Free Republic

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — For more than 40 years, grapefruit grew juicy and ripe on this 1,200-acre grove inland from the Atlantic. Now there is little left but the jagged branches of torn-up trees, and spicy smoke fills the hot midday air as one by one, they are burned to powdery ash. Last year's hurricanes dropped a bacteriological bomb on Florida's already sorely challenged citrus industry, widely dispersing a virulently contagious germ that causes citrus canker — a disease harmless to humans and animals but ruinous to oranges and grapefruit. Florida officials say the possibility that hurricanes could further scatter...

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Bill Lockyer has denied a Reedley grower's request for permission to sue a state board member who earned money on the side as a consultant. Lockyer determined Thursday that Daniel Zingale, a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, should not be removed from the board for earning $50,000 last year campaigning against a November ballot initiative. State labor code Section 1150 states ALRB members are not to engage in any other business, vocation or employment outside of their work on the board. Farmer Dan Gerawan - whose family business has had cases before the ALRB...

Jurors decided a wetlands designation imposed by Santa Barbara County violated the rights of an Orcutt vegetable grower so the county must pay about $5.5 million to the farmer. The Superior Court verdict on Monday represents the largest-ever land-use judgment against Santa Barbara County. After a nearly three-week civil trial before a visiting judge, the jury unanimously agreed that county planners preparing the Orcutt Community Plan recklessly violated the rights of Adams Brothers Farming Inc. when 95 acres along Highway 1 were designated as protected wetlands. The jury assessed actual damages of $5.47 million collectively against the county Planning and...

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31 — A federal jury today found the author of marijuana books and advice columns, Ed Rosenthal, guilty of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy. Under mandatory sentencing laws, Mr. Rosenthal faces a minimum of five years in prison. Mr. Rosenthal, 58, who admitted to growing the plants for distribution under California's medicinal marijuana law, known as Proposition 215, called the verdict a "terrible decision" and vowed to fight it. His lawyers said they would prepare motions for a new trial immediately. "What the federal government is trying to do is destroy Prop 215 and eliminate medical marijuana from...

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 20 — As a marijuana celebrity, Ed Rosenthal has been on a career roll. The author of a dozen cannabis self-help books and a magazine advice column, "Ask Ed," Mr. Rosenthal is the pothead's answer to Ann Landers, Judge Judy, Martha Stewart and the Burpee Garden Wizard all in one. Can't get rid of the powdery mildew on your cannabis seedling? Try a 20 percent skim-milk solution. The feds got you in court on charges of cultivation? Challenge their crop yield estimates. Want a high without the harmful tar? Use a pipe that vaporizes it. Mr. Rosenthal's...