Growing Marijuana

Robert C. Chance, a pioneering Harford County ecologist and retired high school teacher, received a two-year suspended sentence and was placed on 18 months of supervised probation yesterday for growing marijuana and possessing psychedelic mushrooms last year on his Darlington farm. "This is a 62-year-old man who showed poor judgment," said Baltimore County Circuit Judge John G. Turnbull II as he announced the ruling. "I certainly don't think he's a threat to the community. If anything, he is a threat to himself."

A New Windsor man who was found guilty in June of growing marijuana was granted probation before judgment yesterday and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.George E. Sinnott, 51, of the 1500 block of Old New Windsor Road was arrested in July 1998 after a state trooper flying with a Maryland Air National Guard marijuana eradication detail saw 63 marijuana plants growing in six pots outside Sinnott's home, according to court documents.Sinnott and his wife, Cynthia, 46, have settled a forfeiture case in federal court, "effectively paying $30,000 ransom" to keep possession of their home, Charles O. Fisher Jr., Sinnott's attorney, told Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. In January, Cynthia Sinnott was granted probation before judgment for possessing marijuana, court records show.

A routine noise complaint was anything but when police went to a Westminster apartment early yesterday and arrested five people, one of whom is accused of growing a dozen marijuana plants, court records show.Ernesto A. Torres, 19, of the 100 block of W. Main St. was held in lieu of $25,000 bail after being charged with possession of marijuana, growing marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of paraphernalia and maintaining a common nuisance.The others, who were released on personal recognizance, were: Nicole T. John, 18, of the 16000 block of Trenton Road in Upperco; William J. Brengle, 19, of the 5000 block of Millers Station Road in Hampstead; Joshua L. Potts, 19, of the 4600 block of Water Tank Road in Manchester; and Erin L. Dauzet, 21, of the 100 block of E. Green St. in Westminster.

On Wednesday, legal marijuana sales resumed in San Franciso when customers bought pot at the Cannabis Cultivators Club. Protected by California's recently passed ballot initiative, Proposition 215, and a San Francisco judge's order, the club sold the drug to patients with prescriptions.Marijuana's proponents say the drug is useful in treating glaucoma; for controlling nausea in cancer patients on chemotherapy; and for combating wasting, a severe weight loss associated with AIDS.In November, Arizona also passed a referendum legalizing the medical use of marijuana.

UKIAH, Calif. -- Sgt. Ron Caudillo of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department saw the change coming five years ago as he looked down an old logging road covered with 7,000 marijuana plants.His experience in the most fertile pot-growing area of the state told him that the garden was not the work of any local doper. The scale was too big, the rows of sinsemilla too straight. Whoever it was didn't even spread out the crop to avoid discovery.Growing marijuana in California was once the exclusive domain of native-born profiteers, flower children from the 1960s and enterprising potheads with a knack for horticulture.

A 19-year-old Laurel man admitted in court yesterday he grew marijuana in a friend's basement. He said he was tired of paying for it.James Wagner of the 7600 block of North Arbury Way received an 18-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty in Howard County Circuit Court to manufacturing marijuana.He could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison, fined $5,000, or both, said Assistant State's Attorney Mary Murphy.Wagner made a statement to police that he and his friends "got tired of spending money to buy pot, so they grew it," Murphy said.

Because he wanted a change of clothes, an 18-year-old man was arrested and charged yesterday with multiple marijuana counts, county police said.Officer Robert Creech went to a home in the 4700 block of Flanders Lane in Harwood about 12: 15 p.m. to serve a warrant charging a man with assault. After Creech arrived, the man asked permission to change into clean clothes because the ones he was wearing were greasy.When Creech accompanied the man into his bedroom, he detected a strong odor of marijuana just as the man closed a closet door, Creech reported.

A 43-year-old dairy farmer charged with growing marijuana in his yard may argue to a jury that he needs to smoke the herb to combat the ravages of AIDS, a Charles County judge ruled yesterday, the first time the "medical necessity defense" has been allowed in Maryland.Circuit Judge George W. Bowling granted Jerome E. Mensch's request to use the defense at his trial on charges of unlawful manufacture and possession of marijuana."It's a big first step," said Susan Goering, legal director of the ACLU, which is assisting Mr. Mensch in the case.

Three Ellicott City men and a Baltimore County youth were charged with growing marijuana in two closets after Howard County police searched their home Tuesday night.When the officers entered the home in the 3700 block of St. Paul St. in Ellicott City, police said they found the suspects smoking suspected marijuana and making a water pipe from plastic materials. Police officers said they found 2-foot marijuana plants and growing lights in two upstairs closets.The officers seized plastic bags containing a quarter-pound of suspected marijuana and recovered pipes, rolling paper and other drug paraphernalia.

Intruder steals purse from woman's kitchenA Havre de Grace woman told police that someone dressed in dark clothing broke into her home in the 700 block of Hoppers Lane at 12:40 a.m. last Sunday.The man stole her purse from the kitchen and ran out of the front door, she said. The amount of money in the purse was unknown, police said.3 arrested, charged after two burglariesTwo men and a woman were arrested on charges stemming from burglaries at two Havre de Grace restaurants Monday.Responding to a report of a breaking and entering at the Tidewater Grill at the foot of Franklin Street, officers saw a man running from the scene and broadcast his description.

Robert C. Chance, a pioneering Harford County ecologist and retired high school teacher, received a two-year suspended sentence and was placed on 18 months of supervised probation yesterday for growing marijuana and possessing psychedelic mushrooms last year on his Darlington farm. "This is a 62-year-old man who showed poor judgment," said Baltimore County Circuit Judge John G. Turnbull II as he announced the ruling. "I certainly don't think he's a threat to the community. If anything, he is a threat to himself."

Less than two months ago, a National Geographic Channel documentary took a look at the get-rich business of growing marijuana. Now CNBC is similarly reporting on how American agribusiness is going to pot. In Marijuana Inc.: Inside America's Pot Industry, anchor Trish Regan explores the inner workings of an industry that lights up the economy by an estimated tens of billions of dollars nationwide. Traveling to northern California's Emerald Triangle, Regan gathers personal stories of growers, many of them otherwise law-abiding citizens who include a journalist, a political activist and even a former member of law enforcement all cashing in on this profitable crop.

Known as "Santa Bob" to the children who flock to his Harford County farm to buy Christmas trees, Robert C. Chance cuts a genial figure. Dressed in bright red with white trim and sporting a fake white beard, he jovially greets customers this time of year with hot cider and cookies as his six "reindogs" - actually yellow Labradors - play around him, a tobacco pipe clenched in his teeth. But prosecutors say Chance had been smoking something stronger earlier this year and recommended yesterday to a judge that Chance serve no less than six months in jail for growing marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms on his 7-acre Environmental Evergreens Tree Farm.

Howard County police have arrested two men accused of growing marijuana in wooded areas in Ellicott City. On Aug. 4, while conducting surveillance on two plants in the David Force Park on Pebble Beach Drive, police said, they observed a man watering marijuana. On Wednesday, police said, they observed another man watering 12 plants in woods near Route 103 and Route 100. Detectives also found a loaded handgun in a motor vehicle, according to police Police said that Randy Fox Tennant, 22, of the 10000 block of Fox Den Road and David A. Lombardo, 32, of the 7900 block of Brightlight Place face multiple drug-related charges.

One-fifth of a ton of marijuana, a sophisticated plant cultivation system and marijuana plants -- some 4 feet tall and growing -- were confiscated when city police raided an Upper Fells Point rowhouse after receiving a tip on the department's drug hot line. Police entered a three-story rowhouse in the 1900 block of East Pratt St. about 9 p.m. Tuesday. John Arbuckle, 33, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Police said Arbuckle was in the house.

A 16-year-old Manchester boy was arrested late Monday after more than 50 suspected marijuana plants were found growing in his bedroom, Carroll County authorities said. The youth, who was not named because of his age, is being held in Baltimore County at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School, a juvenile detention facility. Carroll sheriff's deputies Cpl. Timmie Schaeffer and Michael Zepp went to the boy's home at 6: 10 p.m. to serve court papers for an emergency evaluation of the youth, said Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning.

A routine noise complaint was anything but when police went to a Westminster apartment early yesterday and arrested five people, one of whom is accused of growing a dozen marijuana plants, court records show.Ernesto A. Torres, 19, of the 100 block of W. Main St. was held in lieu of $25,000 bail after being charged with possession of marijuana, growing marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, possession of paraphernalia and maintaining a common nuisance.The others, who were released on personal recognizance, were: Nicole T. John, 18, of the 16000 block of Trenton Road in Upperco; William J. Brengle, 19, of the 5000 block of Millers Station Road in Hampstead; Joshua L. Potts, 19, of the 4600 block of Water Tank Road in Manchester; and Erin L. Dauzet, 21, of the 100 block of E. Green St. in Westminster.

A New Windsor man who was found guilty in June of growing marijuana was granted probation before judgment yesterday and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.George E. Sinnott, 51, of the 1500 block of Old New Windsor Road was arrested in July 1998 after a state trooper flying with a Maryland Air National Guard marijuana eradication detail saw 63 marijuana plants growing in six pots outside Sinnott's home, according to court documents.Sinnott and his wife, Cynthia, 46, have settled a forfeiture case in federal court, "effectively paying $30,000 ransom" to keep possession of their home, Charles O. Fisher Jr., Sinnott's attorney, told Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. In January, Cynthia Sinnott was granted probation before judgment for possessing marijuana, court records show.

UKIAH, Calif. -- Sgt. Ron Caudillo of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department saw the change coming five years ago as he looked down an old logging road covered with 7,000 marijuana plants.His experience in the most fertile pot-growing area of the state told him that the garden was not the work of any local doper. The scale was too big, the rows of sinsemilla too straight. Whoever it was didn't even spread out the crop to avoid discovery.Growing marijuana in California was once the exclusive domain of native-born profiteers, flower children from the 1960s and enterprising potheads with a knack for horticulture.

On Wednesday, legal marijuana sales resumed in San Franciso when customers bought pot at the Cannabis Cultivators Club. Protected by California's recently passed ballot initiative, Proposition 215, and a San Francisco judge's order, the club sold the drug to patients with prescriptions.Marijuana's proponents say the drug is useful in treating glaucoma; for controlling nausea in cancer patients on chemotherapy; and for combating wasting, a severe weight loss associated with AIDS.In November, Arizona also passed a referendum legalizing the medical use of marijuana.