Posted on 08/14/2013 11:23:23 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
Several residents at the “Garden of Eden” sustainability garden in Arlington, Texas, claim that local police raided their farm because they thought tomato plants were marijuana plants.
The police reportedly damaged the garden's property and the crops during the Aug. 2 raid, which included a SWAT team (video below).
“They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation. They destroyed everything,” said garden owner Shellie Smith to WFAA-TV.
Apparently, an undercover officer and a helicopter surveillance crew believed there was probable cause that the wrong kind of plant was being grown in the garden and an armed raid was planned.
“They can’t even tell the difference between tomato plants and a marijuana drug cartel," said farm resident Quinn Eaker to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. "That’s just really bad intel.”
According to the Garden of Eden's website, the raid lasted for an estimated 10 hours.
However, the City of Arlington stated: “No cultivated marijuana plants were located on the premises. Narcotics detectives and members of the tactical unit cleared the scene within 45 minutes.”
According to reports, police officers removed legally cultivated plants such as blackberries and okra. Police also removed pallets, tires and cardboard that were used for sustainability projects.
Instead of the damage done to the farm, police spokesman Christopher Cook seemed more concerned about the reaction on Facebook against the police.
“That’s what concerns me about their social media allegations," Cook told the Dallas Morning News. "Yes, they were initially handcuffed, however once it was determined it was secure they were taken out of handcuffs. Typically we wouldn’t do that, but they were compliant."
Sources: Dallas Morning News, WFAA-TV, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, IntoTheGardenofEden.com
You sure like to keep things stirred up don”t you?
How’s that?
That makes more sense, but having a judge sign off on it and having effectively a SWAT team lead it sounds really dumb.
I understand where you're coming from, but in this case, I don't blame the judge. The police claimed that at least one member had recently been arrested with marijuana on their person, it is multi-acre commune / farm, and the police had taken surveillance photos which showed rows of tomatillo plants in between high shrubs and weeds which I guess could have been interpreted as being marijuana plants.
The term “sustainability,” as pointed out here on this thread previously is used by both farmers/plant growers, AND those who are seeking to Control Everything.
“Sustainability” IS a buzzword for the UN plan to crowd the population into conclaves of rabbit hutches, and destroy private property rights.
Part of the plans on the drawing board of Agenda 21 is for the power elite/UN to control ALL means of growing food. The police action described here is part of the customizing of the yokels to the actions of the police in their program(s) to control.
No one can see inside my garden due to high brick walls, however our Texas county sheriff has a drone. Sure hope they know the difference between new tomato plants and sweet potatoes plants and a Sesame flower plant and a criminal plant. I don’t have criminal plants. They probably have never seen a Sesame flower plant - nice green leaves.
Agreed. Those who wish to rob all potential small competition often use the word, sustainable, dishonestly. My consideration is that we, who are more in touch with the physical world around us, should use the word more often and more appropriately. Those who want to own the world and relegate the rest of us to the slavery of buying only from them should also be ridiculed frequently. They speak in terms that are overly vague in their pretenses of being experts in technologies, while they have few technical skills and little technical knowledge. Efficient agriculture, for example, requires knowledge and practice in quite a few technologies that seem to most people to be unrelated.
You can’t fix stupid....police!
Very good points! I’m just learning how to do a little gardening. Never had the time for it before.... wow! There is so much to learn just to produce a few tomatoes and beans and squash!
I agree with the need for the use of ridicule as often as can be applied to the appropriate targets who are worthy of derision.
Not only have I never had one, I've never even heard of them. I'm kinda partial to the ones we grow here on the Eastern Shore :-)
I'm with PTC on this one. I'm not a big tomato fan, but Hanover does grow some mighty fine tasting fruit. It may not be better than the Eastern Shore variety, but it will most certainly not be worse.
Ya know what was particularly twisted about this story?
The piles of fecal matter they found on property in different places ... it’s noted on the Code Enforcement inventory sheet available linked off this website:
Oh - and it was noted the smell and amount of flies present as well ...
And from the story: “Among those items were 24 tires which were pooling stagnant water, piles of rotting vegetables and meat, and mounds of debris.”
Did you know we are battling West Nile virus down here?
Cities are still spraying and people are still being infected, the transmission vector being mosquitoes!
The property owner ignored repeated, I say repeated, cites and violation warnings from the city of Arlington for the last TWO years, and the administrative hearing requested by Shellie Smith (the property owner) earlier this year was *not* attended by Shellie on purpose.
The topper? Look for yourself at the property from above using Google earth:
Then go to streetview ... place looks like, well, a dump.
There is; check above.
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