Butte County

[Backyard Farmer]

Sorry about the trip ya'll are going through right now.

Police state to the max in Butte county? What's a constitution we use it for toilet paper here in Butte County status...


Remember when I was looking at land in Butte Creek Canyon?

 

[Sunfire]

They will obviously do whatever they want now. Why the hell arnt you guys recording this stuff on video?!?!?!?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.aclu.mobile.justice.ca
Look on the main page for the app it says there on the screen shot you have a right to record them. Holy shit tanker ton if your Tennant recorded that all, that one video would have brought down their whole castle. That's for sure a federal case! As soon as you see them, start recording! Maintain distance. If you can still get good footage and audio, stay in the house with the doors locked! If they bum rush you stash the phone. Record it to a SD card if you can and then if they rush you just wing the phone into the woods as hard as you can and scream for help.

fury, don't you remember what eric said? Don't call them back! Force them to go through motions of due process. Document everything.

I think why Yuba is different is because there's a lot of people who arnt going anywhere. This is our home, and we will fight for it. No one around where i live is walking away from shit. Dobbins seems different though, lots of residents that havnt been there forever and the vibe has a softer hippity dippity feeling. If they pulled some crap like they did with tanker ton I'd cash out my 401k from bank of the woods and sue the pants off them!

 

[jd123]

.

 

[Sunfire]

Yeah I heard about that shit in oregon. I got 10s of thousands of seeds. Maybe I can just secure a top paying job with one of the corporations, get good job security, and demand they atleast produce quality organic meds with my genetics.

Or we will fight those evil corporate fuck and take cali back for the people! The state of Jefferson movement is growing. I've seen signs on roadsides and on farms all the way out the valley now!

We need to back the craft initiative and the one eric and rick filed with the california cannabis coalition.

 

[jd123]

I feel you 100%.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

man this morning was rough, code enforcement was out at 8am early harassing people on my street again. first they tried to go to the neighbors, he has an empty garden behind his house that barely even looks like a garden, and a bunch of planter boxes with tomato plants in them. they posted up at his gate at 8am honking the horn while he was trying to take his kids to school, his young daughter had to see these assholes at the gate yelling and hollering. told them no warrant then get lost so they bounced..

so what do these lying scumbag mother fuckers do? they go to my other neighbor, who has NO garden at all, doesn't even smoke weed. just some immigrants who set up a little llama/pig farm and raise animal and food crops. they go to his gate and lie and say they got an "anonymous tip" he was growing. he doesn't know his rights so he let them explore his field. they go straight to the fence line and start peeking over into our property and our neighbors. the immigrants finally got fed up and told them to leave.

these fucks literally executed an inspection request on a non grower just to snoop on other properties. people here are fucking pissed, talked to two non growers on my street who can't believe what is happening around here. how these asshole cops can just ruin your morning and post up sheriff SUVs in your driveway so all your neighbors can see them.

i dont know how much longer we are expected to take this bullshit.

measure A won in a midterm when no one voted. why can't we get together and draft a new ordinance that gives some middle ground to both causes and can hopefully beat them at the 2016 general election. I'm not expecting some liberal 99 count plant limits, but some kind of process where collective gardens with paperwork can get permits and not get hassled, and expand the sq ft restriction and get rid of the anonymous complaint system because its total fucking bullshit.

 

[HL45]

Sounds like you guys should set up some game cameras, they are affordable and you can hide them in key areas where you know that the piggos will be breaking the law.

I would keep the photos and then sue the fuckers after harvest when you decide to leave. Hit up ACLU....they are gonna take my friends dui case pro bono even if he gets charged with a dui because they didnt get read miranda rights. If they are breaking and entering or trespassing you need to do something about it.

Ihave been there before. . .I had pigs put a hidden camera and trigger sensor in my grow years ago. 8 fucking plants......I found the trigger but never the camera. The BLM maps were innacurate and they thought my grow was on blm land instead of private property. Eventually they realized that they were trespassing and the local sherriff wrote his number in sharpie on the back of his card that was gorilla taped to my mailbox. I could have sued them but decided not to and i have been let off a speeding ticket since. I ended up giving the trigger back because i stayed in the area. But if i was in your guys shoes and wanted to leave after this season I would get quite a few game cameras and sue the fuckers. Destruction of property is destruction of property. Maybe someone could set up a fake greenhouse with a bunch of kenaf plants to set them up. STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS!

 

[theJointedOne]

... because they didnt get read miranda rights.

Thanks to a "supreme" court ruling not long ago, it is not required for law enforcement to read you your Miranda rights. It's your responsibility to know your rights, and invoke them

Just FYI,

 

[HL45]

Sure everything is out the window since 9-11...The aclu doesn't seem to be worried about that in my friends case..

Miranda rights stem from a supreme court decision.

"In Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court held that the admission of an elicited incriminating statement by a suspect not informed of these rights violates the Fifth Amendment and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, through the incorporation of these rights into state law."


But if you talk it's void " Berghuis v. Thompkins, 560 U.S. 370 (2010) (docket 08-1470), is a decision by the United States Supreme Court in which the Court considered the position of a suspect who understands his or her right to remain silent under Miranda v. Arizona and is aware he or she has the right to remain silent, but does not explicitly invoke or waive the right.

The Court held that unless and until the suspect actually stated that he was relying on that right, his subsequent voluntary statements could be used in court and police could continue to interact with (or question) him. The mere act of remaining silent was, on its own, insufficient to imply the suspect has invoked his or her rights. Furthermore, a voluntary reply even after lengthy silence could be construed as implying a waiver"

Trespassing is still trespassing. I know some one irl who got out of a 500 plant illegal grow because of trespassing.

 

[aligee]

http://www.rcsantacruz.org/press_release

Santa Cruz, California – May 16, 2015 – The first successful Santa Cruz County referendum in 13 years has suspended an ordinance adopted by the County Board of Supervisors to ban all commercial cannabis cultivation. The ban was adopted on April 14, 2015, and was to go into effect on May 15, 2015.

 

[Sunfire]

Well that's good to hear Santa Cruz is fighting too! So are there enough pissed people in butte to organize a defense yet. Come on guys it just takes a small handful of Intelligent and motivated people.

 

[Yes4Prop215]

from what I've read the lawsuit filed by candell is pretty much dead in the water, they can appeal but it goes to the same sacramento appeals court that held up the tehama and live oak bans so it doesn't look promising. I'm trying to contact him over the 4th amendment violations but its been extremely hard to get a call back, still awaiting that.

it seems like theres almost no one to turn to for help in this area. people are scared of the butte county government mafia.

my only idea stems from maybe trying to start a new measure that can go to the ballot for 2016 and hopefully people show up and actually vote this time. but with merkel AWOL and Rob not interested, i dont know who else is actually doing anything in this damn county!!

 

[tankerton]

Prop- I had the same situation with Scot Candell. I emailed him about my situation, he initially emailed back, but hasn't followed up with me when I told him I was interested in a consult. Honestly I think its going to take a grass roots effort by growers putting the information together before any top lawyer is going to be interested in our case.

As I said before Butte has a public perception problem. We are considered destroyers of the environment and greedy money hungry growers. We need to change that. Their needs to be a centralized location for people to tell their stories and experiences with code enforcement. How many people who don't grow have been visited? How many people have had warrantless searches? How many people have had fabricated complaints? How many people have been charged $1800 dollars for requesting a search warrant? We have no idea because there is no place for people to tell them.Then we need to take a look at the economy. How many septic systems wells and new house permits were issued in 2013-2014 vs 2015. What are the difference in cash sales in the county this year vs the previous 2. I can tell you one thing Oroville is going to be hurting this year. It already seems like a ghost town and it has been the place consistently rocked by enforcement so far. If we brought this info to the public, perception of this measure would change.

The current resistance in Butte, while having good intentions, is inept. I sat down with them to do due diligence and left feeling like southern oregon was a beautiful place. They are too stuck on their libertarian views to see that we need to change the way the public views us.

We also need to unite with the other resisters from counties dealing with the same thing. Don't you think that we had some of this stuff documented and started flooding Yuba county news outlets with our stories it wouldn't help their cause. The message needs to be that when you leave control to the local governments they consistently deprive us of our civil rights because they don't have to play by those rules.

I don't blame Rob for being uninterested because he was basically abandoned after we lost the referendum and he got stuck paying and forgiving a lot of the PAC's bills. Rob has the utmost integrity and is one the most honest people I have ever met and while I think he may be done being the public face of a PAC designed to fight the ordinance he does have a wealth of knowledge and if people were serious about making mounted campaign he would undoubtedly steer us in the right direction.

 

[Sunfire]

Sounds like you and prop will have to start it up. I have a few contacts I could give you to start your team. I've already given them to prop.

 

[furrywall11]

If you're stressing over the ordinance you might want to go here: https://www.reverbnation.com/camocowboys/songs and play the song "Flower Police"...

 

[oneofus]

prop,

you are correct. going through the courts is a dead-end. that door is shut. here's the article you referenced:

Judge dismisses lawsuit against Butte County measure regulating size of marijuana grows

By Ryan Olson, Chico Enterprise-Record
Posted: 05/13/15, 5:55 PM PDT |
6 Comments


Chico >> A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by four medical marijuana patients against Butte County over Measure A, which regulates the physical size of cannabis grows.


On Wednesday, a Butte County Superior Court judge sustained the county’s demurrer challenging the sufficiency of the case, according to county counsel Bruce Alpert.
He said the judge dismissed the case without the ability to further amend the complaint.
“We’re very pleased with the court’s decision,” Alpert said. “We felt we were on solid legal ground.”



The plaintiffs’ attorney, Scot Candell of San Rafael, said he was surprised by the judge’s ruling because the law is clear about how a judge’s interpretation of a voter initiative like Measure A must be based on the language of the initiative itself.


In February, plaintiffs Donald Ehrsam, Gina Endler, Douglas Gunning and Raymond Sperry filed suit, alleging that Measure A was unlawful and prevents them and some family members from obtaining sufficient cannabis to meet their medical needs.


The county first sought a demurrer to dismiss the case because the complaint didn’t specify any cause of action. That was deemed moot after the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint.




For the second demurrer, Candell said one issue was that Measure A violates residents’ equal protection rights. He said the judge sided with the county’s argument that everyone was treated equally because each patient can grow in areas up to 50 square feet.


Candell said he wanted to review a transcript of the proceeding.



He suggested there may be no upper limit on how many patients may grow individual 50-square-foot plots on a property.


Alpert said the plaintiffs had suggested a very tortured understanding of the measure, which was approved by 60 percent of voters last year. Individual patients may grow on a 50-square-foot plot, but the total size of the grow on a property is limited by parcel size.



In unincorporated Butte County, properties of a half-acre or less may have an indoor growing area of up to 120 square feet. Indoor or outdoor growing areas may be allowed on larger properties, ranging from 50 square feet for parcels less than 5 acres to 150 square feet for lots 10 acres or larger.


Candell said the plaintiffs were still considering their options following Wednesday’s ruling. He said it is possible to seek an appeal with the 3rd District Court of Appeal, but there may be issues regarding how the county is enforcing Measure A.



Candell said he’s heard complaints regarding enforcement, including officers coming on to properties without a warrant. He said that could be a federal constitutional issue.


Alpert said the county is vigorously enforcing the ordinance.



Regarding searches, he said the county is obtaining inspection warrants, which are granted by a judge after considering probable cause.


The total number of Measure A cases has increased through the spring. On May 5, development services director Tim Snellings told the county Board of Supervisors that there were 210 total cases as of May 1, mostly in the Oroville area. That is a significant increase from the 74 cases before April 7.



About 10 percent of cases have resulted in citations, but about 60 percent of the cases are inactive.


Last year, the county received 176 complaints.


According to a code enforcement officer, issues at sites include facilities that don’t have required permits, including greenhouses, structures, experimental water wells and extension cords. Some growers also don’t have a notarized letter from the property owner granting permission to grow on the site.

Reach reporter Ryan Olson at facebook.com/NorCalJustice and 896-7763.

 

[oneofus]

@prop and tankerton -

sunfire is correct. it is up to you now.

as you, prop, keep saying, there is no one else to turn to now.

that means this falls to you and tankerton to get it done on a grass-roots level.

here's how I see it: prop, as you have said, you are a natural-born salesman. that makes you the perfect one to use all of your skills with all the people you know and that they know to get signatures on a ballot initiative for your county for the november election and money for the campaign come november.

that's your job. sell the vote. get out there. get the signatures. hire a firm to do that for you or to help if you have to. just do whatever you have to do to get it on the ballot or as many have said...butte is done and may be the linchpin for everything else.

then you have to sell tankerton's ideas about changing perceptions to the media. i saw you post you have close ties to media down south. use those and the local media as tankerton said to tell the narrative from our side. then come november you have to use a firm that specializes in getting out the vote if you have difficulty in getting a local get-out-the-vote phone bank set-up. i don't think i have to tell you that all of this rides on getting out the vote. you know quite well that if just a few more thousand people had come out and voted last novenber, this conversation and the things that are going on like these warrantless searches and fence-peeking would not be taking place. you have got to get that vote out. use the traditional methods - direct mailings of flyers, pamphlets, people going door-to- door - get the addresses of registered voters from the voter registration lists for this - the whole nine yards with the traditional stuff. then add the social media into it as well. you need a team of people that do nothing but monitor the social media and respond to anything negative with something positive that counters it. that's got to be a constant drumbeat. you know how people are...you have to repeat it again and again and again..and then again. if you want your county back you are going to have to go at it balls to the wall and just absolutely flat-out.

i know you can do this.
i've seen your work ethic. few match it. use that. you can do this.

tankerton - you seem to have a real head for political machinations/organizing and how things really work in the world of politics. you need to come up with the ideas of how to cast this whole thing in the proper light that gets a strong but positive message together. one that can appeal to as many as possible. anticipate what your opposition is going to try and do and say and try to get out ahead of them. pull everyone you know together to come up with the best strategy as to what to say. when to say it,and how to present it all etc. set-up a web site for people to report their complaints/experiences with code enforcement/leo on. send an opinion letter or a letter-to-the-editor explaining what is going on and put your website addy in the letter.

guys, i'm just trying to add some ideas that will help

if you are to survive...then the time is now.

butte is the place.

it is up to you now - and if you do not find a way...no one will

 

[Yes4Prop215]

i seriously can feel my hair thinning everyday worrying about this shit. maybe thats why Rob is bald lol.

anyways, lots of things to get to.

Finally got ahold of scott. He said the news article is wrong and that the Live Oak precedent won't apply to the appeal, however he did say that alot of these "homegrown" judges aren't likely to rule in our favor. the group is gonna meet soon and decide if they want to appeal. also the 4th amendment code enforcement issue is a dead end. even if we find documented evidence of them breaking the law, and we file a lawsuit and win, nothing will change in regards to medical marijuana sq ft limits. what will basically happen is that the county will use the officer as a scapegoat and then just fix the enforcement methods. it might buy some time or make their efforts a little less gestapo, but scott feels like its not the best use of resources right now. pursuing the 4th amendment issue would need to be a MEDIA/PR campaign to piss off voters and make the republican voting block realized they just implemented the largest nanny/police state in existence. i have a few ideas about this and yes, my journalist is ready for the task however she won't be able to start until june. but i already have interviews and a bunch of stuff lined up, she sounds very interested in this issue she can literally go and get an interview from ramsey or some of their top dogs as well and confront them on issues anderson cooper style lol.

in regards to butte countys future for growers, Scott mentioned the same exact shit i have been talking about. 2016 2016 2016 2016. it will be easier to just chalk 2015 and gun for 2016 with a new measure aimed at compromise and getting the votes to pass. so crazy 99 plant limit gardens won't fly, but 50sq ft won't fly either. we will have to sit down and come up with some kind of legal framework to propose to voter base here. it will probably have to involve some kind of permitting or fee based system for larger collective grows to appeal to voters. my only question that i need to re-ask the lawyers is if the county would even accept a fee/permit system since that might hold them liable in court, similar to how Mendo and their $25 per plant system might have implicated the Mendo gov in growing. however Yuba just implemented a fee system as well.

I'm flattered some people think i should spear head this, and I'm going to do as much as possible. however i am limited right now in how public i can make myself, I'm not the cleanest example of a grower. i dont have a huge collective backing me, or tons of disposable cash to spend on this. right now I'm in survival mode and with two of my main grows shut down I'm scurrying around doing monkey work getting my backup grows up and running and praying to god they work out. id be worried if they tried to dig up dirt on me or pull some dirty tricks because its pretty well accepted that butte is a corrupt ass county and the judges, DA, sheriff and Code enforcement all work in lockstep together. But i am gonna start more networking, meeting more people and trying to connect the dots, I am also going to work on drafting some kind of framework for a 2016 proposal and would like to talk to any others interested in this as well. we will need to setup something similar to the Yuba Patients Group. Im hoping to meet with a few of the people involved with Scotts lawsuit as well and let them know I'm available. I also heard Andrew is back in the fight and i want to connect with him as well.




first things first, we need a better platform for meetings, one where the psycho liberations cannot just interject and ruin every meeting. i heard that the Code enforcement update at concow grange last week was a shit show, with a few bad apples being confrontational with other people there. that is just ludicrous, I'm starting to lose my damn patience with these guys, they need to be told to shut the fuck up unless they have concrete fucking evidence of their wildly absurd claims.

 

[oldCounty]

Their hitting east Palermo right now, passed 2 CE SUV's and the sheriff 40min ago. Good luck folks.

Anyoneknow the frequencies they use to communicate down from the helis?

 

[25ftGreatWhite]

it's the palermo fortressed grows visible from the 70 that got butte in this place - pretty asshole to do that shit right off the major hwy leading into your community.

this was interesting to read, and has parallels to our battle.
https://www.newsreview.com/chico/ramsey-in-the-crosshairs/content?oid=1336200
forming a PAC has been long over due.