wheelers, dust that will inevitably end up in the Mattole.

I used to feel safe in my neighborhood. Until now, I never felt the need to lock my doors or have gates on my driveway. I used to trust my neighbors. No more! Now, there are armed robberies which are not reported to law enforcement, there are dozens of imported workers milling about and guns going off mere yards from my house.  And to add insult to injury, one neighbor has threatened to wage “war” against me if I report any of the illegal activities that are happening here.

(Let me stop for a moment and acknowledge that you have a personal relationship with this particular neighbor and that you think of his non-compliant, unpermitted operation as a model farm. Yes, that makes this awkward, but I really hope and believe that you are here to stand up for all of your constituents, especially those like me who are feeling helpless and afraid.)

I have lived on my land for 12 years. My ex-husband and I built everything by hand and with very little money. We raised our two daughters here, volunteering in the classroom at the Honeydew School every week. I have been an active member of the Honeydew Volunteer Fire Company for over a decade, sacrificing my time and livelihood to serve and protect my community. I have welcomed the recent newcomers to the neighborhood, handing out free eggs, veggies and cheese from my farm and even helping out in their greenhouses for no pay. I have worked very hard to earn the respect, trust and affection of the folks I have lived with and served since 2005.

And now, I find it unbearable to live here. My dream-come-true homestead has become a nightmare. I cry everyday. I have headaches and stomachaches everyday. My outrage and grief are so overwhelming, I am having a hard time with the daily tasks and chores that are necessary to keep my farm running smoothly.

My neighbors are unresponsive and even defiant, telling me that “it is what it is” and that they have no intention of changing their practices. I have begged and pleaded to no avail. These neighbors have no interest in being good neighbors – they are only interested in financial gain.

I’m not sure if there is anything you can do for me, except to hear me and to understand that I am not alone. Neighborhoods like mine all over the County are being held hostage by this new breed of industrial drug manufacturers (they are not farmers!) and it feels like us regular folk and long time residents have nowhere to turn. I guess I just want to put my concerns on record, especially in light of the threats I have received.

I’m also not sure what I am going to do; moving is out of the question- I am too young to retire and too old to start over. And unlike any of my new neighbors, I actually have a permit for my commercial cannabis garden (1900 sq ft specialty outdoors) – I worked too hard to just give that up now. My options seem so limited – I’m afraid of retribution if I “snitch” and while I fantasize about planting a field full of male hemp plants, doing something that mean is just not in my nature.

I could go on and on, but tears are making it hard to type and I have my farm to take care of …. so I will end here. But thank you for hearing my concerns, Rex. I would appreciate it if you could share them with your fellow supervisors and other county officials – I would like for as many people as possible to get a sense of what’s really going on in rural Humboldt.

Sincerely and with a broken heart, Erika Morlan

Note: the first version of this letter here did not include the author’s name. She changed her mind and we’ve updated the post with it.

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Stormy
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Stormy
6 years ago

I don’t weep. You live by the sword you die by the sword. What did she think would happen around her, butterfly farms and pickle producers? Humboldt has gone over to the criminal class, a “lifestyle” promoted by websites that do almost nothing but report dope news/crime-in-general and carry grow-biz advertising.

Yes, it is sad, sad that America has descended into mammon and drug-induced madness. Pop culture promotes it. Hollywood, in fact, is a sewer that does nothing but pump out the sexually explicit and violent “entertainment” which cretins with bongs and trucker hats crave.

Thomas Jefferson (soon to be missing from Mount Rushmore, no doubt) said we get the government we deserve. We also get the culture – and the neighbors – we earn.

Stormy
Guest
Stormy
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Fighting the good fight. This land was once beautiful until greed and drug-induced lunacy fogged the brains of everyone in the hills. No one has a constitutional right to be a criminal. No one has the right to ruin other lives because of their greed – or addictions of their hapless “customers/clients.” Calling something “medicine” doesn’t make it good for society. I can call any opioid “medicine.” These unoriginal gangsters in trucker hats behind the wheels of their immense grow dozers don’t frighten me. [edit]
Semper fi

Zippy
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Zippy
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

As he sucks down another Budweiser.

Desirae
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Desirae
6 years ago
Reply to  Zippy

Hahaha

Dan Fuller
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Dan Fuller
6 years ago
Reply to  Zippy

Bung wiper??? ;-]

Joe
Guest
Joe
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

They don’t bust honeydew. Everyone knows that. That might be why Rex’s relitive and friends are growing there.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Stormy said: “No one has the right to ruin other lives because of their greed”.
Everyone has the right to start their own business, find their own niche, make their own riches, or make their own beds.
Everyone has the right to ask their boss for a raise. Everyone has the right to run for office. Everyone has the right to autonomy. Everyone has the right to find or create the work that suits them.
NObody has the right to oppress others or to dictate over others.
If a corporation monopolizes, then it is oppression, not greed, that the corporation is guilty of.
For instance, the Government is guilty of monopolizing health care. First they made a deal with the pharmaceutical companies to cap the costs of medications for Veterans. This was a good thing. However, the government monopolized where the Veterans could receive their care from, and the waiting lines were so long, the Veterans were literally dying to get in.
Next, the Government made a deal with the pharmaceutical companies to never cap the costs of medicines for Medicare. The sky would be the limit. The more the medicines cost, the more the governments would raise the taxes to cover them.
Next, they unconstitutionally pushed a ridiculous universal healthcare plan that everyone would suffer from. This plan had been tossed back and forth since the days of FDR.
Next, the State’s pushed against the universal and promoted “single payer”, where.. surprise surprise,.. MEDICARE with runaway pricing, will be the “new” wonder care for all citizens.

domenica
Guest
domenica
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

It is so sad to see the ‘get big or get out’ business model come to humboldt. It sounds like you were living true to your heart, treading gently on the earth so that she could support and nurture you and your family. Now that it’s the cash crop that it is, this ugly corporate (aka mafia) element moved in.
I truly am worried for this small farmer’s safety. If something happens to her, the perpetrators will be obvious. Now, Rex, will you stand up and protect this small farmer? She has young girls, friends and family that need her.

Valentine
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  domenica

For a good laugh….. (International Business Times) In a shocking incident, 15 teenagers were treated for rabies after they reportedly sexually assaulted an infected donkey in a Moroccan town, according to local media reports. The youngsters, from a small rural town of Sidi Kamel in Morocco, were treated for a week at the Mechraa Belksiri Hospital after the donkey transmitted the disease.
According to the Moroccan daily Al Akhbar newspaper, the news of the teenagers raping the donkey has left their families “in distress and horror.” Authorities believe that the number of people infected could be higher and families might have taken their children for vaccination outside their locality because of fear and shame.
Local authorities are also trying to find if there were other people, who “admired” or “approached” the donkey, in order to avoid the risk of spreading rabies in the locality. So You Think We Have Troubles !

Shak
Guest
Shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Thomas Jefferson would have told Congress “Show me, right this minute, show me where the people listed pot on the list of the delegated duties they gave you to do”.
It’s not enumerated. It’s not delegated. It does not exist.
Show me. Which number is it?

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  Shak

I agree. The Bill of Rights: “… all powers not specifically delegated to Congress by the Constitution are reserved for the states or the people.”

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Poor you. Wait, WHAT do you do for a living? A pot farmer!

Wow.

1) Life is about change. If you embrace the changes, they still may not make you happy.

2) Take a lesson from AA : You can’t control everything. You can only control yourself.

The changes that are making you fretful, they are changing for everyone else at the same time.
The guys burning diesel 24/7 will learn about cost vs profit. The neighbors with the creepy dudes coming around, they will learn about pirates. YOU may learn about randon shit you never even thought about.

Running an industrial pot farm is expensive! Change happens to everyone.

“It’s the politics of contraband”.

Guess what else?

Making a living doing ANYTHING, is stressful. Life is hard for everyone.

If you have to leave, leave. If you want to stay, stay.

One thing for sure, you whine and complain like a true Humboldt County Lame-o.

Smoking weed chronically, makes you into a whiny baby. That’s why I stopped.

Get over it.

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago

AND – Sorry your little ten-year plan didn’t work out like you wanted, so suck it up and deal with the rest of your life like everyone else has to.

Kali
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Kali
6 years ago

Excellent. My sentiments exactly!

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago
Reply to  Kali

And hey! You don’t make any money by sitting at home crying.

Stephanie Bennett
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Stephanie Bennett
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Rural communities being held hostage to the ravages of industrial users is not new & not unique to cannabis growers. For 30 years now & continuing, we small farmers in rural Elk River have watched our formerly thriving watershed be turned into an industrial trash ditch & we’ve got no industrial cannabis grows here. Instead, we’ve got the sacred cow of timber & even cows. Timber harvest pollution has destroyed the water quality so severely that the salmon just aren’t running here anymore. We’ve got no water supply because our industrial neighbor is permitted to use the river as his personal pollution disposal ditch. Our homes are flooded (unnaturally & therefore could be prevented) every winter; our lives are taken so that our privileged neighbor can pollute. Disgustingly, our rural community is forced to suck up preventable pollution as well as the ugly truth that our government intends it because we are second-class citizens. And yes, wealthy polluters whether legal or not, always get their way. Don’t expect any rescue from government–we’ve been begging for relief for 30 years.

Common Sense
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Common Sense
6 years ago

I almost felt bad for you until I read you have a 1900 sq ft grow… don’t hate the player… hate the game. All of it is still illegal! Wish the Feds would arrest you all!

Thinking allowed
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Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

You need to explain that. How does the illegality of the State mean someone not growing is illegal simply by living here?

Shak
Guest
Shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Replace the word “ineffective” with unconstitutional and you’d be more on course.
Replace the “breaking an ineffective and ill-informed law” with Nullifying unconstitutional laws as the Oath to Constitution REQUIRES each state to do, for checks and balances.
An unchecked government, either local, state or Fed, is a tyrannical government.

First, California needs to grow some brains and actually NULLIFY the unconstitutional Federal Law, then they can legalize it if they want to stay tyrants or they can DECRIMINALIZE it if they wish to be in keeping with their OATH to the Constitution which was written by the people to restrict government and to SECURE the liberties of the people.
Creating blackmarkets is not securing rights. It is a tyrannical scheme to raise taxes for wars upon the people.

Ullr Rover
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Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Shak

Yes.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

I was culpable to the extent that I was conflicted about reporting my neighbor for his grow. Pot growers are vindictive and aggressive people. The authorities ineffective and pot smokers unlikely to allow themselve to believe an inconvenient truth about the damage their suppliers do. And the Fishers had already disappeared and were likely to never return anyway. I learned to shut my windows in the summer when the smell of pot was too repulsive and to expect idiocy from them in advance of them actually doing it.

I did argue on forums like this whenever I could. And in person. If for no other reason than being willing to provide support for any others of the same beliefs when the pot heads rain down hate on them. Pot lovers are very hateful, spiteful and aggressive but they believe that the person who dares to object to their fallout is actually the hateful party just for saying so.

But as for holding as responsible for the mess pot heads make because the public chose to by their song and dance, pass a proposition and decided it was more convenient to let them have their way? Well that is pretty bad reasoning. Even people who move the other from the herd want to survive.

M
Guest
M
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

According to her own account she’s was operating illegally long before 2016’s election.

Jack Straw
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Jack Straw
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Hilarious shoe on other foot, Kym! You just told a commenter that since they were still here in Humboldt they were probably illegal too?! Ha Ha! When the people reported their big water bags stolen I wrote in saying they were growers and so I didn’t care about their personal problem. You aggressively defended them saying well, we don’t know and how dare I jump to judgement. Then the cops found the thief and they did not want to press charges….because they were growers!! Kym- you reveal your prejudism here with every weed story. I get that you only know wonderful people that grow but for many of us actual long-term residents (1982 for me) this situation has turned very ugly. Perhaps you don’t see it. Perhaps it’s working out for you in some way and so you are …influenced. But what this woman is going through is happening all over the county and down through Mendocino and out to Trinity. They almost make me hate weed! Our county government is sold out and corrupted. Funny part of this story here is- She is a greenrusher! I don’t consider 2005 as long-term ha ha! That is the greenrusher era. And she got permits…so she’s an idiot who will get run over as she wonders why there is zero enforcement still. AND she writes to Rex Bohn?!! Har-dee-har-har- Rex is in bed with the industry and nothing is going to happen anywhere near Honeydew. Just drive out Ettersburg Rd or into The Gap- it is nuts out there!! All ignored by the sheriff for a decade now. It’s a complete shitshow and an environmental disaster and it’s because we never put our feet down on any of it. We turned a blind eye and whistled a happy tune but now it’s not so happy at all and many will lose their homes and land while the industry chews up everything that was good about Humboldt. Congratulations everybody! Hope you made that stack of cash you OG gangstas yo! Dumboldt County fer sure

Der!
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Der!
6 years ago
Reply to  Jack Straw

I did think that was funny, 2005, lmao!

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

One more time into the breech.

If you think that being forced to endure a grow that is devastating to the social fabric and the environment without leaving is being culpable, why are you still here? Why you must be culpable.

Which is the point most have been trying to make. That criminality leads to more criminality as soon as the impetuous to avoid it is weakened. You simply can’t expect that you have such a fine control over what other people do that you can say that my damage to the law and environment is good but your one inch over is bad. Because standing to that ‘incher’ is another to take it another inch. And another. And another. And you made the law and public will to stop it toothless so you could proceed with your own ideas.

The minute you condone breaking the law in a lesser way, then the law can’t protect you from the rest. Change the law first. Don’t make the law toothless then change it. Nothing to do with sainthood. Common sense from people who could see what was coming. Once toothless, it takes a lot of effort to rein people in again. They resent it.

Even the response is insulting. Someone objecting to your ‘mom and pop’ grows- never as harmless as you allege- is referred to as needing to live up to their own ‘saint-like high standards.’ It’s very easy to do that. Just don’t grow illegal stuff. Not that it is such a saintly standard of behavior to not grow.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Breaking laws regarding slaves can not be equated to growing pot. There are laws that are so egregiously inhumane that a decent and strong minded person can not help but object. Equating that level of horror to pot use is ludicrous.

Pot, growing or smoking, is no more a matter of moral rectitude than brownies are needed for survival. Pot is an indulgence at best. People actually survive very happily without pot, going about their lives as well as they can achieve. In fact pot is more likely to cripple lives.

The only thing about pot that might be more serious than frivolous is that it might be useful as a real medication for real disease and should be a subject of scientific study. Which we both know is not how the vast majority of pot is destined to be used.

One of the things most scary about pot is the desperate way its users cling to it. How angry they get at any criticism or what they perceive as a threat of its use. There is no doubt that what ever it does or doesn’t do, it’s users can’t stand the idea of not using. That you’d even come up with such a distorted idea that laws concerning banning pot is in any way similar to slavery is evidence of that.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago

Morphine, opium, oxycodone, cocaine, valium, alcohol,etc. All plant based narcotics with sedative qualities abused by humans for recreational purposes. The only real difference is that most of their users will simply say they use them to feel good and had no medical need for them.

If only pot users were as honest.

BTW knitting , pool and chess have calming effects and rarely have caused their users to drive into a tree.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

“Defiance and Nullification
In the spirit of southern statesmen such as Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun, northerners worked to prevent the Fugitive Slave Act from being enforced in their states. This “nullification” of federal law was first introduced by the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, in which Jefferson and James Madison declared that states had the right to nullify federal laws they deemed unconstitutional.”
…….”The Chicago City Council called northern congressmen who supported the act “traitors” like “Benedict Arnold and Judas Iscariot.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not free federal prisoners convicted of helping runaways, the Wisconsin legislature called “this assumption of jurisdiction by the federal judiciary… an act of undelegated power, void, and of no force…”
In addition to local governments, the people themselves took matters into their own hands:

In Syracuse, New York, a jury effectively nullified the law by acquitting all but one of 26 people who had been arrested for freeing William “Jerry” Henry; he ultimately escaped to Canada.”…..

http://www.campaignforliberty.org/nullifying-the-fugitive-slave-act

Smalltimer for real
Guest
Smalltimer for real
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

“Small” is not 1900 sq ft. Small is what I do. 280 sq ft greenhouse dep. I make a living and don’t even need a permit because my “canopy” is under 250 sq ft and I am solidly medical for 20 years.
I may be poor, but I can be a happy grower, not a hater, a lover not a fighter.

Zippy
Guest
Zippy
6 years ago

Small is not 280 sq ft. Small is 100 sq ft. So there.

Josh Morlan
Guest
Josh Morlan
6 years ago
Reply to  Jack Straw

Hi I’m the brother of the woman most of you are lambasting in these comments. To be fair we have owned our land in honeydew since 1972… we have been coming to the Mattole valley for over 40 years. So I wouldn’t rush to judge her as a “greeneusher” at all. It’s only since the law went in our favor for obtaining a legal license that we started growing on our land beyond personal use…

Jokester
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Jokester
6 years ago
Reply to  Common Sense

[edit]
Her grow is legal. Growing pot is legal now.
This is california, the average size of a farm is over 350 acres.
Thats 15,246,000 square feet.
Stop blaming the people who are and have been doing things right.
If all you got out of this letter is the size of her space then i truly hope you dont live here anymore. Her whole point is how awful the huge grows and intentions behind them are. Why would they bust her when she’s the smallest grow around?
In case you dont know,a huge percentage of growers didnt grow to become bizillionaires, they grew to support themselves, be able to be home with their kids, grow their own food, build their own spaces, and really build the community they wanted. They built festivals, community centers, radio station, volunteer fire depts, schools, supported musicians and artists,etc, etc.

The problems she points out are huge. Having a supe with friends who are destroying the land while he purports it as a “good grow” is a major issue. The fact that all these big grows around her are not being busted is huge, they obviously have no permit!

Again, its legal to grow and if you have a problem with it, direct your angst appropriately towards your reps. They threw us under the bus by getting rid of the rule that you had to have proof of residence since 2015 to get a permit, that was supposed to protect the smaller folks.
Stop wishing ill on someone who has been brave enough to openly write this, she is risking personal harm and all you can say is i hope the feds bust you?
Maybe you should go to the midwest where theres lots of like minded non critical thinking off the cuff folks who dont care about the truth, just rhetoric and unfounded claims.
We’re gonna try to save our land and community here.

lauracooskey
Guest
lauracooskey
6 years ago
Reply to  Jokester

Thanks for making these valid points.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Jokester

She never did the right thing. She just did a lesser evil that opened the door for a bigger one.

Born and raised in humboldt.
Guest
Born and raised in humboldt.
6 years ago
Reply to  Jokester

Hell yeah jokester, you tell them. I Couldn’t have said this any better then you….

Jw
Guest
Jw
6 years ago
Reply to  Common Sense

Fuck off there to many of us they can’t arrest us all haha.$$$

onrust8
Guest
onrust8
6 years ago
Reply to  Jw

CRI, it can be corrected and though there might be a lot of us, things can change in a second. You haven’t seen the troopers yet when they come well-armed. Watch the youtube stuff about what and how we do things in Afghanistan. Oh, and if you have any, get your friends to help you with that CRI stuff.

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago
Reply to  Common Sense

Let’s see here, you have 1900 sq ft, so that’s, say. 20 x 100, or about 200 plants, so, you could yield, maybe 2-400 pounds, even at $500/lb, that’s a pile of money! So WTF are YOU complaining about?

Der!
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Der!
6 years ago

Actually that would only cover what she put into it.

Emily
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Emily
6 years ago
Reply to  Common Sense

And 12 years is a ‘long time resident?’ Please she’s a greenrusher too. Bad neighbors are the worst, no disagreement there! There’s ways to deal with bad neighbors, be creative.

Just Saying
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Just Saying
6 years ago
Reply to  Common Sense

That is a small grow; under the limit that the state water board even gets involved.

Steve
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Steve
6 years ago

Cry a river…

Joe blow
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Joe blow
6 years ago

This winey ass [edit]. The smell makes her nausious the crime the headaces from the garden come on now ur doin the same damn thing! the dust on and on HIPOCRIT!!

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Kym, remember that Randolph Hearst played a huge role in making Cannabis illegal. He was freaked out by the longevity of paper made from hemp; it lasts for 100 years or more, and is simple to grow and seasonally harvest. Hearst owned enormous tracks of land with forests of prime wood…which he used to make his newspapers via his stinky pulp mills! There is more to the Cannabis story than bigotry, but bigotry is a good start.

Calling out the Hippocrates.
Guest
Calling out the Hippocrates.
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

She makes it sound like there are piles of plastic trash everywhere which is a complete fabrication. Both properties are in the permitting process and are running within the county guidelines and regulations. Her letter is one-sided and full of exaggeration and falsehoods. Her neighbors have made every atempt possible to work with her to adress her concerns and have been met with nothing but a constant barrage of verbal abuse and profanity. Since she trys to make it sound like the two different owners of these properties are new to the area they are not. One was born and raised in that neighborhood and the other has been a Humboldt resident for about 20 years. The letter is nothing more than an eloquent distortion of reality to vilify change and play the victim.

Dan Fuller
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Dan Fuller
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe blow

*Hypocrite

Pickles
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Pickles
6 years ago
Reply to  Joe blow

Did you Not read? Its the fumes from the generators that make her feel sick not the smell of the plant! Dont people read before they post!?

Frenchy
Guest
Frenchy
6 years ago

I hoped I was wrong but judging by the comments here Humboldt County is truly filling up with assholes.

Food for thought
Guest
Food for thought
6 years ago
Reply to  Frenchy

Exactly. I think the comments showing so far only support her statement. Lol. Goodbye to the Humboldt we once knew.

Dani
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Dani
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Amen Kym!

DreamsComeNightmirror
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DreamsComeNightmirror
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Please view my comment and feel free to publish it, real talk, we can change our country for the better if we act responsibly. Great freedom requires responsibility, and we’ve been met at home by the beast that is law. Once things become record, there will be a response by whatever industry thinks it can gain something here. If we act like a bunch of gangsters, the drug war will only increase in capacity, if we show that Cannabis is worth protecting and helpful, we will be supported. IT’S THAT SIMPLE. I swear sometimes people seem so lost, “You decide what happens next by your actions now!”

With love always.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago

An unconstitutional law is no law at all.
It’s the state’s DUTY to nullify unconstitutional federal laws in their state.
Other state’s then follow.
Media and politicians are not an excuse for immoral behavior by the people. It’s immoral to “look the other way” and lay blame instead of standing up in defense of your or the person beside you.
Stand up. Nullify. http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/03/06/jeffersons-arguments-for-nullification-and-limited-government/

Black Rifles Matter
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Black Rifles Matter
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

hahahahahhahah

Tilda
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Tilda
6 years ago
Reply to  Frenchy

Maybe, or maybe all the great folks here are out enjoying nature, with their family or volunteering to help our communities in some way instead of sitting inside staring at a screen and seeing just how much hate they can spew.

Der!
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Der!
6 years ago
Reply to  Tilda

Actually there are but I never see you walking the trails, so how would you know?

MWayne
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MWayne
6 years ago
Reply to  Tilda

One wonders just how much all these keyboard cowboys have ever done for their communities. They love to slam people who are already demonized, yet somehow I doubt they volunteer to fight fires, attend MADD meetings, etc.
Its so much easier to just hate your neighbors online than say any of this to their faces.

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago
Reply to  Frenchy

Filling? Where have YOU been? California is PACKED FULL of assholes! Humboldt is just a tiny part of it all!

commenter
Guest
commenter
6 years ago

sorry you have such lousy neighbors, i am lucky i guess with good ones, would be hard to live that way…

Looking deeper
Guest
Looking deeper
6 years ago
Reply to  commenter

Don’t many people all over the world yearn for “The Good Old Days”/or the world how it was when they were young& happy? The secret is still& always will be to live one day at a time, mindfully. Change happens and we make our own choices. Be brave and open as this tide ebbs&flows. Add to the sum total of positive energy or add to the sum total of negative energy…choose for yourself.

onrust8
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onrust8
6 years ago
Reply to  Looking deeper

Good response, but money makes fools of us all.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago

So this illegal is good and that illegal is bad? If she and others had stood firmly for no illegal grows at all, there wouldn’t be that issue. I’m sure that some neighbors of hers were pretty upset with her too at one point. They feared she was the camel’s nose in the tent. Well, the big, stinky camel is all in but the tip of the tail. And doesn’t care about her. Too late to object now.

And 12 years ago, she was definitely not ‘within State guidelines’ and she ignored other’s opinions about it, just as the author does now.

Just wait a bit. Cultivating a totally self-serving life style has just started to run over the little folk, who simply object it when it becomes their problem but didn’t when they thought it was only a problem for people who disagreed with them. Wow, could all these small minded, uptight law abiders been right? Reminds me of the story of the German minister who did not object to the Nazis coming for others but found there was no one left to stand with him when the Nazis finally came for him.

ils707
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ils707
6 years ago

She’s not using generators, having sketchy people work for her,making threats or disrupting others peace of mind and space.

Thinking allowed
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Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  ils707

As I said, this illegal good and that illegal bad? Crime has a life of its own once the thing that keeps it in check- redpect for the law- has been eliminated. The bigger dogs come and eat the little dogs because that’s the nature of predators.

lauracooskey
Guest
lauracooskey
6 years ago

By 12 years ago, there weren’t any uptight law abiders anymore. Even the ranchers had figured out that they could make pretty good money with a little bit of their land used for weed, and that it never approached doing the harm the “outside world” told them it did.
Now to make anything like that kind of money it’s acres of plastic and all the other crap that goes with the greed-houses and the green rush. For someone to complain that that’s un-neighborly and unwanted is not, in my book, hypocritical. We had a pretty tight community for a while, and growing a little weed in no way put you at odds with that community… nor did not growing any weed. Tolerance was easy when there was very little aggravation to tolerate. We were all in it together, at least those of us in certain rural areas.

Thinking allowed
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Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  lauracooskey

There are uptight law abiders now. But they have been run over by those who knew better. Still are. And those who cheered their defeat still can’t get the point that once the flood gate was pried opened for them, they can’t shut it do easily. They damaged it, probably beyond repair.

Emily
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Emily
6 years ago
Reply to  lauracooskey

Yes, I agree with what you are saying. It’s just a little stretch to complain when you have only lived here 12 years, and are part of the growing community. I mean, I think that the going bigger thing has happened because of increased legalization. Increased property prices. The greed of the land sellers has as much to do with it as anything. Most everyone is part of the problem. The growers themselves are in a world of shit right now as they have purchased their properties for such a high price, and prices for the product are dropping hard. You actually have to be a savvy business person to make the numbers work now.
I feel bad for these newer green rushers… not a pretty picture for them going in to 2018. Especially if they are going for permits. Lots of money down the drain to engineers and paper pushers.

There are still lots of good people out there in the hills. I’m afraid this woman got a bad draw and has some crappy neighbors. There are a lot more obnoxious growers out there nowadays than in the past, but we owe it to our neighborhoods to keep them out of this area. It used to be a much more unwelcoming place. I think we are all guilty of being too nice to crappy neighbors that have ruined some neighborhoods. Something to think about…

Just saying
Guest
Just saying
6 years ago

Some of us are back to the landers. Grow most of what you eat, live peacefully on our own land and try not to harm anyone or anything. When our lives are taken over and everything we stand for is shit on, we should be allowed a voice just like anyone else. It is sad to see what some of our neighbors are doing to mountains that are so unique, our rivers and streams that provide so much if you would just let them flow.

Semper Fi
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Semper Fi
6 years ago

Your neighbors sound like the classic bully.

You need to quit being nice. I know you say it is not in your nature. You either need to step outside your comfort zone and stand up for yourself or accept it is your nature to be a doormat.

Dont be a doormat. Be strong. Be swift, silent and deadly. Learn them. Everything. Humans are creatures of habit. Learn theirs. Prepare yourself to take back your peace, comfort, security and sanity.

ils707
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ils707
6 years ago
Reply to  Semper Fi

I like it!!!

domenica
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domenica
6 years ago
Reply to  Semper Fi

Doormat? This poor woman’s surrounded by people who are armed.
What’s she supposed to do? Writing this letter was very brave and we should recognize her for it. I seriously fear for her safety. By signing this letter, she has not acted bullied or whiney. She’s standing up to them in the only way she has a chance. All of us who love Humboldt, love the concepts of autonomy and community should stand with her.

Black Rifles Matter
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Black Rifles Matter
6 years ago
Reply to  domenica

Guarantee she didn’t do herself any favors by publishing this story. You think the neighbors who said they would wage war on her, are going to like it? Cry cry and cry some more lady. Maybe you will help the mattole with all of your alligator tears.

Anon Forrest
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Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

More.

Magpie from mendo
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Magpie from mendo
6 years ago

If you have only been here for since 2005 you yourself are a green rusher my dear… sorry that you have crappy neighbors but join the effing club love! Just think how all the rest of us feel, that have been here for 20+years and more! We are all stepping on each other’s feet… brace yourself for 2018 when it all comes into effect! Either sell out and move, co-op with your other fellow grower, or continue what you already are doing.. because let’s face the fact, only the master growers that grow the bomb are going to make it here. Mediocre green rush weed won’t be able to sell, and they will have to figure out another option. Good luck to you.

Magpie from mendo
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Magpie from mendo
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

I relize that Kym… it has been hard to see these people come up, destroy our land and pollute our water! Obviously this is not what any of us signed up for. I hate that Garberville and AP have turned into places I never want to go to, when I used to love it there! I was saying that hopefully her neighbors don’t know what they are doing and have to move on from this industry. We all are just grinning and bearing right now! if Central Valley takes over the game, who knows what we are all in for!

Thinking allowed
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Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

There are remedies. But you can’t have your cake and eat it to. I doubt as if you will approve of the remedies.

Envy is a nasty trait
Guest
Envy is a nasty trait
6 years ago

Agreed she was still dreaming about the house she built by hand with no money when camp was all over us. I bet her grow probably paid for you dream homestead. Sounds like SWEAKY didn’t get things her way and is fearful of the market bottoming out so she’s gonna put her neighbors on blast. Old school Humboldt would have ran her out of Honeydew she should be thankful. Planting a crop of hemp to seed you neighbors out is a pretty radical thing to say. If you think your gonna get anywhere putting people on blast your wrong all your gonna do is start a battle you can’t win. BTW if you don’t like the change in the community maybe you should sell your place and relocate. Oh thats right your a grower too…. this is just another case of envy. Maybe you should go talk to someone about your emotional issues cause it sounds like your an unstable person… Your not the mayor of Honeydew and we sure don’t need people like you in our community that feel its your way or the highway… You would have gotten a whole lot more backing if you would have left out the fact your a grower as well.. Hater are always gonna hate. Change is good! This county needs something besides welfare, meth and heroine.

lost
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lost
6 years ago

In my opinion pleading to Rex is not a fruitful option. I consider this man to be of poor quality.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  lost

With a lot of questionable friends.

ils707
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ils707
6 years ago

I hear a lot of this happening. We loclas NEVER asked or insinuated we wanted this shit. Threats of all kinds. Threating people with their lives if they don’t sell off their land,threats of murdering anyone who comes down the driveway other than the homeowners (no friends or family can visit,cuz your neighbor will kill them) its disgusting. A lot of these people use chemicals and divert streams,messing with our nature and our gardens that have been here for years! Veggies gardens,orchards,berries….God damn people. I hope you haters get your karma for speaking without knowing.

Thinking allowed
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Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  ils707

Comments about the careless misuse of resources, the violence, etc were just dismissed. Have been for decades. Are still dismissed. The pot steam roller just chugs on, spewing its vituperation.

onrust8
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onrust8
6 years ago
Reply to  ils707

I have lived in this county since 1952 and things always change. I lived in Petrolia when the water was clear and we could fish in the river. My family was threatened periodically because we were Okies and didn’t belong here. I watched my father more than once fly into the house and grab our only rifle because someone objected to our existence. I heard the weapon cock and the old man say get out of your car and die or turnaround and live. Every one turned around.

I have neighbors most of whom have small indoor operations and sometimes their motors require ear plugs and their exhaust requires air filters. I am not happy about that but they probably aren’t happy about some of the stuff I do.

I realized one of them was night prowling on my property and examining my stuff. I found an opportunity to tell him how I had to shoot foxes and raccoons at night to protect my chickens and that my eyesight was getting bad so I used just my hearing to shoot, you know, like brush shots for deer. He hasn’t been around at night, according to my infrared cameras since I told him that. So, he’s not as stupid as I thought.

The young ones showing up every day however, do concern me. They are arrogant and believe that might makes right and that it’s their time and they are going to become millionaires, not knowing those slots are already allocated to people a whole lot smarter than them. The big grows right now are the criminals trying to take money out before they are closed down by regs and the state. Some will make it out with their money, some will not even make it out with their lives.

Mourn for the past and prepare for the economic collapse. Find other ways to make a living cause this one is going away. If you are local, join with your neighbors and form mutual assistance associations. Help one another out. Let others know your concerns like this lady that wrote the letter and figure out how to protect yourselves. Learn from the Vietnamese about how they got the biggest government to get out. Use these techniques on the uncaring and the greedy. There are thousands of ways to get even rather than get mad and getting even works. And these little victories can turn into big victories. I am an optimist and I have many tools in my arsenal. You can do it too. Be careful and live well.

Smalltimer for real
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Smalltimer for real
6 years ago
Reply to  onrust8

I love you

Cy
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Cy
6 years ago

While the author’s story is touching, it is a consequence of the black market that Humboldt has encouraged for the last 20 odd years. One that she no doubt benefited from in the past. It’s a point that seems all but lost in our collective greed to benefit directly or indirectly from that black market. So while I can feel a bit of sympathy, it’s balanced somewhat by the knowledge that the author’s chosen source of income laid the groundwork for her current ills.

ils707
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ils707
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

It’s not always people only income,it’s a secondary, or sometimes third, income. We aren’t the only county/state encouraging the black market btw.

Landphil
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Landphil
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

Exactly!!
I lived in SoHum in early 80’s, saw the shitshow firsthand and how everyone who grew justified the trashy lifestyles behind the scenes.
Alcoholism. Coke. Neglected children and flakey parenting.
Black market prices kept the ball rollin and vaycays to Costa Rica, new 4runners and all the trappings off an unsustainable life until now. It’s the end and the rats are jumping off the boat. Hopefully they don’t claw their way back up on land.

Veterans friend
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Veterans friend
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

Naw. When we were outlaws everyone was (relatively) small and we all minded our own business. THAT was when we all contributed to the non profits in the COMMUNITY. Now KMUD is struggling. Hospice is struggling. Healy senior center is on the brink of disaster. Greenrushers give not a damn or a nickel

jj
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jj
6 years ago

This is about being a decent neighbor- which means a decent human being, you know, getting along with others…not being an asshole.

Katrina
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Katrina
6 years ago

I grew up in Humboldt & Trinity Counties and have seen it devolve into an unethical lifestyle.
Being a Native of the lands for 100’s of generations and being part of the land, I grieved at seeing what happened to all the small communities, and still grieve for what it once was.
I am in Oregon now, hoping to settle in a small community that will keep a reign on the marijuana grows.
From my point of view, comming from a recreational growing family, the medical aspect has been completely corrupted by greed, even in my family,and I felt it was in me and my childrens best enterest to move away.
We saw that codes werent being enforced, desecration of land, watersheds and wildlife. Children were growing with parents, and smoking because it is the new way of life there.
I feel it needs to be downsized where only adults, or children with true health issues use it and recreational beyond personal use be illegal.

Der!
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Der!
6 years ago
Reply to  Katrina

I agree, should of stayed under medical.

onrust8
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onrust8
6 years ago
Reply to  Katrina

Katrina – I have been thinking along those lines myself for some time now. And there seem to be places in Oregon that are not infected with the madness yet. Maybe it’s just an Emerald Triangle thing.

Hillbilly
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Hillbilly
6 years ago

Oh poor thing. It’s business. Act accordingly

ils707
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ils707
6 years ago
Reply to  Hillbilly

Act accordingly?! Get out of humboldt. You sound like the damn Russians and Bulgarians making the threats.

God is Love
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God is Love
6 years ago

It is gross. My view is alit in Spring. The fans blow in Summer. The creek that used to run in fall is puddles by July. I heard workers, not residents, get stuck on the uphill last night. Gunshots used to seem like target practice til gardens became monstrous, and people are broke. It is scary. I’m not a nut. Hippy with longtime roots here. It’s sad. And it’s not worth S* and our land looks like S* and we can’t eat gold or drink silver. Wishing for the 90s isn’t going to help though.

Pedro
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Pedro
6 years ago

I think folks who are in the marijuana business, and also serve on the board of supervisors, should recuse themselves. Same for city council

Jw
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Jw
6 years ago

I grow up in the blackmarket side of growing if these punk ass kids would have been around 20 years ago you would have a lot of missing wannabe baller city kids.

Boudreaux
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Boudreaux
6 years ago
Reply to  Jw

I’d like to see these newish so called growers pack wet chicken shit on there back in the rain for 2 miles over hill and dale like ‘back in the day’. I consider all these green rush industrialists a bunch of wusses.

Hick
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Hick
6 years ago

What goes around, comes around! Instant karma’s gonna get you. Better get yourself together, join the human race!

Dan Fuller
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Dan Fuller
6 years ago
Reply to  Hick

Nice John Lennon quote, but maybe you should credit him. just for giggles!!! So no one thinks it’s an original thought!!

Lady Flavah
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Lady Flavah
6 years ago

I fully stand in support of Erika’s letter. She is spot on to what is going on and how many people who came up here to nurture and love the land feel in today’s paradigm. Many of us in the Emerald Triangle seek to co-create a better lifestyle and growing marijuana fits beautifully into said lifestyle. There is nothing wrong with growing marijuana, but there is something wrong with pimpin the land you grow it on. This new wave will come and go, I assure you, as the aina (land) does not like greed, ignorance, and people who do not know how to tend to it in a respectful manner. Some of you in this feed could humble yourselves and knock off the rude commentary. Unless you are a Native to this land, you are a guest living on stolen lands as well. The least everyone can do is be clean, respectful, and live in balance with their little corner of Earth. Marijuana is a plant medicine with a spirit and heart meant to help the people. Some of us get it, know it, and promote it. Some of us are just ignorant and have our head so far up our ass we can’t see the light blinded by our own darkness. I choose to stand in the light of my truth as a woman of greatness and ya’llz macho ego bs belongs somewhere else, not on this feed, and certainly not in our county.
Recognize~
Lady Flavah

Cy
Guest
Cy
6 years ago
Reply to  Lady Flavah

This is an example of exactly the point I was trying to make. You cannot benefit from a black market and then condemn the inevitable results. While you may have grand, touchy-feely, namaste spirit connections with the ganja, the money comes from a black market and black markets are all about the money and the evils associated with greed. It’s the only thing that’s really important to the participants. If you didn’t care about the money you’d give it away or sell it for cost. But that isn’t happening, you’re using it to fund your chosen lifestyle and as a result, you have to live with the negative consequences.

You don’t get your cake and eat it too.

spam
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spam
6 years ago
Reply to  Cy

+100

Samaritan
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Samaritan
6 years ago

Good neighbors are such treasures, maybe she could utilize the counties relocation efforts for cannabis farms!! Wouldn’t hurt to ask! Hope you find your peace Erika Morlan, not everyone on here is an asshole <3

Stay Tuned
Guest
Stay Tuned
6 years ago

The Board of Supervisors and Law Enforcement gives less than a damn about their constituents that just want to live peaceful normal life in rural Humboldt.
I am in a small town and surrounded by grows. One neighbor put in 9 greenhouses. Cat work went on for 3 months this spring. Industrial fans and generators run 24/7. It’s never quiet any more , even if the town is quiet. My other grower neighbors are less obnoxious, but the smell is overwhelming.
What the fuck. How many illegal unpermited grows have been busted yet? If I put in for a permit I’d be so pissed that Law Enforcement is just about doing NOTHING about unpermited grows. Law enforcement has put the burden on us to turn people in , saying it’s Complaint Driven. Lazy bastards.
The Board of Stupidvisors? Sellouts. They don’t give a crap about what has happened. They don’t give a crap about people that don’t want anything to do with growing. It’s all about accommodating growers.
Growers can’t even get rid of their weed. Mist are sitting on hundreds of pounds from last year, yet doubled their efforts this year. What a shit show.
I’ve lived here 45 years. Thank god I got to experience a Humboldt County before the despicable green rush SOLD it out.
Thanks Board of Supervisors and Law Enforcement, you fucked up big time.

Der!
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Der!
6 years ago
Reply to  Stay Tuned

When’s the next election?

Anon Forrest
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Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  Der!

If you had been doing your due diligence, you would know the answer to that question.

Smalltimer for real
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Smalltimer for real
6 years ago
Reply to  Stay Tuned

YES

Mariahgirl
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Mariahgirl
6 years ago
Reply to  Stay Tuned

You sure got it Right! Supposedly you can’t run a generator but as you said someone needs to complain because they won’t do anything without a complaint. Our Stupervisors are only interested in the money and really don’t care about us.

Luvulongtime
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Luvulongtime
6 years ago

Fern Gully ain’t got shit on Humboldt!! Ruining our rainforest and rivers for a bunch of dope that the person who grew it won’t even smoke it because it’s been sprayed with who knows what. SMH!

Nomore
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Nomore
6 years ago

All these industrial grows need to go! It’s a joke and so are the people it brings around here. Good hard working people are gone, shit head out of towners and greed moving in more and more. Redcrest industrial park needs to go too

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago

There’s some serious (pot induced?) delusion going on here. I was told when I moved here in 1981 to never go out in certain areas as pot growers were hyper aggressive about their grows. Also that if I stumbled on a grow to back out carefully the way I went lest I trip a booby trap. There were and have continuously been murders, violence and intimidation in the pot industry.

You all were never the combination of the Waltons with the Peace movement you think you were. As far as I can tell, there’s a bunch of little sharks being eaten by the johnny-come-lately bigger sharks and complaining about it.

lauracooskey
Guest
lauracooskey
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

I agree, Kym. At least in my neck of the woods, and apparently in yours. Maybe there are other areas of rural Humboldt where things weren’t so sweet… but fact is, a lot of well-educated and high-minded people moved here to Southern Humboldt and the Mattole Valley–and their educations did not make them snotty and money-hungry; their privileges made them want to give up all that and live simply and naturally. The fact that they were imperfect humans does not make them hypocrites… it makes them humans. Their intentions and very often their creative results were beautiful.
And the fact that there were always a couple of obvious money-and-leisure lovers doesn’t cancel out the fact that the majority kept it low-key. I would say the money-flaunters were more like the proverbial (and nonsensical) “exceptions that prove the rule.” And, although they did enjoy those tropical vacations and state-of-the-art sound systems and expensive hand-made hippie crafts, they shared very generously with their communities. In place of taxes, it was voluntary giving to support neighbors and the environment.
I don’t think i’m glorifying it because it’s the past… this is not nostalgia. I was singing this song for decades, because i was afraid it was too good to last.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

As I said, serious delusions. The Mafia runs many beneficial programs too. For it’s own. And kills off those who object to the source of their generosity.

Pot growers could afford their generosity. They pay no income taxes while using services that were paid for with other’s taxes. They pay no employee taxes. They paid for no permits, and they stike otherls share of the water. While they drove giant pickups with flashy chrome with 4 giant guard dogs in the back and their owners prided themselves on their having paid sales tax. And chortled at the poor fools who did not make their clever arrangements to avoid the rest.

Did you do anything to stop them? Did you leap to the defense of people who complained of diesel generators, poisoned water and wildlife 10 years ago? Did you have a standard of conduct and enforce it for illegal growers 10 years ago when they were bothering only a few people and wikd life? Before the population explosion that now dares to bother you?

Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago

You are the deluded one, TA. All old-timers I know pay their income taxes because it’s easy and builds up whatever Social “Security” we’ll have when the time comes. Many folks I hang with start a small business or two on paper, and make the income justified. And taxed.
It’s the same deal taken advantage of by Rich Folks on “Legit” Incomes. And it enables both classes to freely make charitable donations (with receipts) which are then tax-deductible. Also deductible are the depreciations on farm equipment…like ATVs, etc.
Taxes do many good things for our society, and one doesn’t need a building permit or septic tank to pay them!

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon Forrest

I don’t know who you know, so unlike you, I can not say you in particular are deluded. I can say that in none of the many tax returns I viewed over the years did anyone ever report a profit in any agricultural product that could have conceivably been based on the profitablity of pot sales.

In fact I handed kleenex to mop up the tears of a few who suffered an accident or illness and had nothing to fall back on because they never paid taxes. I have talked to people who recommended filing for welfare to act as a cover for no reported income. And if you can find one story about someone who had a whole bunch of pot sale cash in their house who reported any part of it for tax purposes, I’ll agree that some do. But most don’t.

For a discussion, look below for a dose of reality

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/grow-for-a-living-what-do-you-report-for-taxes.59704/

Smalltimer for real
Guest
Smalltimer for real
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

But that is all from the blackmarket days isn’t it? KMUD fundraiser this year took 3 weeks and only raised 1/3rd the amount they used to get in a week. The industrial newbies haven’t a clue about the “community”

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago

People vote with their wallets. According to many sources, they only listen to KMUD for the emergency reports. They’re no longer considered a “community” radio broadcasting station. They’re too political. One sided political at that.
Ipods and Sirius radio are the new community.
It was their choice to either include all members, or to exclude a portion. They chose to exclude.
It’s funner to blame the pot yuppies though.

Ms. Jackson
Guest
Ms. Jackson
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

“Ooh ooh ooh yeah
What have you done for me lately?”
The bulk of those organizations took form decades ago. The people who started them aren’t the same as the kids they raised who are clearly more concerned with luxury than homesteading and community involvement.

Emily
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Emily
6 years ago

Well yes that was what my point is about. Their used to be a little more neighborhood vigilance. We used to give newcomers a hard time u til they proved themselves. Now we are cool with whoever has the cash to buy the property next door and just hope they are cool. We need a little more of that old west attitude and make these new guys earn their place in this beautiful piece of heaven we have here. We are WAY too nice and easy going, in my opinion. That’s a part of the problem. We need to deal with neighborhood issues amongst ourselves and definitely not call our supervisor when we get our panties in a bunch. I am a big supporter of nonviolence, but you can take a stand for your neighborhood and be creative to make asshole neighbors feel unwelcome.

WTF
Guest
WTF
6 years ago

To all the people who thought that making growing pot legal was the answer to making their lives full of riches and complete are going to find out different. This whole thing is nothing but the makings of a living hell, it is going to destroy the land , the water will become nothing but a trickle , the wildlife will die off due to the food source and water for them will cease to exist. This once beautiful place will become nothing but an ugly dust bowl filled with plastics of every kind, the destruction will be astronomical. The only thing that will be left to grow is the GREED. Just how much money does a person really need in their lifetime, there are millionaires and billionaires in this world that have more than enough money to last them more lifetimes than we could ever imagine but they have been infected by greed so to them they feel they never have enough and they don’t give a flying fuck about how they get it or who they step on. I like to be able to live comfortably and not have to worry if I am going to have enough money for bills, food and a roof over myself and my family, And yes I grow and I’m happy with the 50 lbs or so I pull off, but now with the prices being driven down to nothing it forces one to grow more. I could have gone the greed route but I chose not to knowing that route would end up like its doing. I have lived here my whole life and over the years I have seen the greedy people appear more and more , I have had friends threatened by these bullies that are coming here wanting to own all and forcing people to sell to them. There are many of us who live on their land, that work the land, they take care of their land , they are good decent people who don’t deserve this crap. All of you GREEDY FUCKS don’t deserve the space you occupy, you don’t care about the people or the destruction you are doing to the land the only thing you care about is yourselves and the money. GREED is a sin and someday you will pay for it . For all of you GREEDY FUCKS may you go to sleep tonight and not wake up in the morning, so much for all your money your not going to be here to spend it….

Anonymous
Guest
Anonymous
6 years ago
Reply to  WTF

Look at San Jose, Campbell and that whole area. It used to be nice fruit orchards. The contractors and builders loved it so much that they paved and built it all over. Now you are hard pressed to find an orchard there. Greed in any industry is destructive.

Emily
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Emily
6 years ago
Reply to  WTF

It’s not about greed, in my view. I think we have to accept that once we legalized cannabis, it will become like any other product. A small scale dairy farm is 1000 or so acres, a small family vineyard is at least 20 acres. It’s going to go that direction, and if we don’t have some nice ag land we are going to have to do some logging or something. We’ve been spoiled for way too long, only because we were in a black market sweet spot.

mark
Guest
mark
6 years ago

speaking as some one who has been here more than 40 years and has been a good stewart of the land ,there is something that really sucks,when some one comes along and plops down a diesel generator and runs it day and night,then drains off the water,thinking not of there neighbors needs but only of the profit to be had or perhaps not.Haveing the simpler times taken away,by future gold rushers SUCKS.And thats all I have to say about that, and as for the grammer police and I know you will chime in, go away.

John Ripper
Guest
John Ripper
6 years ago

So who smokes all this marijuana? It`s being produced by the ton — probably hundreds of tons or more. Is it going into a diffuse distribution network and ends up all over the US & Canada?

What`s not addressed here is the very large elephant in a very small room. There are too many humans — everywhere! The human population is increasing at a rate of around 12,000 tons per day, which is over 8 tons of humans per minute. In 3 days this would be the cargo capacity of a medium sized container ship. How long can this keep up? There is a lot of nonsense about “green this” and “sustainable that”, when the reality is we passed the point of no return of sustainability a very long time ago. My best guess is the point of no return was about the year 1900. So…. a bit of an adjustment is ahead…..

Unrepresented
Guest
Unrepresented
6 years ago

I agree with Erika. I do not grow, but I have no problem with small grows. I was born in Garberville and my family was one of the earliest settlers in the area. The large grows pollute the land, streams, and air and ruin the peace and tranquility of our home. Crime is completely out of control and it seems our elected officials are as greedy as the large commercial grows. Where is their concern for the common man? They’ve sold us out!

groba dude osnt trustafarian
Guest
groba dude osnt trustafarian
6 years ago
Reply to  Unrepresented

Goobsterdam sold itself to the growers, long ago. It makes me sick to listen to the crap you “born in
Goobsterdam” idiots snivel. It’s a crowded old word, so shut up, or leave.

Hurtsiknow
Guest
Hurtsiknow
6 years ago

Hmm how much did her old neighbors sell their land for ? Property values have shot up through the roof !! If you want to control what happens on someone elses la d you should buy it the minute it comes on the market, what ? They sold it for 20 times what they paid for it , and thats just 2 much ? Well someone thought they wantwd to live there and would grow weed to pay for it just as many have done here for decades, the only differance is the price of land has gone up while the price per lb has fallen, so they have to grow 40 times what you had to grow in order to pay for their land.

Hurtsiknow
Guest
Hurtsiknow
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Again price of having neighbors , dont want any buy enough property. Lights, i know most decent people cover them, but it is less then living in town when a neighnor gets a street lamp installed , shining right in your kids bedroom window…. but at least you font have to pay the fuel bill.. unlike a street lamp they bill you for the power

Emily
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Emily
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Yes property rights end when you negatively affect your neighbor.

domenica
Guest
domenica
6 years ago
Reply to  Hurtsiknow

So the answer is, if you move somewhere because you love the surroundings, you have to buy those surroundings so they don’t change? NO, that is not how it works. If my neighbor wants to build a 3 story addition and block my view, By law, I can stop him.

Hurtsiknow
Guest
Hurtsiknow
6 years ago
Reply to  domenica

Ever stop to think maybe no one wanted you there when you moved in ? And no you cant really stop them , depending on who has the money… your land your rules their land their rules.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Hurtsiknow

No. They are not stopping to think now. Just looking to the officials they eviscerated for their own profit to now raise up from the dead to solve the problems they created.

I wish the would come over and clear out the pot growers who now have taken control over my water source and are draining it dry. But I suspect that they would call them ‘responsible’ growers.

M
Guest
M
6 years ago

You reap what you sow. How many years have you been growing? That means for all of those years you were illegally selling. How many decades since you paid taxes? Now you want tax payers to feel sorry for you and you are mad that along with legalization and the market being flooded your profits are slim. Your illegal activity has been bringing crime to us tax paying, law abiding citizens for decades but that never stopped you. You were more concerned for your illegal profits than our safety and now that others have joined you by growing next to you, you feel unsafe. I cannot count the hypocrisies in your letter and in the way you have chosen to live your life.

road weary
Guest
road weary
6 years ago

Agribusiness has a common destructive force all over the country. The mega dairy farms, pig farms. They are noisy, stinky and polluting. The ‘new industrialists’ are taking one large diarrhea dump on our environment. They have the power of money and the ear of the politicians. When the price of pot drops to $300 or $200 a pound and you all go bankrupt, hopefully sooner than later, I won’t morn. Please let us know if the ‘honorable’ Rex Bohn ever responds.

domenica
Guest
domenica
6 years ago
Reply to  road weary

my sentiments exactly, weary.

Shak
Guest
Shak
6 years ago

Start a GoFundMe for a commercial size air purifier.
Research the desert dirt roads dust maintenance solutions. Start a GoFundMe for the required supplies. Ask your neighbors to research and chip in.

Loggers would be watering and rocking the roads. Their hours were sunup to sundown. There were fewer forest fires and smoke filled skies. But they were the devil according to the misplaced city folk who moved here to grow their naughty pot in healthy nature. The loggers were bullied & over regulated out. They folded.
Now the shoe is on the bullies foot. Funny how that works.

It’s not fair. Life’s not fair. But we deal with it by holding discussions and fundraisers. We research solutions, create new innovative ways of improvements.

rollin21
Guest
rollin21
6 years ago

Funny how that works; love it.

In the Ferndale Zone
Guest
In the Ferndale Zone
6 years ago

Hang on if you can, because in 5 more years when it’s widely legalized, old school farmers will be growing it by the hundred acres in Colorado and lots of other states, and the price will drop so far that it will no longer be profitable to use diesel to grow in greenhouses. Think about it: how many vegetables and herbs are grown in greenhouses vs. how many are grown in open fields. We shouldn’t kid ourselves: The “Sacred Herb” is really a “Weed” and farmers will quickly discover how easy it is to grow. That’s when the diesel greenhouse growers will depart. Right around that time many of the old school growers will be retiring on Social Security on their paid-for parcels and they, along with a few who have home businesses, and a few who commute to town jobs, will be the ones who can afford to live on these remote parcels. There will be a hella mess to clean up but after that things will get back to how we remembered it was like when we moved here in the 70’s and 80’s: people caring about each other and the land.

Llc.
Guest
Llc.
6 years ago

Hot house tomatoes are the biggest cash crop in greenhouse ag production.Canadian production involves hid lighting in winter for increased price point.

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2005/april/north-american-greenhouse-tomatoes-emerge-as-a-major-market-force/

How to grow tomatoes in gh
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CCD/anderson/gh_tom.htm

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Llc.

Tomatoes were outlawed once upon a time too. They contain… omg…. nicotine!

Der!
Guest
Der!
6 years ago

I hope so.

Monster
Guest
Monster
6 years ago

A painful lesson I’ve seen many around here learn — letter-writing will get you nowhere.

You have to go big or go home and that means using the courts.

If the fact pattern in this letter is true, there are numerous torts including private nuisance and violations of both various state and federal environmental laws.

If you want to change the behavior of public officials, the best way to do it is by suing their associates and producing evidence through discovery & deposition. People in office don’t want public wars over such information.

I have no doubt that the threats you are receiving are real and dangerous. The only way to fight back is to show strength. I am certain that there are attorneys who would work with you on this.

Not stupid
Guest
Not stupid
6 years ago

Industrial farms down south and in the valley are going operational as we speak. “Someday” has arrived. My buddy who works with a couple of these farms says they are poised to pump out commercial grade produce to supply LA and beyond at sub <$500 a lb. with that number falling in years to come. Seems like the local commercial "blow out plastic fests" will be unsustainable at <$500 much less current prices. Not to mention enforcement will be huge next year with millions in funding. Theoretically the "bad" players who have no regard for their neighbors or the environment will feel the heat and begin to drop out (or get dropped).
Moral of the story is if your in it for the good of it better focus on getting "really good" at it and band together with others of like mind. Remember folks the "real" medicine will be invaluable in times of sickness so grow the best and hope for the same!!!

Stay Tuned
Guest
Stay Tuned
6 years ago
Reply to  Not stupid

I agree. It’s just about over for Humboldt County as a major factor in the cannabis business. I figure in about 2-3 years a lot of this shit show will have died down.
I can’t wait to be able to drive to town and not be almost run off the road every time by a grow dozer. Pulling an empty trailer all summer.
The schools are hurting and enrollment is down. This explosion in population isn’t families, it’s mostly men and foreign workers. They aren’t invested in the communities in the slightest. They are here to exploit them. The money from sales doesn’t stay here.
Healy Senior Center can barely stay afloat. With all the cash in Southern Humboldt that is a travesty.
When the rest of California and other states become fully operational you greedy green rushers can kiss your asses goodbye. Your exit can’t come soon enough.

Capitalist pig
Guest
Capitalist pig
6 years ago

What is a truckers hat. ?

Bolithio
Guest
6 years ago

This too will pass. In good time, the enforcement power is going to catch up. Just like it did with logging. By next year the limits on licencing will be set, and there will be more have nots than haves.

Reality Cheque
Guest
Reality Cheque
6 years ago
Reply to  Bolithio

Clearcutting is butchering northern california as we speak. You’re a long time shill for the industry.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago
Reply to  Bolithio

What I’m afraid of is that the mass of money will have finally so disheartened and corrupted officialdom, that what will be left if they are driven off will be even more poverty, joblessness and crime anyway. A new third world country.

shak
Guest
shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Bolithio

Nice post, except you left out a few important clues.
The county planners and the UN have been in cahoots for forever. The comprehensive plans, the training seminars, all of it.
Some of the officials are innocent.
The others are a bunch of grant hungry state sellouts.

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

No one should be frighten to live in their home,NO ONE.im sure the law would say,we can’t do anything until something happens.or someone gets hurt.with no where to turn.so she grows,so what , we live in HUMBOLDT.but telling some one they’ll do things to your life,those are the people who have to go.the real folks of Humboldt don’t threat their neighbors like that,we help them make sure their ok and we share!!we don’t hate we love.ya,I still think that way oh well✌

Hick
Guest
Hick
6 years ago

How’s this Dan? “If I had my way, I WOULD TEAR THIS WHOLE BUILDING DOWN !” Greatful Dead 💀. Ballad of Sampson

Reality Cheque
Guest
Reality Cheque
6 years ago

She and her EX-husband toiled the land. She’s got the breakup blues, and is largely misdirecting her hosility.

Thinking allowed
Guest
Thinking allowed
6 years ago

So growers. This is in essence the problems you created. You go solve it. The rest of us could not stop it from happening when it was you who were the biggest problem so I doubt we have the solution for you.

I agree that if you can restore some rule of law, it will be better for all. But I doubt as if you will strike at the root of lawlessness itself as just a few months ago you were reporting as if the law was the enemy. I just don’t think you know how to fix the problem of others while protecting yourself from being included in the solution. I think you will waste what power you have trying to protect yourselves and thereby be ineffective at stopping others.

Market forces may be the only solution and that hurts the small as well as the big fry equally.

MendocinoMamma
Guest
MendocinoMamma
6 years ago

People are so rude. I feel for you Erica. I guess all the yabbos out there that laugh about this won’t be satisfied until they’re walking around with a gas mask on their face and everybody has lost their identity. Keep the land rape Keepin On because before too long there is going to be nothing left.

Seamus
Guest
Seamus
6 years ago

I sympathize with the writer, but as a 35 year resident, I think of her as a greenrusher, just like the 1st generation growers and multigeneration residents would consider me a transplant. I saw the writing on the wall when 215 passed (about the time the writer moved here), and Harborside starting pushing the limits. Throw in Gallegos and the our fate was sealed. I hope the process continues until the only growers left around here are small boutique organic growers supplying quality bud to discerning smokers (black market of course, nobody wants to pay taxes). Of course that isn’t going to make anybody rich, but at least we will get our peace and quiet back.

StoneyCase
Guest
StoneyCase
6 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

Gallegos: the definition of turncoat and profiteer rolled into one gross, fake suntan

Der!
Guest
Der!
6 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

215 passed in 1995. She moved here 2005. Not about the time the writer moved here.

StoneyCase
Guest
StoneyCase
6 years ago

Problem amongst many is, Rex Bohn. The truth is, he does nothing, and will do nothing for this county or community that is not a direct benefit to himself. He’s involved in cannabis through friends and family, yet is truly clueless about it.

The county allowed the foreign armies to buy up the land and grow unimpeded for the last decade. Now it’s way to late to curb. They could have easily stemmed and stymied the flood of eastern european mega growers, but they and theirs were making SO MUCH MONEY off the remote properties and ranches being subdivided.

We lost our county due to inaction by the leaders, and complacency by the plebiscites.

And the county basically bending over backwards to hand out gigantic permits for new grows to people like Honey Dew Farms or The Humboldt Low Standard up in willow creek.

With any luck and grace, the bottom falls out on the price for a few years, a bunch of people have to abandon ship, and things return to being somewhat sustainable.

In the meantime, fire up the torches! Not the tiki torches, like the numbskulls in khakis! No, fire up the blazers and melt away!

Boo fucking hoo I have a 2k permitted gro and a headache
Guest
Boo fucking hoo I have a 2k permitted gro and a headache
6 years ago

Omg stop whining and shit talking about your neighbors!!! . If a noisy generator or fan or water truck Jake brake (im not kidding entire threads of tender-eared butt-hurt locals crying about a fucking h20truck brake) are the worst of your problems STFU and GIVE THANKS .

Are u blind? This world is full of so much hurt. Your life is golden. Solutions: ear plugs iTunes or rephrasing your experience “I’m grateful that -Fill in the Blank- ..

And GROBA DUDE nailed it. We can’t control everything!! Only our own behavior! So mind your own business…(and have business to mind)

Boohoo
Guest
Boohoo
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

Actually yes. We can only control ourselves. Is a dent worth the upset? Maybe to some. But people are making themselves miserable with obsessing over this bright noisy new normal.

Where was all this loud moaning and upset when Moore Fuel ran endless deliveries and many old school neighbors or their kids routinely leaked diesel from their shitty haul-tanks in truck beds fueling indoor grows for gennys 24/7 leaving trails of fuel in the dirt for a fucking decade ??!?

Oh right. The internet was barely invented yet. And it was a small minority who weren’t blowing it up indoor.

Raining heavy diesel particulates down on our air 24/7 year after endless year and fouling-up virtually every watershed in so hum with BENZINE far outshadows a greeny glow or h20 delivery rig imo.

I’ll take this uncontrollable parade of delivery/water trucks and the glowy glow worms COUNTY-WIDE over that uncontrollable toxic mess any day .

Der!
Guest
Der!
6 years ago

Lmao to your last phrasei concur about Mr Bohn.

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
6 years ago

Who cares if she is a green rusher? Who cares if she has a small cannabis garden? Who cares how long she has lived here? Why should this distract from the fact that her neighbors seem like complete assholes and are ruining her living situation? Lack of respect and greed has caused these asshats to behave the way they are. Maybe they should humble themselves a bit and make living next door enjoyable. The problem isn’t they are growing cannabis or even doing it illegally, the problem is the are infringing on someones right to a peaceful life. If they are a nuisance, then something should be done to correct this problem. Growing is ok as long as you are not an asshat. Good luck with Bohn. He’s directly tied to the cannabis industry and he will protect his friends. Screw everyones opinion about welcome to the jungle bullshit.