Comments on: Legislature Approves Chesbro’s Forest Protection Bill – August 22, 2012

By: Kevin Hoover

Kevin Hoover — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 19:54:38 +0000

Nicholas, consider talking to the many people who have been involved in decades of habitat restoration from the very logging damage you mention. They are heartsick at seeing their work undone by the rampant, unregulated, large-scale cannabis plantations.

http://www.arcataeye.com/2012/08/forest-pot-grows-bring-range-of-destruction-august-31-2012/

By: Nicholas Wilson

Nicholas Wilson — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:54:48 +0000

Mr. Hoover set up a straw man argument to accuse me of logical fallacy. I didn't say that because problem A isn't as bad as problem B that A doesn't require a solution.

My point is that logging interests crying over environmental damage caused by pot growers is extremely hypocritical in light of the far, far greater environmental damage caused by logging.

But in fact, I have seen no persuasive evidence that there has been significant environmental damage caused by pot growers. Instead there's been a lot of hyperbole and propaganda by the sheriff's office, citing silly figures like the number of feet of irrigation piping ripped up.

Next Tuesday the Mendo County supes will consider a motion re sending the gov a letter supporting signing the Chesbro bill into law. The item is on the consent calendar, but I'm betting it will be pulled for full discussion, and I hope the supes won't support this hyped up boondoggle.

By: Nicholas Wilson

Nicholas Wilson — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 18:54:48 +0000

Mr. Hoover set up a straw man argument to accuse me of logical fallacy. I didn't say that because problem A isn't as bad as problem B that A doesn't require a solution.

My point is that logging interests crying over environmental damage caused by pot growers is extremely hypocritical in light of the far, far greater environmental damage caused by logging.

By: Bizworldusa Gcm

Bizworldusa Gcm — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:28:36 +0000

This is a good news to hear from you, Now we can save our environments.

Regards
http://www.bizworldusa.com/

By: Kevin Hoover

Kevin Hoover — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 16:50:16 +0000

"As for the supposed "environmental damage" caused by pot growers in the woods, it's nothing compared to the massive environmental damage caused by over three decades of clear cutting the steep coastal forests by logging corporations…"

This is a logical fallacy. Restating the above quote: Because Problem A isn't as bad as Problem B, Problem A is "nothing," and by inference, doesn't require a solution.

By: Nicholas Wilson

Nicholas Wilson — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 05:39:20 +0000

The Chesbro bill was passed based on a mythical version of the death of Jere Melo. Melo did NOT stumble into an illegal growing "operation. He went looking for specifically for a man named Aaron, who neighbors had complaiined of threatening them with a gun on their own property. Aaron Bassler was a mentally ill survivalist and gun fancier who had established a camp in the forest after losing his home in Fort Bragg. He had a few hundred poppy plants growing in his camp, but not as a commercial growing operation. A sheriff's officer told media that the poppies were most likely grown by Bassler for his own use. There is no commercial opium poppy growing in the U.S. Bassler was not growing marijuana. A few weeks before killing Melo, when Melo and an armed companion invaded Bassler's camp, Bassler had killed Matthew Coleman, a young property manager for the Mendocino Land Trust. No marijuana growing sites were found near that location either.

Melo and Coleman were both killed by an insane serial killer. Their deaths were not related to marijuana growing, and neither one was killed on national forest or other publicly owned forest land. But in both cases there was initial speculation that pot growers had killed the men, and that was the story that persisted in the media.

Mrs. Melo's grief at the loss of her husband is justified. In my opinion, though, she has been taken advantage of by others who used her in support of their own goal to hype the danger and "environmental damage" caused by illegal marijuana growing on public and private forest lands. The interested parties included Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, whose department will be granted new powers to stop and question people, and will be provided new funding to support anti-drug policing.

The Mendocino County District Attorney finally released a detailed report on the Bassler killings just last week. Among the details never before known to the public was that Bassler defecated on Matt Coleman's body after killing him. There was nothing about illegal pot growing in the report. It said Bassler had approximately 400 to 500 poppy plants growing in terraced gardens at his camp. Bassler had a known history of abusing prescription opiate painkillers. But now he was living alone as a hermit in the woods, and had no income. He grew opium poppies in his home garden for his own use.

The cause of Melo's and Coleman's deaths was untreated mental illness, probablly paranoid schizophrenia. Bassler had been arrested a few years ago for throwing packages into the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. His father and people who knew him said he thought Martians were invading, and that Communist China was helping them. His father begged county authorities to provide mental health help for Bassler, but nothing was done. Since the killings, Bassler's father has been an outspoken supporter of Laura's Law, which would provide a way to require dangerous mentally ill people to submit to treatment.

As for the supposed "environmental damage" caused by pot growers in the woods, it's nothing compared to the massive environmental damage caused by over three decades of clear cutting the steep coastal forests by logging corporations including the one Mr. Melo worked for most of his adult life, Georgia Pacific Corporation.

I urge Gov. Brown not to sign this flawed legislation, which was passed under false pretenses, supported by logging corporations and law enforcement agencies.