A Nevada City woman was arrested after being stopped in Illinois, for allegedly carrying 167 pounds of marijuana. Cara Ringland, 32, was pulled over by officers Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 80 near Peru, Ill., The Union of Grass Valley reports. She has been charged with unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, with a possible prison term of between six and 30 years with no possibility of probation. A bond hearing was pending Thursday. No further information was available from the La Salle County State’s Attorney.
A Nevada City man is guilty of unlawfully growing marijuana after all, a state appeals court has ruled. The Third Appellate District Court of Appeals has reversed a Nevada County Superior Court judge’s decision to set aside a guilty verdict and grant a new trial for Eric Engstrom. Engstrom’s attorney, Stephen Munkelt, said he now plans to appeal that decision to the state Supreme Court, Liz Kellar reports in The Union. Engstrom was found guilty in March 2010 of unlawfully growing marijuana, but was acquitted of possessing marijuana for sale in a split decision by [...]
Three Lake of the Pines residents have been arrested in connection with a large marijuana grow after authorities seized at least 135 pounds of processed marijuana. Nevada County Narcotics Task Force members served search warrants Thursday on two residences in Lake of the Pines and a 40-acre parcel in south county, Liz Kellar reports in The Union. The parcel in the 19000 block of Kingswood Court, as well as the residences in the 13000 block of Torrey Pines Drive and the 11000 block of Skylark Court, all are owned by John Steven Vanliefde and his [...]
The Nevada County Board of Supervisors is preparing an ordinance to restrict or ban marijuana cultivation in agricultural and residential neighborhoods. This ordinance could have unintended consequences on our quality of life and devastate the local economy. I suggest that we would be better served by taxing, limiting, and tightly regulating cannabis cultivation in Nevada County, Patricia Smith writes in a guest column for The Union. Cannabis is our state’s No. 1 cash crop, outpacing the second highest ag producer, dairy, two to one. State tax collectors estimate that $14 billion in marijuana sales remain [...]
Alta Sierra neighbors have complained for weeks about a large marijuana garden on an Annie Drive vacant lot, less than a half-mile from the local elementary school. The garden has become a catalyst for a new community group pushing for a county-wide ordinance to restrict or ban marijuana growing in residential neighborhoods. The ordinance, being developed by Nevada County Counsel Michael Jamison, has drawn the support of Supervisor Ed Scofield, who represents Alta Sierra. “It’s frustrating because there is no regulation,” Scofield said of those growing marijuana with medical prescriptions. “It’s not so much the [...]
A pot grower raided by Nevada County’s narcotics task force has lost a federal lawsuit against the county. Jon-Cory Schmidt sued the county and the Sheriff’s Office alleging his due process and equal protections rights had been violated, after a raid on his medical marijuana grow in September 2009. The case, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento in October 2010, was dismissed Tuesday, Liz Kellar reports in The Union of Grass Valley. Schmidt alleged that he was in lawful possession of medical cannabis under medical recommendations issued by licensed California physicians at [...]
Medical marijuana dispensaries are banned from operating in Nevada County. County Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to ban dispensaries from opening up in the unincorporated county, following the lead of Grass Valley and Nevada City, which have banned dispensaries, and the Town of Truckee, which doesn’t allow for dispensaries in its zoning. District 3 Supervisor Terry Lamphier opposed the ban, Kyle Magin reports in The Union. “”We cannot make decisions based upon the welfare of a small number of people,” said District 1 Supervisor Nate Beason, in reference to advocates for medical marijuana who were present [...]
Narcotics officers destroyed a large marijuana garden Friday in the first major outdoor operation of the year. A total of 13 officers from Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Forest Service found a large marijuana garden composed of three, terraced seed beds on Tahoe National Forest property between Graniteville and the Town of Washington in eastern Nevada County, said Sheriff Keith Royal. It wasn’t immediately clear exactly where the garden was, officials from both the Sheriff’s Office and National Forest said Friday, Kyle Magin reports in The Union. Officers pulled 8,625 plants, which were [...]
A Nevada City man arrested last year for allegedly trying to sell 5 pounds of marijuana on Craigslist was sentenced to 60 days in jail after pleading no contest to maintaining a place for the sale or use of a controlled substance. Gary Lester Feise, 47, allegedly put an ad on the popular Internet marketplace to sell his “extra meds” in December 2010. The advertisement listed different strains of medicinal marijuana, Liz Kellar reports in The Union of Grass Valley, as well as dollar amounts for the product to help cover growing costs and delivery [...]
Nevada County officials are one step away from uniformly banning medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the county. On Thursday, the county’s planning commission voted 3-0, with two members absent, to recommend its board of supervisors adopt a ban on storefront dispensaries. If approved at the supervisors’ July 12 meeting, such businesses would have no place to function in Nevada County, as owners would be barred from opening up shop in the unincorporated county, Grass Valley, Nevada City and Truckee, which have all either already banned the establishments or don’t allow them under current zoning laws. At [...]
Reading is cool; interacting is better