It’s ‘prime growing season’

By Amelia A. Pridemore
Register-Herald Reporter

June 25, 2008 07:32 am

— State troopers and sheriff’s deputies have seized nearly $100,000 in marijuana in Wyoming County, and the troopers say southern West Virginia is in the middle of “prime growing season” for cannabis.
Marijuana cultivation charges are pending against a Glen Fork man, said 1st Sgt. D.L. Bowles of the West Virginia State Police’s Beckley detachment. However, the man has not yet been arrested.
Cpl. M.S. Godfrey received a citizen tip, and both he and Deputy Tommy Blankenship of the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department went to a Glen Fork residence Saturday, Bowles said. Outside the residence, they found 47 potted marijuana plants. The plants were described as medium-sized, with some up to 30 inches tall.
Marijuana plants’ street value is $2,000 each, because it is based on the plants’ values once they have fully matured, Bowles explained. The plants found outside the residence would be worth $94,000.
The plants were confiscated, Bowles said.
Bowles said the region is in the middle of “prime growing season” for marijuana. This will usually last through September. Last Tuesday, troopers found a combined $806,000 in marijuana from two fields in Raleigh County.
State Police are stepping up their marijuana eradication efforts, Bowles said, by conducting helicopter searches and devoting additional manpower.
— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com