Pot Devil Garners More Souls

The unintended consequences that are a threat to everyone.

The Devil gets his due again. He got three this time and was trying for five. But don't tell the local folks it had anything to do with marijuana. No, they want to keep a pretty face on that harpy.

The first I knew about this incident in Kettenpom, a little community 30+ miles East of Garberville in Trinity County was when I read, "Trinity sheriff's Office denies sending couple to investigate 911 call" in the Saturday, March 19, 2011, issue of the Times-Standard. Apparently, as reported in another article in the Redwood Times, "Three people killed, two injured in Kettenpom incident" a 911 call came into the CHP and a Trinity County Sheriff's deputy was dispatched from Lewiston, over a hundred miles away. Why in such a situation an officer from the Garberville area wasn't dispatched is anyone's guess. I know it is a difference is counties, but is the same state. Two people involved in a "marijuana operation" were killed by a third apparently robbing them. This person later died in a car crash evading Mendocino County Sheriff's Deputies. Two other locals that went to check on the two killed were also stabbed.

This story is typical of a constant litany of such stories resulting from the illegal production, sale and use of marijuana. Whatever medicinal or other positive benefits pot brings to society is totally outweighed by the price everyone pays for 50 years of corruption.

Look at the laissez faire attitude expressed by a practicing attorney, Eric Kirk on his blog, Sohum Parlance II post, Kettenpom Murders:

Kym has done an excellent job of pulling together what information is to be had.  I’ve been content to leave the coverage in her excellent hands.  I don’t know any of the people involved, but it’s all very sad.
And please spare us the posts about how marijuana growers are bring this onto themselves. It’s really not productive. [Emphasis added]

I encourage everyone to read the comments, specially that of “Not A Native,” and the two lawyers, Ed Denson and especially Eric Kirk. These lawyers apathetic justification of the “marijuana” motivated corruption and what that corruption's cost in lives are, speaks for itself – Family sensibilities take precedence here. Besides its just the cost of doing business.

Kirk directs everyone to another marijuana apologist, Kym Kemp's Readheaded Blackbelt blog. In all I counted 8 (eight) postings by her on this story. Be sure to read the comments, paying attention to how unbiased she is on this subject, and what she believes is most important about this matter.

1. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/14/double-homicide-in-kettenpom-two-neighbors-injured-suspect-killed/ 

2. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/16/why-call-my-dad-asks-victims-daughter-in-the-kettenpom-murder-case/ 

3. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/17/one-of-the-victims-identified-in-the-kettenpom-double-murdersphotos-and-accounts-organized/ 

4. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/17/we-love-sky-please-put-him-up-for-people-to-remember-victim-of-double-murder-in-kettenpom-memorial/ 

5. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/17/kettenpom-murders-linked-to-marijuana/ 

6. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/18/press-release-from-trinity-sheriffs-dept-adds-important-information/ 

7. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/18/kristines-page-photos-and-words-to-remember-her-by/ 

8. Link: http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/19/the-kettenpom-double-homicide-how-to-follow-the-unfolding-story/

A simple lesson I learned driving loaded big rigs is that every time you start up from a dead stop at a stop sign or light there is a lot more work than if you can keep rolling. I also learned that if you intended to go through a light on a yellow or do a “California Rolling Stop” there was NO WAY I could get stopped if there was an emergency need to do so. Intending to stop, made the stopping maneuver easy and safe. Today, I'd say, upwards of 50 percent of the drivers I observe intend to blow every stop sign they can – never intending to stop. They have totally become inured to the purpose of the stop sign or light, and the deadly hazard they've become. Since “everyone does it” the police and emergency responders excuse away the death and mayhem caused as, just another “accident” that couldn't be avoided.

What I see in these anecdotal blog conversations are self-serving, calloused excuses made to justify the direct consequences of the insidious works of corruption. Do I think that all those people that decided the only way they could survive and raise their families was to grow and sell marijuana that either killed someone or died defending their gardens deliberately set out to totally corrupt the very communities they live in, do business and raise their families? Probably not. When that way became accepted and transformed the majority into a “lawbreaking habit,” who thought that corrupting way would legalize ignoring stop signs and lights?

--Joe

Boohoo!

[UPDATE Below]

This is what greeted me this morning: Legalize-marijuana measure loses in California

Supporters of Proposition 19 are out in force trying to explain why the measure FAILED.

Here's an excerpt from the AP report:

“Prop 19 supporters blamed the outcome on the older, more conservative leanings of voters who participate in midterm elections and pledged to try again in two years.” [Emphasis added]

There may be some truth to that analysis, but I think, when you consider the worry everyone feared, as projected in this article posted on MSNBC: Reefer sadness for pot farmers – there's an even more pragmatic reason.

Here's a list of some of the local blog articles and follow-up comments:

1. Here's what Eric Kirk and some of his followers say here: Why did legal pot lose last night?
2. Kym Kemp: The Emerald Triangle’s Response To Prop. 19–Flowers Among The Weed?
3. NC Journal: Conservative Sweep?
4. A fair sampling of local comments at Humboldt Herald.

There's probably a more on this subject, but I got tired looking. This article poped up on Twitter thanks to NCJ's Ryan Burns: Minds Don't Change That Much, But Voters Do -  A good article about why people vote the way they do. In the end, really just an exercise in futility.

So, why did California voters shoot down Prop. 19 when all the polls showed it would pass? Money. It's as simple as that. When you can NET $150,000 to $200,000 plus a year AFTER you pay for all the hard lifting, there is a vested interest in all businesses that profit off this large amount of tax-free money coming into these communities. Even the small 10 to 15 plants a year anyone can grow nets a tidy sum. Regulating and taxing these growers would expose their lucrative operations. No one really wanted see that happen either.

Apparently with all the local buzz on the possible adverse benefits of legal pot growing some people are put out at the Humboldt Grower's prices. Here's what Kym Kemp thinks the growers need to do: Attitudes Towards Humboldt Growers - Join forces as one big corporation, then lobby and advertise.

My idea use some of all that tax-free money to buy representatives that will serve your interests first. The way the laws are today, no one would know where the money originated. That way everyone associated with this criminal so-called industry could be legitimate mainstream crooks and become active members of the ruling elite.

[UPDATE :: Friday, November 5, 2010]
Kym Kemp's latest take pot matters consequences as she sees them: Smokers Calling For A Boycott Of Emerald Triangle Growers? Problem is, she lives in a fantasy world. Think she'd get a clue if she understood why voters across the U.S. voted in a majority of conservative, Tea Party Republican types? Think she'd admit this was part of the backlash I talked about?

--Joe