Mission homeowner fined $5,200 for growing cucumbers

Mission homeowner fined $5,200 for growing cucumbers

www.theprovince.com

Gratto — a 67-year-old who has lived for 30 years with his wife in their Mission home — says he’s raring to join an imminent class-action lawsuit attacking the municipality’s grow-op bylaw inspections.

A number of citizens, led by Mission man Stacy Gowanlock, will allege their homes were illegally searched for pot grow-ops and they were slapped with fees and repair orders costing upward of $10,000 — all on questionable evidence.



Read more: www.theprovince.com...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Unbelievable...

Just when I think I've heard it all.

So in this particular area, folks are being subjected to searches and raids for growing vegetables, by the "garden gestapo goons" searching for 'potential' marijuana grow ops. All it takes for a you to be a suspect and raided is an elevated kilowatt usage within your home.

Never mind if they are found entirely INNOCENT of such activities, they are STILL levied fines after the fact for whatever 'code violations' may be within their homes, and some even have their houses hit with a "condemned" notice based on their compliance to fix things or not.

Not to mention them being CHARGED with a $5,200 fine to cover the cost of investigation of their home! So, folks basically get RAIDED, have their privacy invaded, and then are charged for the cost of the 'inspection'!

All for growing VEGETABLES?

What an absolute SCAM. Quite a nifty little legalized extortion racket they have going on the local citizens. What on earth is this planet coming to...

www.theprovince.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


That seems ridiculous, i would be very interested in the justification for the law saying you can't grow crops indoors and the idea they are using warrants based on drugs growers to raid people is simply stupid. I suppose the lights for growing produce heat so a house growing strawberrys will look exactly the same as a house growing pot.

Yet another reason to end the war on drugs.

I'm going to be honest. Mission and Maple Ridge both have a lot of large homes stretched out all through a thick forest. There's a lot of large scale grow ops going on there.

However, I agree with what is said. The RCMP have no problem screwing up on questionable evidence, as long as the victims get to pay (because then it appears that the RCMP were in the right regardless). Plus it's not like RCMP budgets can pay for all of the screw-ups that they make anyways... thinking about it, this is probably a good way for them to make money (not good for us Canadian citizens obviously).

Next thing will be cops killing your grandfather while serving a warrant to the wrong address and demanding you pay for the bullets they used.

If we make a mistake we end up in prison. When they make a mistake we have to pay the bill.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

It's odd that I just found this thread. About 30 minutes ago, I cleaned out the refrigerator and have some tomato and cucumber seeds I just put out on paper towels to dry to start plants for my garden this summer.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


good find ,and they said the bill wouldnt affect citizens that grow food.so they start with a indirect tactic and the law on there side. so tech. they have another shield to abuse.law is not justice, at least not anymore.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Next thing will be cops killing your grandfather while serving a warrant to the wrong address and demanding you pay for the bullets they used.

If we make a mistake we end up in prison. When they make a mistake we have to pay the bill.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

I agree! "Serve and protect" my ass. They only serve and protect the paranoid elite in the Canadian government.

Lately there's been little good coming out of the RCMP. All I see on the news is independent videos of male RCMP officers kicking a brain-injured man in the head and the regular RCMP media stories involving "friendly" female RCMP officers helping local communities. What a farce.

Oh, and don't forget that in almost every single case of RCMP brutality, the officers are suspended WITH PAY and when the media hype dies down, they usually come back to the force and charges are dropped (even in cases of off-duty RCMP members killing people in drunk driving incidents).

Originally posted by DimensionalDetective
Unbelievable...

Just when I think I've heard it all.

So in this particular area, folks are being subjected to searches and raids for growing vegetables, by the "garden gestapo goons" searching for 'potential' marijuana grow ops. All it takes for a you to be a suspect and raided is an elevated kilowatt usage within your home.

Never mind if they are found entirely INNOCENT of such activities, they are STILL levied fines after the fact for whatever 'code violations' may be within their homes, and some even have their houses hit with a "condemned" notice based on their compliance to fix things or not.

Not to mention them being CHARGED with a $5,200 fine to cover the cost of investigation of their home! So, folks basically get RAIDED, have their privacy invaded, and then are charged for the cost of the 'inspection'!

All for growing VEGETABLES?

What an absolute SCAM. What on earth is this planet coming to...

www.theprovince.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 11-1-2011 by DimensionalDetective because: (no reason given)

S&F.

I am going to have to stop reading your posts; this might be in British Columbia, Canada, but it makes my blood boil down here in the US. Not good for my blood pressure.

What a crock of total sh*t. My Canadian friends how are you putting up with this BS?

Anyone on my property, not to mention in my home, better damned well have a search warrant. Otherwise, under Florida's Castle doctrine somebody is going to get hurt real fast.

I'll take flack for this, but the police did thier job.

Should the homeowner have to pay for the mistaken raid?

NO.

This sets a dangerous precedent for fee generating whenever the police need new toys or there is a budget shortfall.

However, it has long been police practice to use high power usage as an indicator of a grow-op...which is what they found, just not the type they were looking for.

Appologize for the mistake, and move on. To fine these people is nothing more then the police needing something to justify thier actions.

Years ago I can remember our car almost being hit by a motorcycle cop who wasn't paying enough attention coming over a blind hill and ended up putting his bike down as a result (he was ok, just humiliated)

He went over our car with a fine toothed comb trying to find something, ANYTHING to write a ticket over. After 45 min of this (checking tires, tire pressure, lights you name it) my father asked him to check the oil and washer fluid too since he was conducting such a thurough safety inspection.

Something was mumbled, but the officer gave up.

Wow this is really, really bad!

I think they don't care about the drugs,

they just want a total grow control over all eatable and medical plants. Its a long time stratagy. It is alsno not the first time you hear problems with FOOD growing by citizens.

But the fact they raid with minimal suspician, also benefit from the result AND let you pay even without proof of any kind.

This is even worse then Gestapo, im afraid this will come in europe also soon.

This should be fought ! ( I mean not violance! ) But this should be spread by the people , to frends, family, mail them! Tell them. Don't wait for MSM !

In the US they monitor for high electricity use and they also do fly overs with infra red for abnormally high heat signatures too. However if they find one they still have to conduct surveillance and gather enough evidence that it is a marijuana operation before they can get a search warrant.

At least that is how it has been if anyone knows different that it has changed chime in.

reply to post by [davinci]


How can you say the police did their job? Do you think everyone who has crops should have the police check out what they are growing to make sure they aren't breaking any laws? Maybe they should just do random checks on all houses to make sure everyone is a law abiding citizen.

I know of several cases where the police here in Florida have raided houses because of bad intel. The police were 100% wrong and most that I know of at the very least were able to get a lawyer and fight back, some of those cases the local news stations were alerted and really made the police look bad. One of those cases years ago an elderly lady was growing tomatoes in her windows, a noisey passer by mistaken those tomato plants for cannabis alerted the authorities and here house was raided. The media was alerted and I'm pretty sure she got a nice settlement. This is one of the great things about the US, we may have some bad policies but a lot of the time we can fight back when the authorities do something stupid or just plain wrong.

I hope this person finds a good lawyer and those responsible have to pay up.

Without cucumbers,we wont have pickles.Without pickles,sandwiches wont be any good.Without sandwiches,our foodsource will be greatly diminished.The population will be devasted.This is the end of our world as we know it.

Originally posted by bumpufirst
reply to post by DimensionalDetective

 

good find ,and they said the bill wouldnt affect citizens that grow food.so they start with a indirect tactic and the law on there side. so tech. they have another shield to abuse.law is not justice, at least not anymore.

What bill? This is Canada we're talking about here, and BC specifically. BC has a $5 billion dollar marijuana industry, so busting grow ops is one of the primary RCMP operations here. Even in small houses along hick highways, there's been million dollar busts. Grow ops are everywhere here.

Though that still doesn't justify RCMP home invasions based on lack of evidence.

And there you have it folks ... another fine example of government serving you , and protecting you from the criminal element .

What a bunch of bovine defecation .

This pissed me off to the point that I just now went through my house and tore the tags off of all my mattresses .

reply to post by jrod

...the 67 year old says he and his wife were growing cucumbers in the basement...

The police didn't raid a backyard garden friend, based on suspicious power usage, that fit an established grow op pattern they raided his home.

What did they find?

A grow-op.

I am in no way a police appologist, but the raid was valid.

Look at the facts here...BC produces massive amounts of pot, large quantities of it from indoor grow-ops. This person had power usage that indicated a grow-op becasue he was actually growing something.

This person should have expected this, sorry but that's fact.

That they found cuccumbers makes this a mistake that should be appologized for. However, as I posted, the police have always used suspicious power usage as an indicator.

ALWAYS.

The fine is out of line, the police should appologize to the home owner and move on.

If there were damages to the property they should have to pay for them.

When I was working for a courier company I had to explain to an older man that the 3 cans of Tim's coffee he had tried to send to his daughter in the US were refused entry because coffee is used to confuse the drug dogs. He wasn't trying to smuggle anything into the US at all, but his actions fit a well known pattern of crimminal activity.

If you are going to do something that that exactly mirrors illegal activity then you have to expect to be called on it.

According to the old adage...if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

The really ridiculous thing about this, is that we are allowed to grow our own vegies in Canada. It's not illegal.

Inspectors don’t have to find grow-ops, but if they find supposed residual evidence, such as high mould readings, they levy search fees and order repairs. If homeowners don’t comply, homes are tagged under the bylaw and effectively condemned as unsafe, and unsellable. Read more: www.theprovince.com...

To use the mould as an excuse to levy these huge fines on people doing something that IS NOT yet against the law in Canada is also ridiculous. Look how many people live in areas with a high water table, and are repeatedly flooded. There will be mould. Half of the rural homes in the prairies have mould from water tables, I've seen basements that when you open the door, you have 4 feet of water down there, at least. People are living in these homes. You just keep the door shut, and go down when the dry season hits.

I have 3 pumps in my basement to pump out water, they sit in holes in the cement floor, and run almost continuously in the spring.

If people are not allowed to have mould in their homes, they better not let any more houses be built in areas that could possibly ever flood, meaning in a rain soaked province like BC, only mountain building away from any lakes or rivers should be allowed.

Wow, the stupidity of the people in charge of laws has no end.

They came first for the Cucumbers, and I didn't speak up because. . .

This is certainly rediculous that they have to pay for the raid. They probably don't even need probable cause or anything, Just go around with the heat cameras and see if they spot anything like here:

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by [davinci]


1. They could ring the bell and ask before storming in.
2. Everybody with a window and/or 10cm of soil could be a possible grower, lets invade them all!

I do agree that sometimes a raid could be justified. But the reasons to do so are devaluating very quickly!

Besides, its stupid and scary to forbid any kind of plant anyway.

Next up: Taught Police.