Look what the wind blew in...

[Catwoman]

Cat, recently they had a big drug bust over around Nowata, OK and they said each plant had a street vale of $1500, that would make this one worth $6,000,000. I am amazed that this one was undetected for so long. I would think it would take a long time to plant and get it up where it was detected. On the news here recently it said they were catching more Marijuana growers because they were having to go to the plants daily to keep them watered.
Frank

Aww, the poor things...All that work gone up in smoke (isn't that what they do?  Burn the fields?).  Now, ya slackers, go get a decent job where you can put in that amount of work and have it count for something!

[frawin]

Kenneth R. Ritter.

Source:  Elk Rural Directory,  Central Publishing, 2010

Kenneth's Uncle Arky owned that for many years. I thought one of Arky's kids owned it, didn't realize his Nephew had purchased it.

[larryJ]

Jeez, Jarhead, we're busted!

Larryj

[Mom70x7]

Wonder if it's at all connected to the bust a couple of weeks ago just east of Beaumont.

[jarhead]

Jeez, Jarhead, we're busted!

Larryj

Larryj
Holy crap Larry, leave me out of this one. I get into enough trouble on my own. I can't even go to the river to play with my yellow rubber Ducky without getting a ticket for "attempting to take fish by illegal method"

[frawin]

Frank, we aren't going to mention who else lives on Turkey Road.  I wonder who owns that property now.  Going to look it up pretty soon.

I agree Wilma, even thou there is a lot of brush and undergrowth on this land, it is right off of the highway that has a lot of traffic. Arky had some Farm land West of the House, that might be where they were farming the dope. Everytime I turned that corner over the last 40-50 years I was really disappointed to see how they had let the Cedars, Hedge and undergrowth take over that pasture.

[frawin]

Kenneth's Uncle Arky owned that for many years. I thought one of Arky's kids owned it, didn't realize his Nephew had purchased it.

I think I am mistaken on this, Arky had a son named Richard and I think that Kenneth R. could be Richard that owns it.

[patyrn]

If these "crops" have been under surveillance for some time, I would hope the officials could pinpoint some people who are involved............destroying the evidence is one thing, but hopefully they'll put a crunch on those who are tending the crops!!!!

[PrehistoricRez]

I guess the economic developer is doing her job, way to go!!!!, When do I get my share?

[Janet Harrington]

In the Independence Daily Reporter an article about Elk County Sheriff's Office destroying 4,000 marijuana plants made the front page. Good job, sheriff's office. This agency worked from 3:00 a.m. Wednesday until 4 p.m. eradicating these plants that were obviously cultivated and were being tended by someone.

What I find very nice is that we got some news covereage. Maybe, just maybe this will detour someone else from planting anything in our county.

Here's the article word-for-word for those of you who do not get the paper.

MARIJUANA PLANTS DESTROYED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT IN ELK CO. By Allen Smith, Staff Writer, published on Thursday, July 28, 2011, in the Independence Daily Reporter.

Nearly a dozen law enforcement agencies convered on a field about a quarter of a mile west of K-99 in Elk County and set fire to just under 4,000 marijuana plants that were growing there.

Elk County Sheriff Doug Hanks said late Wednesday afternoon his department had received a tip sometime last year abut the plants growing in the field on Turkey Road in Elk County and officers of several agencies have been keeping an eye of the field.

"We have not been lucky enough to catch anyone in the field, but the marijuana has been harvested recently," Hanks said.

In addition to the plants Hanks said some drying tables, some furniture and some "pretty crude shelter" was found at the scene today.

"We took it all out, he said. "We had a big fire burning and got rid of all that marijuana.

"The bad part is we weren't able to make any arrests and we don't know who the stuff belonged to," Hanks said.

He said the extrication of the plants began about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday and concluded around 4 p.m.

Hanks said he did not know how much the marijuana would have been worth on the street.

Besides the Elk County Sheriff's Department, other agencies involved in the bust on Wednesday included: the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, ICE, Kansas Wildlife and Parks, Greenwood, Cowley and Chautauqua County Sheriff's Departments, Neodesha Police Department, the Kansas National Guard and the Kansas Highway Patrol provided helicopters for the effort.

In addition, Hanks said he had Eagle Med out of Wichita at the scene, along with the Elk County Emergency Medical Service personnel, the Elk County Rural Fire Department and the Elk County Road and Bridge Department provided a truck and front end loader.

Hanks encouraged Elk County residents to be on the lookout for suspicious activity that could be drug related and call his department at (620) 374-2108.