The Press Democrat, 14 Jan 2013 – Mendocino County is gearing up for a court battle over a federal subpoena ordering local officials to surrender records from its now-defunct medical marijuana permitting program, including what county attorneys say is legally protected medical and financial information. Despite repeated queries, Mendocino County officials say they do not know who the target of the criminal grand jury might be — growers, users or public officials.

The Press Democrat, 28 Nov 2012 – Mendocino County officials are under federal orders to surrender records from their now-suspended medical marijuana permitting program, raising questions about the fate of those named in the permits as well as more than $800,000 in fees collected from pot growers. But Sheriff Tom Allman, whose department was tapped to run the program approved in March 2010, said the exercise may be worthwhile if it brings some clarity to a murky legal area in which state and federal law conflicts.

The Press Democrat, 28 Sep 2012 – Sonoma County sheriff’s officials, still sifting through reports and findings from a massive raid on home marijuana gardens in southwest Santa Rosa, said Thursday that authorities yanked a total 1,150 plants weighing more than 15,000 pounds in Wednesday’s daylong operation. Ninety-six pounds of processed marijuana, worth about $2,000 a pound on the street, also were confiscated, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Lt. Dennis O’Leary said.

The Press Democrat, 21 Jul 2012 – Enforcing a disputed 10-day old emergency ordinance, Lake County authorities arrested two Santa Rosa men Thursday and warned marijuana growers at three other properties they had 48 hours to dispose of excess pot plants. The day-long enforcement operation resulted in the seizure of 399 plants, most of them from a St. Helena Creek Road property near Middletown. Two Santa Rosa men encamped in a trailer had an elaborate grow of 303 plants they claimed were for Southern California medical marijuana co-ops and for themselves, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.