Greenbud

Marijuana-searching helicopter crashes

By JAMES DIFFEE | BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD | June 25, 2004


An Alabama Department of Public Safety helicopter fell from the sky Tuesday morning during a routine search for patches of marijuana plants in north Jefferson County.
The aircraft, a Bell Jet Ranger, crashed from a low altitude onto Linn's Crossing Road north of Graysville. The cause of the crash had not been determined early today; it is being investigated by the department and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Both the pilot, Alabama State Trooper John Trimble, and passenger, Trooper Mike Manley were unharmed, according to Sgt. Tim Sartain, public information officer for the department. Both were treated at Carraway Methodist Medical Center and later released.

Sartain said the troopers likely were not injured because they were flying at such a low altitude.

The helicopter, one of four the department uses for its aerial searches, was on its side and missing its blades and front windshield. Sartain said the aircraft "most likely is down for good."

The pilot and the passenger were surveying the area as part of the department's Marijuana Eradication Program, a program created more than 20 years ago to search for large patches of marijuana plants growing in rural areas.

Sartain said officers trained in spotting the illegal plants take to the sky about four days a week during the eradication season — May through October — when the plants start showing.

He said most large patches are found in the northeast corner or southern regions of the state.

__________________
"I believe in the near future, the government will use anti-drug hysteria to set up a police state."
-author William S. Burroughs, 1947

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CheebaMonkey

Our tax dollars hard at work. Gotta get those insidious marijuana plants.

At least this anti-pot helicopter didn't start a fire and burn down over 50,000 acres, people's vehicles and houses, and cause millions of dollars in damage.

Kinda makes ya wonder what's the real threat here.

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Arise -SWS-

YAY!!! Who's got the champagne!? Anybody... anybody? I'm glad no one was hurt but I'm even happier for all the weed that this helicopter won't catch due to this accident.

xxdr_zombiexx

I am unsure if I have seen any stats about how many cops are killed by the Crucade against The Evil Weed, but it matters little.

All that is important is that weed is suppressed, no matter how many helicopters are destroyed, no matter how many cops are killed, no matter how many innocent lives are disrupted, and no matter how much it costs, suppressing that evil plant is simply more important.

Cops, and their families, are proud to die in this Heroic mission to Save Lives from this natural weapon of mass destruction.

Thank God these men lived to fly again.

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Torture Good, Healthcare Bad, Marijuana Evil.

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

StewScum

How many plants do this birds actually find. I can't believe we actually spend money having people look for plants from the sky.

__________________
Life is like a pot of stew, if you don't stir it up every once and a while, all the scum rises to the top -Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins.

smoking_joe_lee

southern rock
with apologies to a certan southern band

Sweet home Alabama,
where the pot grows so green.
With this chopper gone a,
a lot more pot will go unseen!

well, that's it. I hope no one was expecting "Free bird!"