The citizens of the Emerald Triangle, hippies and rednecks alike, have little patience for others intruding on their privacy, their freedom, or their liberty—especially law enforcement. And that’s why COG, the Citizen’s Organization Group was created.

What Was COG?

COG the perfect acronym for what the committee became, too…a cog in the community. A cog in the war. The group was based in Redway (Southern Humboldt), a child of the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project (CLMP), a deeply-rooted civil justice group of (mostly) lawyers and (some) activists in Humboldt County. COG was a volunteer organization designed with the intent to win in court against big fish—the DEA, CDFA (California Dept. of Food and Ag), BLM, USDA, etc.

COG met weekly, on Wednesdays, and members took the position very seriously. After all, they were on the front lines. The outline they used for their process would eventually be written down in the COG Handbook for members (and local residents) to review, study, and perhaps even repurpose for another cause, if needed.

According to the official COG Handbook:

“Concerns citizens from Humboldt County formed the Citizens Observation Group in 1984 in response to numerous complaints of civil rights violations by the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP). COG organized a system of neighborhood watch teams to monitor the activities of CAMP.

“COG helped to document warrantless searches, seizures and destruction of property unrelated to law enforcement operations, excessive displays of force and violence, intimidation and detention by uninvolved bystanders, illegal helicopter surveillance of homes, and harassment of people, their children, and their livestock by CAMP personnel.

“When the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project (CLMP) and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) brought these incidents to the attention of Judge Robert Aguilar at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the court agreed that CAMP had violated the law. Judge Aguilar ordered an injunction ordering CAMP to stop violating civil liberties of any California citizen during its operation.”

COG’s Main Objectives

1. Monitor and spotlight CAMP’s daily activities to discourage any further unlawful behavior by law enforcement personnel.

2. Forward accurate evidence and declarations of possible violations of the court’s injunction to the U.S. District Court.

The Weekly Meetings

COG meetings were 4:00 on Wednesdays (although the off-season required less frequent meetings) and were usually held outside, weather permitting. Each team (like a committee) was required to send a representative to provide an update to the COG.

Meetings served a crucial networking opportunity for members and local residents to consolidate efforts and streamline information. Strategies, tactics, recon, news, rumors, ideas, processes and plans would all be discussed on Wednesdays.

COG meetings were formatted with a consensus foundation. Any member attending the meeting got a voice (and a vote) on issues discussed and decided. Consensus was a BIG DEAL to this organization. There are several pages of the small COG Handbook dedicated to teaching about the consensus standard. Meetings were also open to the public.

COG’s Methods of Monitoring:

1. Observing (using teams, binoculars, neighbors…)

2. Recording (photos, videos, witness reports, activity logs…)

3. Reporting (to one another and the U.S. District Court about any violations)

Members all pledged themselves to a non-violent approach. They also all agreed not to interfere with law enforcement or CDFA in any way. All COG teams were easily identifiable and cooperated with CAMP and CDFA’s legitimate needs.

I was able to obtain this information directly from the COG Handbook, thanks to the Humboldt Area People’s Archives (HAPA) and the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project (CLMP).

According to the HAPA:

“CLMP advised homesteaders on how to behave during a raid and began training teams of observers in nonviolence and consensus. These teams became the Citizens Observation Groups (COG), dispatched by telephone trees, CB and KERG radio, to follow police to witness and record officers’ conduct during raids.”

Tools, Equipment, and Prep

Recording and Observation Equipment

• Pen and Paper

• Still camera (35mm)

• Audio recording device

• Video camera

• High powered binoculars

• Legal forms for declarations from witnesses

The section below is taken directly from the original COG Handbook, which is why it’s a little blurry. It shows how thoroughly this group prepared for “battle”. Nonviolent battle, of course.

COG Logistics

By 1985, the COGgers had enough volunteers to cover a wide area of CAMP raids, so they divided into two groups, the “Day Team” and the “Home Team”.

The Day Teams consisted of 6 or 7 members (no less than 3) who all met on the same day at the same time every 2 weeks to follow and monitor CAMP raids, wherever they may be.

A Monday Day Team would meet every other Monday morning at an agreed upon location and go where the raids were occurring. The minimum of 3 to a team was a safety measure during the war, and also provided more robust documentation of anything that took place during the raid.

The Home Teams were made up of at least 2 people who live in a particular area. Due to the rural nature of the Emerald Triangle, Home Teams were able to collect and distribute information about what was happening “in their backyard” faster through communication channels like CB and transistor radio stations.

Home Teams met whenever there was going to be action in their area (or whenever they felt it necessary to meet), and then proceeded into the field together.

Communal-cation:

I found it fascinating that a local answering service company volunteered to receive and relay messages for COG during the tumultuous era of the War on Drugs in the mid-1980s. It just goes to show you the community resources being utilized in this war, from personal property being used as equipment to observe (like binoculars), to local businesses offering services for free.

Side Note: For those younger than GenX, before there were cell phones, or even voice mail, there were professional answering services who would answer business calls after hours. A human would take a message to relay to the business owner (or physican, or whomever) in a timely manner. The protocol was for the person wanting their messages to call in to the answering service and receive them verbally from an operator there.

Ways of Communication

• Landlines

• In-person (neighbor to neighbor, at meetings, hollering from the tree top, etc.)

• CB radios (used a secret code to prevent the enemy from deciphering)

• KERG radio

The following excerpt is from the COG Handbook, about how communication was relayed throughout the organization. CDFA is the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture, who also participated in cannabis raids with CAMP.

A Different Type of Logging in Humboldt:

Accurate documentation was the ultimate purpose of the mission. The crimes were already being committed by CAMP and their posse, so observing and documenting was the only way to collect the information necessary to win in court.

Documentation and Declarations

Having evidence that would win in court was paramount to a successful mission. Proper documentation and declarations were part of the training, part of the forms offered, and a fundamental part of the entire COG program.

COG and Cannabis

“COG Teams are not interested in marijuana”, states the handbook, “Civil rights is our issue. We do not look for marijuana, we do not photograph marijuana, we do not make remarks about marijuana. We observe, record, and report civil rights violations.”

And for good reason. Any photos or documentation in a criminal case are potential evidence and can be seized by law enforcement. “Finding out about pot is CAMP’s job. Finding out about civil rights violations is our job.”

COGnitive Risk

Page 22 of the handbook is dedicated to educating members about the risk of participation. I didn’t have space to include a copy here, but it advises of one’s rights and cautions of possible arrest should a COG member (or a gung-ho CAMP officer) go off the rails of legal conduct.

COG Coffers

COG relied on fundraising to purchase the equipment necessary to complete their mission as they went. Various events would be held to promote a sense of community while raising money.

The thumbnail used for this article was an image I wanted to include but ran out of bandwidth for it here. It’s an archived flyer with local artwork advertising a COG fundraising dance. I’ll post it separately as a Substack post so you have the chance to check it out in its entirety. Nothing beats counterculture art!

It’s impressive how ultra-organized the COGgers were, even down to their official handbook, which also includes fundamentals on a consensus process, a meeting procedure outline, and several pages of conflict resolution techniques. I mean, it is thorough!

It’s thorough because it wasn’t just about having a voice, or even using it. It was about the strategy behind making that voice heard by someone able (and willing) to facilitate change, like Judge Aguilar in the U.S. District Court, San Francisco.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: This week, I’m highly recommending to all local Emerald Triangle, Wild West, or War on Drugs history buffs, the Humboldt Area People’s Archives. I mentioned it earlier as a resource for today’s edition, but it’s also just a library of super interesting archived stuff about our region…the counterculture movement, the War on Drugs, artists, and the people who made Humboldt what it is today. Check it out here and consider donating, if you’re so inclined!

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries from the 1940s that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE EVERY OTHER TUESDAY! NEXT IS 10/1/26

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). I appreciate you reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Space is limited on Substack articles, so my apologies there isn’t room for the Glossary since so many photos are included this week!

When it comes to cannabis, in the mid-1970s, the Legacy Farmers of the Emerald Triangle discovered (with help from Hawaiian farmers, so shout out to Hawai’i!) that by separating the males from females early, the females would go on to create huge kola sinsemilla buds, the likes of which no one in the Continental United States had ever seen. Before the Legacy Farmers in EmTri, all weed had seeds. Sinsemilla (buds without seeds) comes only from the female plant. The power of the female, so often suppressed or overlooked, flourishes in cannabis. It commands the entire industry.

I was honored to speak/panel at the 2026 Women in Cannabis Expo this week in Reno, Nevada, hosted by Brooke Westlake. WICE awarded me a plaque for HIGH IMPACT, which was a warm, unexpected surprise of recognition.

Men are welcome at the event and there were many there, listening and learning from women entrepreneurs, weeducators, and professionals. I met women from all across America…Ohio, Pennsylvania, Atlanta, Oklahoma, San Diego, Las Vegas…mostly visionaries, all of us students of one another.

The opportunity to be surrounded by other professional women in the cannabis industry was like ice cream on a hot day that melts way too fast. But, boy, was it delicious! And it got me thinking that this week would be a great time to honor the women I’ve learned about in the Emerald Triangle. The visionaries. The warriors who fought through (and may still be fighting) red tape, local politics, stigma, and God knows what else, to achieve their dream.

I’ve had the pleasure of either meeting, befriending, writing about, or seshing with some of the women listed here, but I yearn to meet them all, to rub elbows with their high entrepreneur energy. By no means is this a complete list. Not even close! Nah, I need your help for that.

As an interactive project, let’s build a mighty list! This is just the beginning. The beginning of legalization, the beginning of socio-political change. And it’s just the beginning of the legacy of females in cannabis. So, if you know someone, I encourage each of you to mention in comments an Emerald Triangle woman in cannabis to begin to honor their legacy.

In the bigger picture, let this be the seed of the official Emerald Triangle Cannabis Legacy Awards. We’ll start here, and build this list with male legacy influencers in order to honor those local leaders with an industry awards ceremony and party in 2027.

The following are listed by category, name, county (Trinity, Humboldt, Mendocino), then alpha within each county.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Strawhouse Resort & Cafe in Big Flat, California. Like a clueless city-dweller in the mountains, Google pretends this lovely establishment is in Junction City, which is like 30 minutes West (and 2 towns over) from the town of Big Flat and Strawhouse’s actual location. What do they know? “Okay, Google, drive to Strawhouse Resort in Big Flat, California.”

Strawhouse Resort & Cafe is a great stop on your drive between Humboldt and Trinity. Although it’s not a cannabis-friendly business, it’s got a cafe, coffee shop, pizza oven, gorgeous deck/patio seating right on the river, wedding accommodations, cabins, and quaint little gift shop.

I’ve always been greeted with a smile there and cannot manage to leave their gift shop without buying something. Located at 31301 State Hwy 299 (in Big Flat but maps will say Junction City). Open M-Th 8a-4p, Fri-Sat 8a-7p, Sun 8a-6p.

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

APOLOGIES FOR THE DELAY, NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). I appreciate you reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

I remember the white paperback on my dad’s side table, or desk, or bookshelf at various points in my life. Ed was the first to publish a DIY book on homegrown weed that “went viral”, especially with Back-to-Landers (aka Legacy Farmers). I also remember reading his “Ask Ed” column in High Times magazine in my teen years.

Seshing With The Guru of Ganja

When we met in September of last year, a gorgeous day on his back patio in Oakland, I could feel there was an underlying education Rosenthal was presenting. Although I did my best to soak it in, seshing with Ed Rosenthal had me low key star struck, so it wasn’t until I listened to our recorded conversation later that I fully picked up exactly what he laid down.

A man always ahead of his time and ahead of the game, he has a way of making anything look easy. Ed is generous toward a worthy cannabis cause, so we smoked and chatted for hours before touring his garden, then smoked and chatted some more.

Sgt. Chuck Sanborn had seized a copy of Ed’s book during a cannabis raid in Trinity County, California in the mid-’70s. Sanborn then used it like a textbook to educate himself about the cannabis plant. Sgt. Sanborn inscribed and gifted it to me several years ago. I brought it to show Ed and he signed it, too. Then, when Ed asked me to roll a joint, the book was the nearest tray, so I used it without thinking.

Looking down at the once confiscated Grower’s Guide (now covered in Ed’s weed), then over at Ed himself—a warm, welcoming soul, I was overwhelmed by the moment thinking about the life of that book. From publisher to book shelf, to Legacy Farmer, to SO truck, to evidence storage, to Sgt. Sanborn, to NorCalWeedGal, to Ed’s house, and now used as a rolling tray. It was surreal!

My biggest takeaway about Ed Rosenthal is that while being a futurist, he is also extremely savvy (arguably genius) in creating immediate practical solutions.

Rosenthal’s Resumé

Ed’s following is loyal and large for one reason—trust. This 82-year-old has lived a lifetime (some would say several) of growing, traveling, advocating, documenting, explaining, promoting, fighting, and winning…all while smoking.

I’ll cover some professional milestones in this brief summary, and if you’d like to know him better, subscribe to be on his email list. In addition to his reliable “ed”ucational tidbits, you can expect his consistent candid nature (Ed is Ed). And Here’s a link to his Wiki page if you wanna’ go down the bio rabbit hole (who could blame ya’?).

When I asked Ed what prompted him to publish Marijuana Grower’s Guide, I was expecting some passionate explanation about nurturing his dreams to fruition at a young age (his late 20’s). Instead he smiled, and revealing his practical problem solving side, answered in total candor that he was “interested in the royalties”. I chuckled out loud at this glimpse into his authenticity.

Ed grew up in the Bronx and discovered his green thumb in the acres of a nearby botanical garden, taking advantage of youth programs offered there. He knew from a young age he wanted to work with plants. A framed certificate from the New York Botanical Gardens is still fondly displayed in his home office. As a kid, Rosenthal experimented with growing African Violets under florescent lights.

Over years he tested, adapted, cloned, studied, dissected, and perfected home growing, including cannabis. That’s when he started thinking practically, about residual income. Both going by pseudonyms, he and his friend Mel Frank published Marijuana Grower’s Guide in 1973. A revised edition would later catapult the book into a bestselling phenomenon, especially in Northern California.

Trivia side note: Ed’s real name is John Smith! Co-author, Mel Frank, has revealed his real name since the book’s publication: Jim Goodwin. Ed figured no one would believe his real name was John Smith, so he changed it to the more eloquent Ed Rosenthal. Rosenthal in German means “valley of roses”. Jim’s reasoning was more about anonymity. Ed reminded me that, “nobody writing about cannabis was using their real name at the time”. Jim chose the name Mel Frank after his 2 cats, Mel and Frank. Frank was the female.

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Eventually, Rosenthal would write his own column in High Times, the cannabis education and appreciation magazine. High Times was revolutionary and Ed happened to be employed during a pivotal era. Among America’s counterculture, it became a milestone to “Ask Ed” a question about cannabis in High Times.

My glimpse was brief, but it seems that Rosenthal’s professional and personal life are closely intertwined. From his organized, friendly wife/assistant, Jane (with a successful background in publishing), to his longtime business associations with friends, to his personal passion for decriminalization and adoration of what this plant offers. It all blends together seamlessly.

Ed’s Influence In The War On Drugs

If you’ve read my previous articles, you may recall Sergeant Sanborn of Trinity County Sheriff’s Department saying that law enforcement consistently found 2 items at busts—an Ohaus scale and the Marijuana Grower’s Guide.

Early on, sensing he would need some type of education on the topic, Sanborn held on to an edition he’d confiscated and used it as a textbook. He studied it meticulously, eventually gaining enough knowledge to be seen as an “expert witness” in marijuana cultivation by the court, as well as by his peers (granted, the ignorance was high, therefore the bar, low). The Sergeant seemed as surprised as I was as he explained,

“Part of my qualifications as an expert witness in marijuana cultivation was that I had studied Rosenthal. It was a standard and accepted by the court!”

A cop who has never grown, never smoked weed, no knowledge of botany otherwise, yet an acceptable expert in cultivation in the eyes of the court. In the War on Drugs, it definitely helped Prosecution to have such an expert witness.

During our afternoon together, Ed described challenging that very “expert witness” criteria from a Defense perspective. In the 1990’s, Rosenthal worked closely with attorney Bill Logan and together, they co-authored several books about the judicial rights of cannabis cultivators, filled with do’s and don’ts.

More importantly in the long run, though, and contrary to what had been the acceptable standard for judges spanning decades, Rosenthal and Logan would eventually increase court expectations by arguing that an “expert witness” speaking about cannabis cultivation should be someone that had actually grown the plant. (More on this in my article 9 Defense Loopholes) By the time this progress was made, Sanborn had retired. Flipping the tables, Ed himself would eventually become an expert witness for the Defense in cannabis cases many times over.

Side note: When I told him about my upcoming interview with Rosenthal, ironically (and genuinely) Sanborn asked me to thank Rosenthal for him. Sgt. Sanborn was truly grateful for Marijuana Grower’s Guide, enabling him to be seen as an expert in cultivation simply by having memorized the information from it. Ed rolled his eyes when I mentioned it.

Rosenthal’s Connection To The Emerald Triangle

Marijuana Grower’s Guide was instrumental in educating Legacy Farmers. As I mentioned in previous articles, all weed before about 1975 had seeds. It was an accepted norm. Once farmers in the Emerald Triangle started utilizing Ed’s curricula, the market slowly began to change. By the early ‘80s, seeds in a bag of weed were a sign of low quality. That was mostly due to Rosenthal’s applied knowledge by Emerald Triangle farmers in the 1970s and 1980s, raising the bar for the entire cannabis market. Farmer influence from Hawai’i also had a long-term affect on sinsemilla, with increased production per plant, huge kolas. And seeds had been smuggled in from Afghanistan to the Emerald Triangle in the late 1970s.

This gave The Emerald Triangle an edge, some notoriety. What would, in fact, become a world renown brand synonymous with “the best weed money can buy”.

Rosenthal appreciates the Emerald Triangle for its history. He currently works with Humboldt Seed Company on collaborative endeavors. However, he warns of the Emerald Triangle losing its shine, its reputation for cultivating the best weed in the world. He’s not vague, either.

Legacy Farmers vs. Today’s Cultivating Culture

Those now known as Legacy Farmers in the Emerald Triangle put the “unity” in community. They brought the essence of hippie culture to the mountains. Especially in Southern Humboldt, there was a responsibility shared among individuals to contribute to the whole. They worked tirelessly to make sure their community had what it needed.

Throughout the Emerald Triangle, farmers often spent black market money at local businesses, recycling it back into the community. Our rural economies were pulsing during the War on Drugs!

In SoHum, residents made it a mission to enrich their towns by building schools, clinics, and with their own hands—the beloved Mateel Community Center where they would hold organized meetings. Farmers even developed their own language to communicate with one another on CB frequencies, and eventually local radio stations were created to share news, opinions, and event information.

As much of a strong arm law enforcement was at the time, the Legacy Farmers of SoHum countered it with their tough “kiss my ass, I’m not bothering anyone” attitude right back. In the mountains one learns to be independent, and independent they were. But these folks were also smart—they knew they were stronger together.

Ed Rosenthal mentioned this in a roundabout way during our sesh. It was one of those things that I didn’t really grasp fully as he was saying it, but in listening to the recording post-interview, his point was clear. He basically said that if the Emerald Triangle wants to keep its reputation as being the leader of the highest quality cannabis cultivation, farmers need to get back to innovating and adapting.

Once cannabis was legalized in other states, demand for Emerald Triangle weed fell dramatically. Recreational legalization in California favors big industry, and has pulled the bottom right out of the market across nearly every category, except new ones like beverages…virtually unattainable for boutique family farmers.

Side note: Some boutique farmers are making an effort to lead with environmental awareness and innovations, i.e., Trinity Alps Canna Craft which grows everything from seed, in the ground, organic, and sungrown on their regenerative farm in Trinity Center.

Then there is the elephant-in-the-room problem about local politics where certain politicians and leaders are artificially preventing progress. Where the Sheriff is still hell bent on busting illegal cannabis farms. Ed describes solving these issues as fundamental to the Emerald Triangle holding its position as being a world leader in quality cannabis. Complacency could prove detrimental to our region’s recognition.

Preserving The Emerald Triangle’s Legacy

Viewing it through a wide lens, Ed sees a reality in the Emerald Triangle where modern farmers could come together as the Legacy Farmers did…giving their money and time to hand-pick politicians and causes, and build up local power from the inside out. He was clear it takes business owners, farmers, and volunteers to have a healthy ag region, with farmers recycling money back into the area to further advance its economy. In addition to better controlling local politics, here’s a little of Ed’s advice for the Emerald Triangle to continue its hard fought legacy:

• Embrace Strain Demand as a Moving Target - Perhaps instead of growing strains they like (or that grow easily), then selling the public on why it’s so great, Emerald Triangle farmers could grow more of what is in demand in the current market, and foresee strain trends that would help the area maintain its reputation as a trusted cannabis leader. We would be wise to keep in mind that we need the market more than it needs us at this point.

• Adopt New Techniques - Innovations like Rosenthal’s wick watering system saves water and manpower. Big leafing as plants grow (vs. post-harvest) to maximize energy to the buds. Regenerative farming. By farmers being open to trying and adopting effective techniques, the Emerald Triangle could be the Silicon Valley of cannabis–right on the cutting edge, showing the world how it’s done.

• Change the Planting Timeline - Ed is a firm believer that harvest should be done ideally in early September—mid-September at the latest. If farmers in the Emerald Triangle were open to adjusting their harvest timeline, Rosenthal asserts that quality would increase.

Again, Ed was very direct, saying about the Emerald Triangle:

“Tourism and branding won’t work when the county government is actively opposed to what you want to do. So the first thing is that you really have to change the politics there. The only way to do it is to actually put in a new set of politicians. You don’t need all of them (just a majority). It can be done. The Seed Company is up there and they’ll contribute.

But if the farmers don’t do it, they’re not worth doing it for. It’s all in how much respect they have for themselves. Are they just going to collect the money and not contribute to the community? Or are they gonna’ contribute to the community? And that makes all the difference…because part of it is about them getting the respect they deserve, and they’re not gonna’ get it with the politics there now.”

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: CaliLove Dispensary at 1516 Main St. in Weaverville, California. With an artistic flair, CaliLove is decorated with swirly blue floors, local paintings (rotated regularly), and stocked, of course, with quality Emerald Triangle brands, including owner Melissa Love’s own Mt. Mama Farms. CaliLove. And always friendly, knowledgeable service! Open 10am-7pm, 7 days a week.

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

CALLING ALL CANNABIS WOMEN! Inviting all women in cannabis to attend the official expo in Reno, Nevada. I’ve been invited as a guest speaker and panelist this year among so many other influential and strong female entrepreneurs. What an honor! Learn about the 2026 Women in Cannabis Expo here. The event is Aug. 18-19th, and They generously hooked me up with some comp tickets, so if you’re seriously interested, please comment and lmk!

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries frpm the 1940s that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

SMALL HICCUP IN ROTATION LAST SUNDAY, NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). I appreciate you reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time.

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal (also connect with me on Facebook & Instagram!)

GLOSSARY: (If I’ve used a word/term not listed here, consider reading previous articles, or my Official Emerald Triangle Glossary. I try not to repeat definitions in the glossary.)

Ask Ed - A long-running column in High Times written by Ed Rosenthal where readers write to Ed with cannabis related questions. Rosenthal later went on to publish “Ask Ed” books.

Bill Logan - Attorney with whom Ed has worked with closely to create judicial change in cannabis court cases. The duo has also authored several books together on the topic.

CB - Citizen’s Radio, with various frequencies on which voices can be transmitted via wireless communication without much privacy. The most rudimentary version is called a “walkie talkie”. A more advanced version is commonly used by long haul drivers to communicate on the road. Each participant on a CB has a “handle”, a nickname one goes by (like on Instagram). Code words are often used to disguise private matters from others who may be using that frequency. And there is an option to change frequencies, which means moving to a different channel to make conversation easier (avoiding static or eavesdroppers).

Bio - Slang for biography.

DNA - Genetic formatting of lineage.

Expert Witness - Used by lawyers in court to offer credible, professional opinions on matters (or evidence) in question.

High Times - A counter-culture magazine about cannabis founded in 1974 in the United States. It’s the porn mag of weed lovers. High Times set standards and broke molds. Ed Rosenthal wrote for High Times during the War on Drugs.

Humboldt Seed Company - A cannabis seed company in the Emerald Triangle founded by scientists in 2001. Their website states their mission as “empowering cultivators at every level—from first-time growers to commercial operations. Through our commitment to:

• Develop innovative award-winning genetics.

• Focus on stability and potency.

• Preserve precious Landrace strains.

• Advance sustainable cultivation practices.”

Low Key - Urban slang meaning “kinda’, but really”

Mateel Community Center - A non-profit community center in Redway, California, built by locals. The building played an important role for Legacy Farmers and local activists during the War on Drugs as a clubhouse of sorts. From Mateel’s website, their mission is: “The Mateel Community Center seeks to involve all segments of the community in the creative actualization of a cultural vision embracing diversity, vitality, justice and sustainability. Our programs and events serve changing community needs, emphasizing the performing and visual arts.”

Mel Frank - Pseudonym of Rosenthal’s co-author of Marijuana Grower’s Guide. His real name is Jim Goodwin.

New York Botanical Gardens - Located across hundreds of acres in Bronx, New York, Ed Rosenthal discovered his love of horticulture here as a young child.

SoHum - Emerald Triangle slang for Southern Humboldt.

Strain - Used to describe a varietal of cannabis within 3 categories: Sativa, Indica, or Hybrid.

Wick Watering System - A method of watering using a nylon wick, which drops into a 5” tall holding tank below and feeds into the bottom of a plant’s root system. Ed Rosenthal swears by this method, as it allows the gardener some freedom in watering. Regular watering still needs to occur, but much less frequently.

After publishing a recent article, I played social media dosey doe with a guy who tried to educate me that “the original Emerald Triangle went to Southern Oregon”. Hard no, buddy. It gets worse, though…there’s now an area in Texas referred to as the “Emerald Triangle”. I’ve even seen the name pop up in North Carolina!

For someone who grew up in Trinity County, the poorest county in the state of California, it’s personally important to me that we retain our intellectual property, so to speak. By that, I mean our established Emerald Triangle^® branding. I didn’t want to see it trademarked in Oregon, or Texas, or North Carolina.

The original Emerald Triangle^® in Northern California (to be clear, that’s the inverted triangle of 3 counties: Trinity, Humboldt, and Mendocino) was given the nickname around 1979, likely by the thriving counterculture in the area. Law enforcement caught wind of it and started using it regularly, officially coining the term in the media. If you haven’t seen it, here’s the video of Sgt. Sanborn of Trinity County Sheriff’s Department describing the meeting where the Emerald Triangle^® term caught fire.

Worthy of the Trademark

When I originally searched for a Live trademark, I found that there had once been one, but it had gone Dead over 5 years ago. For me, it was like finding a gold nugget, and I felt unworthy to trademark it myself. In case the thought crossed your mind, there is very little money in merchandise within such a niche market. I didn’t do it for the money. I mean, hopefully I can make a sustainable living over time, but it’s definitely more of an investment from the heart.

I actually tried to convince several local dispensaries and industry friends to file the trademark. Alas, no one saw it as the coveted treasure I do. I even invited the Trinity County Board of Supervisors to do it on behalf of the county. Okay, admittedly a stretch! The BoS was my very last option before filing the trademark myself in order to keep the Emerald Triangle^® in its birthplace.

Side Note: Trinity has the most anti-cannabis NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) culture of all 3 counties…new residents who relocated to Trinity teamed up with indoctrinated cronies, and they’re doing their best to gentrify areas like Trinity Center to suburban satisfaction.

What’s The Vision?

Many of you may be too young to remember, but in the 1980s, there was a super hot brand called The Hard Rock Cafe. The name says it all…an ultra-modern rock-themed overpriced tourist trap strategically located in high-tourist cities. And if you were lucky enough to visit a Hard Rock Cafe, you were likely not leaving without a t-shirt.

There was no internet, no Amazon in the 1980s, and Hard Rock didn’t share their brand with import stores. If you wanted a Hard Rock t-shirt, you had to visit a Hard Rock Cafe. Your souvenir would proudly advertise where you’d traveled to obtain that Hard Rock tee…London, Las Vegas, New York, Lake Tahoe, Hong Kong…it was a source of pride.

The vision for Authentic Emerald Triangle, Inc. is that our merch will be designed, printed, and sold only in the Emerald Triangle^®. If sold online, it will be through the manufacturer’s website or a local vendor, not on Amazon.

How This Helps Our Region

We (as residents) want people to visit, support our small businesses, stay in our local lodging, and enjoy our many options for food and entertainment. And yes, buy souvenirs. Especially those that advertise on our behalf! For online shoppers, we want to steer Emerald Triangle^® e-commerce searches to local mom and pop websites for that revenue.

When fans buy within our local economies, it takes the pressure off residents to uphold every small business. Using other people’s money to create healthy revenue is a good bet economically. It helps us all.

Ultimately, I’d like to create a certification mark, “made in the Emerald Triangle^®”, for businesses in our 3 counties to use on labels to guarantee authenticity to consumers. I want our region to relish our renowned brand, and use it wisely to the best of our advantage for the greater good.

I’d love to see this trademark add value to our region, and I’m confident I’ll figure out how to make a living while I’m at it. Not tryna change the world, just make our section of it a little better. Cheers—to dreaming big and going for it!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Map of the Movies self-guided tour in Humboldt (and north into Del Norte if your heart desires). Celebrating 100 years of filmmakers in the Redwood region, the Humboldt-Del Norte Film Commission tracked all the movies filmed locally on a map and published it for us to explore. Have some road trip fun and match mountain and coastal scenery to movie and music video scenes! It’s a super unique adventure!

The film commission’s museum is cool, too…the Redwood Coast Museum of Cinema, at 235 F St. in Eureka (open 11a-4p Tues.-Fri., 12-4p Sat., closed Sun./Mon). Visit the website here for more info. The Visitor Center in Eureka also has the maps. From Salem’s Lot to A Wrinkle in Time, the Map of the Movies has 25 Humboldt locations for the Hollywood scavenger in you!

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

CALLING ALL CANNABIS WOMEN! Inviting all women in cannabis to attend the official expo in Reno, Nevada. I’ve been invited as a guest speaker and panelist this year among so many other influential and strong female entrepreneurs. What an honor! Learn about the Women in Cannabis Expo here. The event is Aug. 18-19th, tickets are available here. Hope to see you there!

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). I appreciate you reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Subscribe now

Decades before Murder Mountain (which locals tend to see as sensationalized bullshit), The Emerald Triangle had a long held reputation for being the Bermuda Triangle of Northern California. People have a way of, well, going away. Unintentionally. The War on Drugs intensified risks of every kind—growing weed, hiking and camping, teens running away, even car issues on a rural road.

The Whys

Ever heard the term “cash crop”? It refers to agricultural production of a crop with huge financial returns. The market value determines gains for farmers, since production costs can usually be expected to be fairly consistent. When supply is abundant, prices drop. When supply is choked, prices skyrocket, and that’s when protecting their cultivation vault becomes critical for growers. This was the case from about the mid-1970s through the Green Rush until recreational legalization leveled the cannabis market in the 2020s.

In a region of mostly mountains, rivers, and ocean, the landscape is loaded with invisible nooks. And because prosecutors have such a difficult (if not impossible) chance of winning a murder trial without a body, they often don’t even try. So, those who want to get away with murder know to abide by the cryptic criterion of no corpse = no crime.

Not all disappearances were/are a result of the illegal cannabis industry, though. Other contributing (and overlapping) factors include:

• Crazy curvy roads (driving off the road, vehicle disappearing in a river, ocean, or gulch)

• Gnarly storms (not respecting bad weather or speed limits during a storm)

• Vast rural areas (getting stuck in the middle of nowhere without proper provisions)

• Dangerous oceanside cliffs (falling off a trail or ledge into the ocean)

• Raging rivers & creeks (driving off the road, body carried by the strong current)

• Ill-prepared travelers (taking unnecessary risks, not carrying proper gear)

• Wildlife (bears, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, rattlesnakes, etc.)

• The occasional psychopath (puts everyone on edge, including growers)

My research uncovered dozens of archived news stories about missing men, women, and youth. Redheaded Blackbelt reports them regularly in an attempt to amplify silent voices. The variety of ways to vanish shows the reality of the Emerald Triangle…it can be a dangerous place. It’s also filled with really good people—salt of the earth types.

Our Communal Place of Nunya

More common than HOAs in the Emerald Triangle are certain unspoken rules we live by. The expectation among locals to pitch in when someone needs help is taken as seriously as the expectation that one looks out for their own. People don’t rely much on others in the mountains of EmTri (self-sufficiency is part of survival), and we don’t easily trust outsiders or newcomers. From off-grid living to hunting and growing our own food, there’s a level of homesteading miles—and worlds away—from the ordinary that defines American suburbia.

Side note: In 2025, in Trinity County, the poorest county in the state of California, over $300,000 was awarded in scholarships to graduating seniors (about 40 applied) for higher education…all raised through endowments and community donations. We take care of our own.

Knowing when to keep your mouth shut is another aspect of mountain living. What IS and IS NOT one’s business is a matter of survival in rural areas, reputationally and sometimes literally. Except for a few perma-haters, and the rare dispute between adversaries, mountain folks generally live and let live in a cozy little place we call “nunya” (as in nunya business).

At one point, NorCal weed was selling for $5,000 a pound. So, from the standpoint of stumbling upon someone's budding rural farm in September, it may have been tempting for a young guy to see it as a lucky windfall more than a deadly mistake. Sadly, lives were lost like this during the War on Drugs through a combination of stupidity and the cannabis black market created by prohibition.

Side note: While still dangerous to venture off a county road onto private property almost anywhere in the Emerald Triangle, due to the plummeting value of weed due to legalization, trespassing executions are pretty rare these days.

This archive from the Ukiah Daily Journal is the story of a young man’s risky choices leading to his death in the 1980s. He was a local guy, too, he knew better.

When I say “he knew better”, I mean that there are places even locals tend to stay away from, knowing the dangers. Being from Fortuna right up the road, he also knew the dangers of crop stealing in the Emerald Triangle.

When it comes to newcomers or tourists, however, many are simply unaware of these red zone areas, like Bridgeville, Alderpoint, and as I mentioned in a previous article, Denny. I say this out of respect for these towns and their residents. They want to be left alone. Wander elsewhere, like Fort Bragg, or Trinidad, or Weaverville where you will be welcomed.

Missing in My Backyard

In one of my interviews with Sergeant Sanborn of Trinity County Sheriff’s Department, he shared a story about a curious case that happened literally in my backyard in Helena, California, a couple years before we moved there. I remember the character at the bottom of our road, but I never knew this story until recently…

In rural corners of the Emerald Triangle like where I grew up in Trinity, ALL our neighbors (when we had them) lived on gold mining claims, not private property like our cabin. These dreamers were dredging the creeks and river forks for their fortune. At the base of our tiny, one-lane 1.5 mile (2,414 meter) gravel driveway, there was a mining claim with a small cabin. (Well, it was there until it mysteriously burned down in the 1980s, which we’ll talk about in an upcoming publication called Redneck Justice. Subscribe so you don’t miss it!)

The main resident on the mining claim (they are subject to change) was a longtime local guy named Michael Hudson. Hudson was a former surveyor who suddenly quit his government job in town, bought a VW bus, got married, had a son (also named Michael), and settled into a mining claim in the ghost town of Helena with his family. There were some guesses of drugs or maybe an accident…no one quite knew why, but all would agree that Hudson was a little off mentally. Seen as simply harmless and weird, the topic fell under the “nunya” category.

In any case, the Hudsons began hosting HUGE parties at their cabin in the late ‘70s. One thing about parties in the woods is that they’re rarely heard or interrupted by cops. The Sheriff’s Office is a good 45-minute drive from Helena, so unless they were invited, they ain’t showin’ up. Besides, there were no phones where I grew up, so someone would’ve had to drive 15 minutes to the nearest payphone to alert law enforcement. Sergeant Sanborn says that Hudson’s parties were gradually growing in size and length as time went on. He described them as “crazy, Animal House-style”.

The SO was called out to one of these ragers when the young Hudson boy, who was 4 or 5 years old at the time, disappeared with the family dog. Sgt. Sanborn described law enforcement and partygoers searching all night in the nearby creek and East Fork of the North Fork (literally the name of this section of river), neighboring mining claims, mountainsides, gulches…all over what was soon to be my backyard. Little Michael was nowhere.

A couple days later, the dog returned home. Shortly thereafter, based on a tip the Hudsons received from a psychic in Denmark or somewhere overseas, Sgt. Sanborn said he and fellow officers “took the dog way back up Helena Road. We hiked up to the dam at Squaw Gulch. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid! That dog went in there and just went ape shit crazy digging. We rearranged the whole landscape looking for that boy, never found him.”

There are a number of tragic scenarios for little Michael Hudson. This story is a sad example of vast rural areas, and possibly wildlife, playing a role in people vanishing here like fog in the California sun. In general, wildlife doesn’t hunt humans in the Emerald Triangle. Bears prefer to eat our food rather than us, and mountain lions seem to sense that living humans aren’t key to their food chain. That said, they are wild and anything goes if they, or their babies, need food or feel threatened. Survival of the fittest.

Side note: The mom of a friend of mine was attacked by a mountain lion while jogging on a trail near their cabin in Trinity. She survived with cuts & bruises, and never blamed the animal. After all, she was running, and animal instincts aren’t voluntary. I think she bought a treadmill after that. In general, though, predators are more likely to attack prey that is injured, young, or old. And many, including birds, will quickly devour any carcass filled with much needed protein and nutrients.

Still Missing After All These Years

In 2016, one of our old high school classmates, Stacey Smart, completely vanished. Poof! Gone. Her daughter, sister, and extended family and friends left with so many questions…about her boyfriend and some missing carpet, and things that stood out as obvious foul play. There have been warrants, searches, news stories, clues, vigils, meetings, and pleas for help. Yet, the case of this sweet local missing mom remains unsolved 10 years later. It’s heartbreaking. Locals were convinced it was the boyfriend, but without detectives on our law enforcement teams, the cops end up shrugging a lot.

On Dec. 26, 2018, The Trinity Journal published the following:

“Stacey Smart, of Lewiston, was last seen in Lewiston by family members on Oct. 12, 2016. Her debit card was last used Oct. 16, 2016. There have been many volunteer searches for Smart or for evidence of what may have happened to her.

“Status: The investigation has taken many different directions. The disappearance of Stacey is believed to be suspicious. Numerous search warrants have been prepared and served. Criminalists from the Department of Justice have assisted on countless occasions regarding this matter. Numerous searches have been conducted of the areas around Lewiston, to include the lake with side-scan sonar.

“It remains open with action taken weekly. Several persons of interest have been identified.”

A Needle in the Forest

In 2024, The Trinity Journal did a follow up piece to their 2018 “Missing in Trinity” article, basically naming the same missing people + a few more. I counted 21 missing people in the 2018 cover story. That’s 6 years for law enforcement to make some headway and those same people still seem to be listed as missing in 2024. To be clear on the per capita and geographical scale, Trinity County is less than 16,000 people total in a county that, if flattened out, would be bigger than the state of Texas.

Finding a body in a forest can be a challenge, to say the least. It’s worse than the needle in a haystack scenario, due to scope and slope. Trinity and Humboldt counties both consist of 80% mountainous forest area, with peaks above 9,000 feet (2,743 meters), accounting for the upper portion of the Emerald’s inverted Triangle.

Humboldt (and northern Mendo) is also home to the “Lost Coast”, as shown on the map below, a long stretch of pristine coastline between Rockport and Ferndale. Shelter Cove is the main town in the Lost Coast. Once you make the drive, 45 winding minutes west off Highway 101 from Redway, you’ll understand why it’s called the Lost Coast. It’s beautiful, but boy is it out there!

Further south, Mendocino’s coast is extremely jagged. In addition to its precarious cliffs, Mendo also consists of 65% forest.

The Emerald Triangle is one of the most beautiful places on earth. “God’s country”, some will say—with its ancient skyscraper Sequoias, incredible alpine lakes, and unmatched coastal views. Packaged inside a virtually perfect climate and adorned with friendly folks.

If you’re lucky enough to visit, fill your tank when you can, carry a full-size spare tire if possible, have water, a knife, and noise makers like a whistle or air horn on hand. Be prepared for cell phone dead zones. And it goes without saying, but I’m gonna’ say it anyway…for the love of God, don’t steal crops–or anything you stumble upon.

The Emerald Triangle isn’t looking to swallow people, but it has. Travel wisely and you’ll enjoy the beauty and experiences without worry.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Skunk Train in Fort Bragg. The name is a happy coincidence in the Emerald Triangle, it doesn’t have a thing to do with cannabis aromatics. It actually comes from the black smoke the train used to emit before being updated to diesel-electric. When my kids were growing up, we’d take regular weekend family trips to Fort Bragg. The Skunk Train was always a highlight.

For starters, a train experience is hard to beat, right? Then you throw in the depot location right in downtown Fort Bragg with great restaurants and shops within walking distance. The Skunk Train offers traditional closed cars, as well as an open car for a real outdoor experience through some gorgeous roadless forests. It’s romantic, family friendly, and dog friendly (for an extra fee).

My family and I often enjoyed conversations with other travelers on the train, and awed at the occasional home surrounded by tranquility...except, of course, for the Skunk Train rolling through on schedule. Sorry, homesteaders! There are a variety of excursions to choose from on their website with different lengths–even themes–for the rides. They also offer railbike experiences and VIP passes. A memorable way to safely experience The Emerald Triangle.

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE NEXT SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

GLOSSARY (If I’ve used a word/term not listed here, consider reading previous articles where the glossary likely explains it. I try not to repeat definitions in the glossary.)

Alderpoint, CA - Rural town in Southern Humboldt, not recommended for tourists. Alderpoint was the location of my publication about the 1972 murder of Dirk Dickenson by a federal agent. Dickenson’s senseless slaying during that botched raid which produced absolutely no drugs, is what put Alderpoint on the map over 50 years ago in the beginning of the War on Drugs in the Emerald Triangle.

Animal House-style - Slang reference to a big party, like that from the classic John Belushi movie, Animal House.

Bridgeville, CA - Rural town in Humboldt, not recommended for tourists.

Cash Crop - Slang term for an agricultural harvest likely to reap large financial gains.

Gnarly - California slang for very bad.

Gulch - A natural ravine created between mountains, where a valley and homes might be. There is usually a creek or some type of watershed. Trinity County is loaded with gulches. They have interesting, yet meaningful, names like China Gulch, Five Cent Gulch, Hobo Gulch, Pasture Gulch, Dobbins Gulch, and so on. In fact, yours truly grew up in a gulch! We drove through a stream seasonally to get home. In winter, the stream was too powerful to drive through, so we’d park and shuffle across a rail-less footbridge that my stepdad built. I researched to find the exact number of gulches in Trinity because there are an unbelievable amount, but I guess no one’s counting.

Highway 101 - Major highway that runs North and South from Los Angeles, California, through Oregon and into Washington, ending near Olympia. Very scenic. The portion that runs through Mendocino and Humboldt is called the Redwood Highway, and in Southern Humboldt, it’s referred to as “Avenue of the Giants” as it meanders directly through old growth Redwoods (some of the largest trees in the world). Traveling the Avenue of the Giants is bucket list worthy.

HOAs - Homeowner’s Associations. These are strict regulatory groups very common in suburban neighborhoods in America. Membership-based, and non-optional, homeowner’s pay a monthly or annual fee for the governing services of the HOA to make rules and fine residents who don’t follow them. Rules (and costs) differ from one HOA to the next and can range from the height of one’s lawn to weed abatement, acceptable plants and shrubbery, even—and especially—the color of a house or front door (the HOA board chooses the pallet from which limited options arise).

Mendo - NorCal slang for Mendocino County. There is also a town named Mendocino just south of Fort Bragg. Generally when someone says “Mendo”, they’re referring to the county unless the conversation is taking place within the county of Mendocino, in which case they’re likely referring to the town.

Lost Coast - Wikipedia will provide a more succinct description than I can. The Lost Coast is a lovely day or weekend trip, if you’re up for a winding drive. The scenery is worth it! See link below under Shelter Cove.

Murder Mountain - A 2018 Netflix docuseries about a particularly dangerous area of Southern Humboldt, near Alderpoint. The series is mocked by locals as being a sensationalized version of facts for the sake of viewership and ultimately, money. The show dives into the 2013 murder of a newcomer, 29-year-old cannabis grower, Garret Rodriguez, who locals feel was not representative of how we roll here. You know, the unspoken rules I mentioned. Sometimes the terms are used interchangeably, but there’s a big difference in respect between a grower and a farmer in the Emerald Triangle. Murder Mountain does not represent the true culture of NorNorCal farmers.

Nunya - Local slang, short for “nunya business” or the more proper “none of your business”. It’s not said as much as it is universally understood and practiced in the Emerald Triangle, although it IS used when necessary.

Perma-haters - Often called “Karen” in urban slang, these are people who always seem to find something to bitch about. Drawn to anything negative like glitter on sweat, they schlepp distain in their front pocket and sprinkle it everywhere they go.

Redway, CA - An important small town in the Emerald Triangle’s War on Drugs. Located in Southern Humboldt, along Avenue of the Giants, Redway is home to passionate mountain people, legacy growers, and artists, who organized resistance groups in response to heavy-handed law enforcement.

Salt of the Earth - Describes a person with the utmost values and ethics.

Shelter Cove - The main town in the Lost Coast, population around 800. Visit before purchasing property. Wonderful day or weekend trip. Great trails! Gift shops, golf course, general store, inns, and a tiny airport. Here’s more information.

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So this week, we’re making a salad! Educational cannabis medicine and biology infographics, mixed with interesting Emerald Triangle facts, and funny War on Drugs antiquities. A few of these I’ve shared in past articles, and I’m republishing them here so this curriculum can be found in one convenient location. Feel free to save, or share these images, giving credit if an original creator is cited.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Humboldt song by Brett McFarland. Well, the video, really. Because the song is friggin’ awesome but the video SHOWS you what he means. It’s so accurate and heartfelt, it’ll bring you right to our backyard and the people who make it so unique. Click on the link to check it out on YouTube and Hum along! :)

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Subscribe now

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These experiences level me back to the reality of how precious life is, in that it’s made up of all these unique moments that help each of us expand. After all, growth is as fundamental to the cannabis plant as it is to each one of us, right?

My interview with Seth Ferranti had that humbling effect on me. Years of research into the history behind cannabis prohibition positioned me to see Seth’s case like this:

Laws prohibiting cannabis (marijuana/hemp) were created with the intent of imprisoning people for a non-violent, harmless, recreational consumable (with known medicinal benefits). The goal of the law was incarceration, not for the good of the people. Weed is now Scheduled as III (medicinal), and LSD & hallucinogens are being studied for their effect in healing trauma, like PTSD.

With that lens, consider a young man of 22 sentenced to 22 years in prison for his first offense. This dude had a typical suburban upbringing in a military family that often ended up back in San Diego. Seth’s disposition is that of a non-violent risk-taker.

We’re the same age, both GenXers, and he’s totally the kind of guy I could see as my roommate back in the early ’90s. Nice, harmless, chill, reliable, with a preference for adrenaline—like maybe he would’ve ended up BASE jumping or riding a rice rocket if he didn’t fall into the cannabis/LSD industry in his teens.

“I grew up in San Diego, so I was smokin’ Humboldt bud. We used to call it “kind” bud in the ’80s. I was in the Dead culture, too, so that led me up to San Francisco area, then up to Mendocino and Humboldt in the Emerald Triangle. I was always kinda reckless and bold, or ballsy or whatever you wanna call it.

“People I knew needed people to do that kind of stuff (transport weed), so I started doing that. Then eventually, I found out I could make more money bringing it East, so I started doing that. Yeah, so that’s always been my connection, is farmers.

“I’ve always had a connection to fair trade through farmers. I’m the type of dude that can bring money, so the farmers are attracted to that. Most of the farmers I know now are all legit. They got transit, distros, licensed farms, some even got retail. I know a lot of people in L.A. in the trade and all over the country, on the East Coast…California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Oklahoma, I got contacts all over.”

The Gauntlet of California

Seth Ferranti started running small amounts (20-40 lbs) down “the gauntlet” at 17 years old. That’s what he calls the Highway 101 corridor from Humboldt down south—the gauntlet. This was in the height of the War on Drugs, 1988. The crops were high and the risks, even higher.

Side Note: Only 13 years earlier, when Seth was just 4, California passed the Moscone Act (SB95) to reduce the penalty for possession of small amounts of weed (under an ounce). Data was showing suburban white kids being arrested for the felony of smoking or sharing weed. Oops! Well, that directly conflicted with the reason cannabis became illegal to begin with, so something had to change to protect the criminal records of middle-class white men. The timing was great, since the zeitgeist of America was shifting toward legalization anyway. Reagan would reverse that progress with a vengeance.

Saying Ferranti is a poster child for artificial crime may be laying it on a little thick. Even so, it’s accurate. The spiral of his life’s tornado can be directly tracked to cannabis prohibition, it’s not some psycho-socio conundrum to ponder. The government used him as an example, so why shouldn’t cannabis advocates and educators? Seth himself says,

“You know, the law would call me a criminal but I always felt like a crusader, an advocate, a trail blazer. I always believed cannabis was medicinal and therapeutic, spiritual even. I never considered myself a criminal because I never even carried a gun and I only broke laws I thought were wrong, so I always considered myself an outlaw, not a criminal.

“I don’t plan to get locked up again. But the reality is that my whole world is cannabis people. I was in prison a long time, so I know a lot of people and all kinds of stuff…people who walk a fine line where legalities are concerned. It’s just weed, so it’s not like I’m hangin’ out with gang bangers or mafia. All the people I know are like Deadheads. They’re like farmers. I don’t hang out with people who do hard drugs or have a lot of problems. I don’t party with them. They’re not my friends, they’re not in my circle.”

Ferranti’s Fortitude, A Remarkable Relaunch

We’ll go deeper into Ferranti’s background in a future publication, it’s pretty unbelievable and a story all its own. To summarize:

• He was first busted moving weed from Humboldt down the gauntlet at 20 years old

• They threw the book at him in court, early 1990s

• He fled and went on the run rather than face the consequences

• He attempted to fake his own death on the East Coast

• He became a Most Wanted criminal

• In the midst of all this, he met his future wife, Diane

• Eventually he was caught and forced to pay the price for his choices

• At 22 years old, he was a felon several times over

• Seth would not get out until he was 44

• In prison, he studied, acquired degrees in Humanities and Liberal Arts

• He had a few crazy years (he describes some regrettable behavior involving strippers)

• His movie, White Boy (2017) went to Top 10 on Netflix

• Tangled Roots was filmed in Humboldt County in cooperation with local farmers

• 2023 movie releases: Dope Men: America’s First Drug Cartel and Psychadelic Revolution: The Secret History of the LSD Trade

• As a result of surveillance targeting by cops, and a need for some quick cash, Seth is arrested in Nebraska in October, 2024, with over 400 pounds of Humboldt weed

• He’s sentenced to another 2 years, broken into 7 months incarcerated in state prison + 7 months in a halfway house on a parole program

• He’s now 55 years old, having spent the majority of his life behind bars, on parole, or probation. Bad choices? Sure. But if weed weren’t illegal, Seth would’ve lived a life no different than any other middleman entrepreneur working the industry he knows

And that’s just the summary! That’s what I mean by humbling. When you or I use the word “cell”, we’re talking about a device. For Seth, a cell was his cage. He is a living testament to the fact that a man can be caged while his mind is free to roam wherever it wants…

“I felt strongly betrayed by my country. I mean, here we’re talking like 35 years later and still, I have like 8 felonies, all non-violent. I got 5 felonies for weed, 1 felony for LSD, 1 for failure to appear—that was when I just took off and became a fugitive…and 1 for fraudulent use of ID because when I became a fugitive, I had fake IDs.

“So, it all kinda’ stems from the same thing, though. And never in my life did I think I’d have—I mean, even now when I think about it—like, 8 felonies, damn! ! Like I say, I don’t consider myself a criminal. So, it’s kinda’ crazy, but I’ve just kind of rolled with the punches.

“I took some article writing classes as part of my college courses. And in the article-writing courses, they want you to pitch to like real magazines. And I’d pitch right from prison. Yeah, so that’s how my journalism career started…I was one of Vice’s first prison correspondents. I had a column in Vice called ‘I’m Busted’. And I was writing other stuff.

“I’ve done a ton of stuff for Penthouse. When I was writing in prison, I was making a lot of money because I was doing it back in the ‘90s when you could get paid. Then when I got out in 2015, I still had a good 4 or 5 years where I was getting paid well. Then by 2018, definitely by 2020, the journalism market just dried up.”

Ferranti talks about how his wife (whom he met as a fugitive in 1992) worked not only as his partner on the outside, but his manager and agent. She did everything from outreach to email correspondence to negotiations and finance management.

“It started with negotiating with the magazines to get more for the pieces. At first, I would actually send hand-written stuff out to her and she would type it into a Word doc. She would print it out and mail it back to me and I would mark it up with a pen and mail it back to her. She’d make the changes to the digital file and then send it to the editors. She found the publishing house.

“...when you’re in prison there’s a law or regulation or whatever that you can’t run a business. So when I was in the feds (federal penitentiary) I had to actually sign my intellectual property over to her. I couldn’t negotiate with magazines or publishers, but she could. If I owned a car, I couldn’t sell it because the feds would try to say that I’m running a business. So I could sign the car over to her and she could sell it and send me money. It’s the same thing with intellectual properties. She’s also been the administrator for all the film stuff. You know, she does a lot of the administrative stuff like contracts, paperwork, so I can concentrate on creating the content.”

I asked this easygoing outlaw about his accomplishments, even during and after having paid such a high price for his cannabis/LSD lawbreaking, he seems to be set pretty golden. His most recent docuseries, Tangled Roots: The True Story of Humboldt County, premiered on Vimeo and is an impressive addition to Ferranti’s portfolio. He nailed his attempt to spotlight true, raw history, legacy and Native farmers in their element, and deliver it in a super professional package.

One thing I appreciate about Seth’s approach at this point in his life, is that he’s continuing to serve The Cause. The Cause of breaking stereotypes. The Cause of education. The Cause of transparency. The Cause of honesty. History. Progression. Persistence. Growth. This Outlaw Films and Tangled Roots thing is about a greater Cause.

In order to fund the docuseries (for now) the ask is $10.99 for the 45-minute, uninterrupted episode. Ferranti is working on eventually rolling out all four parts of the Humboldt series on alternate platforms, like Netflix and Prime. Think of this paywall as a donation to the Cause. I paid for it before writing this article and genuinely felt it was worth every penny in terms of historical and first-hand account value.

“Yeah, I don’t know, sometimes I can’t believe it, you know? ‘Cause I’ve done a lot of stuff in my life! Anybody that knows me personally, knows I’m an intense person. I get a ton of stuff done.

“6 documentaries. The more active I am, the more podcasts, the more interviews, the more royalties I get from my stuff. When I was in prison recently (that 7 months), my royalties went way down because I wasn’t able to do anything.

And When Freedom Rings in December 2026?

“I wanna jump back into my film stuff. A podcast tour, like crime podcasts that have asked me on. I’d like to finish my Tangled Roots docuseries. I released the first episode and have all the footage for the other 3, it’s just time and energy. Finding a good editor I can work with and being able to pay them to do the work.

“I’m not knocking YouTube, there’s some people who do good stuff on YouTube, but anyone can have a smartphone and throw it together. I’m not knockin’ that, I have friends who make good money on that—5 or 10 grand a month. For me, the video stuff, I want it to look good, I want it to look Hollywood professional. So everything I’ve done has a high production value.”

I’ll smoke to that, Sir Seth! Thanks for keeping the professional spotlight of the world’s best weed on Humboldt and the Emerald Triangle. We salute you.

» To keep up with his developments and releases, follow Seth Ferranti on socials!

» If you’d like information on funding/investing in Outlaw Films, feel free to reach out to me directly as a first step at NorCalWeedGal at gmail.com.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Ganjery dispensary in Arcata or McKinleyville. This place is like going to the old country store for a fresh-squeezed lemonade on a hot day. The hospitality, warmth, knowledge, and quality go beyond your average dispensary. The Ganjery prides itself on carrying top selling brands and, maybe because they order such huge quantities, there always seems to be a great deal on something, like their Wake & Back Deals! 2 locations:

1507 G St., Arcata (open 9:30a-9:30p 7 days a week)

1580 Nursery Way, McKinleyville (9:00a-9:00p, 7 days)

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE NEXT SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram @NorCalWeedGal

GLOSSARY: (If I’ve used a word/term not listed here, consider reading previous articles, or my Official Emerald Triangle Glossary. I try not to repeat definitions in the glossary.)

BASE Jumping - Adrenaline sport that involves jumping from Buildings, Antennas, Spans (bridges), and Earth (cliffs).

Cause - A reason to support or donate due to personal beliefs. A cause can also refer to an organization, either non-profit or otherwise independent of corporate sponsorship and deep pockets (like Outlaw Films), therefore relying on donations.

Deadhead - An unassuming, peaceful stoner who was a follower of the Grateful Dead as they traveled around on tours. Deadheads were roadies of the best kind.

Docuseries - Documentary series.

LSD - Lysergic acid diethylamide, also known on the street as “acid”, a long-lasting hallucinogen that can give feelings of euphoria and introspection within safe, controlled setting. This can lead to mental and emotional breakthroughs. Contrarily, taking LSD in an uncontrolled or unpredictable setting can foster a “bad trip”, which can vary from paranoia to violent outbursts.

PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Rice Rocket - American slang for a motorcycle built for speed (usually in Japan, which is where the “rice” part comes from) vs. one built for leisurely rides (like a Harley).

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Before We Start…

There are so many beautiful aspects of the Emerald Triangle—the rivers, little gold mining towns, the forests and Redwoods, the Pacific coast and its quaint Mendocino villages, the Trinity Alps. The night recounted here takes place in Denny, one of the areas not recommended for visitors. When I warn of places NOT to go in the Emerald Triangle, it’s for your own safety.

This story is loaded with characters. I thought laying them out beforehand would make for a more enjoyable reading experience, so here are the leading roles in order of appearance:

Michael “Mike” Smith - Shooter, resident on the Claims side of the river (as in, gold mining claims), 40 years old (4th guy shot, a/k/a Noodle Arms)

Ed Irvin - Resident (victim #1) on the Denny side of the river, 50 years old

Chayne Irvin - Pronounced “Shane”, Ed’s son, 17 years old (victim #2)

Dana Humphrey - Local kid, 18 years old, Chayne’s best friend (victim #3)

Zeke Isaacs - Local neighbor, lived on the Claims side near shooter Mike Smith

Paul Vinanni - Local badass and gold miner who lived an hour from Denny in Salyer, CA

True Crime in the Wild West

This bit of history in the Emerald Triangle takes us back to February of 1978. It’s one of those true crime stories that deserves to live in infamy. Hella quirky! I’m retelling it based on the memory of a Sheriff’s officer, backed up by archived articles in the Trinity Journal.

This story is cannabis adjacent, setting the tone for what it was like to live in the Emerald Triangle almost 50 years ago…very much the “wild west”. At the time, Denny was filled with Legacy Farmers and Rednecks. This story is about the Rednecks. We’ll get to the Legacy Farmers in future publications, I promise!

Trinity County Sheriff Sergeant, Chuck Sanborn, (now retired) recounts a night in Denny that turned out to be more than anyone bargained for, ending with two men murdered, one critically wounded, and another shot in the hip. Sanborn himself was running on just a couple hours of sleep after a case days prior had kept him awake and too busy for sleep.

The Huddle

The night was dense with fog on the Trinity River. The eight o’clock hour found officers from Trinity and Humboldt County Sheriff Departments strategizing in the dark. Trinity Sheriff’s Office (SO) had received an emergency call around 7:00 that evening reporting a shooting dispute between neighbors in Denny. Knowing the folks involved, and the way the residents in Denny handle business vigilante-style, Trinity law enforcement (LE) had immediately called Humboldt for backup.

Denny is just over the Humboldt/Trinity county line on the Trinity side, about an equal 2-hour drive from the SO for both Humboldt and Trinity deputies. The two law enforcement agencies (a total of 7 officers) met up to huddle and plan prior to entering the town of Denny. Law enforcement had a bad feeling…like, be-prepared-for-a-shoot-out kinda’ bad. They called for multiple ambulances and alerted local hospitals to prepare for casualties.

When all was said and done, it would take 17 law enforcement officers and 3 ambulances to handle the mayhem in Denny that February night.

The Great Cable Car Escape

The whole thing started when notorious local shit disturber, Michael Smith, left his cabin on the Claims side, and crossed the New River (a tributary of the Trinity River) to murder his neighbor and rival, Ed Irvin, who lived on the Denny side. The two had a longstanding feud and Mike Smith was looking to end it once and for all. There was no warning shot, Smith aimed his shotgun at Irvin’s face and pulled the trigger.

Smith then fled by pulling himself across the river to his cabin in a manually operated cable car. Classic mountain getaway! Seriously, what could be slower? So eventually when LE arrived, they would have a crime scene (and victim #1, Ed Irvin) on the Denny side of the river and the suspect in his cabin on the Claims side, with a 60 foot deep (18 meter) river canyon in between.

One of the tactics commonly used by law enforcement to corner a criminal in the mountains is a road block, especially on a route like that to Denny—one way in, one way out. The road block was set up near Highway 299, and SO was awaiting the arrival of the ambulances before heading into such a volatile scene. Sanborn and a couple other deputies headed up to stage closer to Denny while they waited.

Side note: As the War on Drugs heated up in the Emerald Triangle, road blocks would become a bone of contention between locals (who considered them a form of martial law) and SO (who saw them as an effective tactic).

Shortly after the road block was in place, Chayne Irvin, 17, (son of the guy who was shot) and his longtime friend, Dana Humphrey, 18, drove up and were frustrated about the cops preventing them from driving home to Denny.

Chayne had a “wild west” reputation. He’d heard about the incident between Mike Smith and his dad that night and wanted through but, familiar with Chayne, the Deputy in charge of the road block refused their entry.

Two Gunshots and A Loud Splash

Obviously these young men knew their way around the area, because Chayne circumnavigated the road block by traveling a rural back road. It took a little over an hour for the men to go around, unbeknownst to the cops. Sergeant Sanborn recalled in our interview that while awaiting the arrival of ambulances near Denny, “the next thing we knew, we heard a bunch of screamin’ and hollerin’ over there across the river”, followed by two distinct gun shots echoing through the canyon and a loud splash, all amplified by the crisp night air.

Without a bridge or any way to cross the river immediately to where the shots originated, officers were in a pinch. The only transportation they could see across the river was another privately owned (and locked) cable car below the one Smith had used in his earlier getaway. This scenario would require further on-the-spot strategizing to avoid being “sitting duck” officers crossing the river.

Sgt. Sanborn reports that Chayne and Dana were both shot by Mike Smith after confronting him. Zeke Isaacs, a local who lived on the Claims side (up river from Smith) had located the two injured young men not far from his mining claim. Chayne was soaked from having been in the river, and Dana was barely moving. Isaacs jumped into action upon hearing the commotion.

Sanborn remembers Isaacs stepping up to help transport the young victims on his own cable car (one that LE didn’t realize was just up river) so that officers could focus on capturing Mike Smith, who was still actively engaging them in a shoot-out down river that would last for hours.

Meanwhile, two ambulances finally arrived on scene, as did the Under Sheriff at the time, Dave Laffranchini, and District Attorney (DA), Bill Neill. Remember, vehicles are parked on the Denny side of the river. One ambulance made its way further up to load Chayne and Dana. Ed Irvin was loaded into the other.

Irvin was still alive but missing half his face and bleeding so much, Sgt. Sanborn reports blood was literally draining out of the open ambulance doors due to the mountain slope. Sanborn said it was like a horror movie, and that moment brought the reality of the night’s events into very grim focus. Needless to say, it wasn’t looking good for the elder Irvin.

In yet another crazy twist, the third ambulance from Redding was making its way up to Denny when some of the town’s vigilantes tried to commandeer it. They had the petrified EMT driver surrounded, guns drawn on him. Sanborn said law enforcement talked them down—not by drawing weapons and aiming back—but by asking logically, “What, you plan to shoot us all?”. After that confrontation, the ambulance was allowed to continue on its mission, none of the vigilantes were arrested.

Remarkably, after being shot in the hip and falling (or diving?) 60 feet into the river, Chayne Irvin (victim #2) survived that night. (In the years to come, Chayne would continue his wild west behavior, eventually being convicted for sexual assault in Humboldt County and sentenced to life in prison.)

The Eye of the Storm

At the moment (now just after midnight), cops were closing in on the eye of the storm. Smith was shooting from inside his cabin across the river, and Sgt. Sanborn reports that DA Bill Neill was ducking for cover under a vehicle, terrified. What had he gotten himself into? Law enforcement was still working on a safe tactic to cross the river.

Side note: Mike Smith’s 20-year-old wife was in their cabin where he was holed up and firing at officers from across the river. And, to make things even more interesting, she was pregnant!

Additional backup was on its way, but remember—Denny is two hours from the SO in either direction. Choreography was crucial at this point! When the gunfire stopped for a bit, the two ambulances with three victims (Ed, Dana, and Chayne) were escorted out, while the third ambulance ominously stayed behind for potential victims. Dana Humphrey died en route to Hoopa Hospital. As you may have guessed, Ed Irvin didn’t make it either.

A lull in Smith’s gunfire (the eye of the storm) is when local connections came in real handy! Paul Vinanni was a gold miner on the Trinity River in the town of Salyer (off Highway 299 near where you see the sign for Denny in the pic above). Vinanni was described as a “badass”, who owned the lower (locked) cable car. Being friends with Sheriff Kelly put Vinanni on the short list for vital resources that night. When Kelly called in the favor, the guy actually drove up from Salyer at 1:30 in the morning (arriving around 2:30am) to unlock the lower cable car for SO, solidifying his cred as a local badass.

A couple Humboldt deputies and several Trinity officers quietly maneuvered down below to the unlocked cable car and proceeded across New River, while Sergeant Sanborn and the remaining Trinity officers stayed on the Denny side to cover them…a process requiring diligent patience with a manual cable car. Like a feat on American Ninja Warrior, it’s one tug at a time.

Since the cable car was lower down in the canyon, at the end of the line was a slight incline that required some muscle (especially with several hundred pounds inside) to hoist it up to land. And quietly, so as not to alert Smith.

After deputies landed safely near Smith’s cabin, they identified themselves and quickly infiltrated the residence with tear gas, causing his pregnant wife to surrender out the front door. Smith attempted to exit through the back, furthering the stand-off with his now trademark shotgun greeting, prompting LE to call for backup from officers across the river on the Denny side.

Side note: Imagine deputies on the Denny side of the river responding to that urgent call by manually retrieving the empty cable car back from across the river, while hearing their LE brothers across that canyon in a shoot-out with a raging vigilante. They didn’t teach that shit at the Academy!

Noodle Arms

Sergeant Sanborn was in the second group of officers to cross the river to Michael Smith’s property by cable car, and when he arrived, Sanborn says that although Smith was still alive, his arms were like wet noodles, just dangling.

Humboldt deputies reported to Sanborn that when they instructed Smith to drop his weapon, instead of doing so, he hid behind a very narrow tree for cover and started shooting. Unfortunately for Mike Smith, the tree was only shielding his body, not his arms. Humboldt deputies shot back, nailing Smith in the arms and shoulders so much, it’s said he was unable to wipe his own ass for a month.

In the coming days, Smith would be transported to a prison hospital in Vacaville, CA, for holding until his trial, which may have been held in Solano County (although I could be wrong), as I was unable to find information about the trial and subsequent conviction of ol’ Noodle Arms anywhere in the Emerald Triangle.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: When visiting the Emerald Triangle, the little town of Willow Creek should not be missed! Calling itself “The Bigfoot Capital of the World”, it straddles Trinity and Humboldt counties, sitting just on the Humboldt side, but feeling more like Trinity due to its mountainous location. Willow Creek has some of the best swimmin’ holes in the Emerald Triangle. Also–beautiful art murals, river rafting, Camp Kimtu (cabins and sites right on a gorgeous bend of the Trinity River), Creekside Cottages, a beer garden, the one and only Big Foot Museum, a lovely dispensary, friendly locals, and great neighborhood bar called Forks Lounge. One day in Willow Creek is not enough, you’ll want to stay overnight.

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

GLOSSARY

Cable Car - In the Emerald Triangle, this is a common method to cross a bridgeless area of river. People park their vehicles on one side of the river and use a cable car to haul themselves and goods to their home on the other side. The “cars” are about 3-4 feet (less than 1 meter), and similar to a crude hot air balloon basket, usually made of wood. The car is manually moved from one side of the river to the other via a cable pulley system.

Claims side - The side of the New River, opposite Denny, with gold mining claims

DA - District Attorney (prosecuting attorney for the county in criminal court cases)

Denny, California - A tiny rural town in the Trinity Alps. If the wilderness were to have a version of Compton, (respectfully) Denny could serve as an example. Rugged and raw–both the land and residents. Don’t fuck with them.

Hella - California slang meaning “very”

LE - Law enforcement

New River - A tributary of the Trinity River in Denny, CA

Road Block - Common tactic by law enforcement in rural areas of blocking the main road in/out of a town to catch a suspected criminal

Salyer, CA - Small gold mining town on the Trinity River off Highway 299

SO - Sheriff’s Office (SO is also occasionally used in reference to a Sheriff Officer)

Trinity Alps - A smaller version of the Swiss Alps with trails throughout and lakes at the top, part of the gorgeous Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The highest peak is Sawtooth Mountain at just over 9,000’ elevation (around 2,745 meters).

Trinity River - One of the clearest, most beautiful rivers in NorNorCal. It flows from the Trinity Alps through Humboldt, and into the mighty Klamath River.

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RECAP: Operation Green Sweep, Part 1

The Time Armed Soldiers Invaded Humboldt

• The Posse Comitatus Act is in place in America to specifically forbid military personnel from executing the laws or having any direct involvement in civilian law enforcement activities. Doing so is considered Martial Law and needs to be officially declared when utilized by U.S. leadership.

• H.W. Bush wanted to curb the cocaine being funneled into the U.S. from South and Central America, most of it through Mexico. It was an embarrassment when leaders of “cocaine countries” called H.W. out on the thriving marijuana market and exports.

• In reaction, Bush Sr. and Dick Cheney (Sec. of Defense at the time) blueprinted Operation Green Sweep, a multi-agency federal and state battle of eradication utilizing uniformed military personnel, equipment, and supplies from both the National Guard and Army. They budgeted $2.4 billion for the entire interdiction in all 50 states.

• Operation Green Sweep in Humboldt was designed as a gravitas event—a 10-day endeavor setting the stage for this program to roll out nationwide. The heavy hand of the government would show those hippies who was in charge once and for all.

• Despite their dreams of heroic optics for the POTUS, and about $150k/day on the eradication extravaganza, only about 1,200 plants were seized and no arrests were made.

• The gov’t forfeited the battle after just 5 days in the wake of local residents protesting so loudly, the operation became a national PR nightmare. Marijuana supply was still strong in EmTri, the farmers here maintained a healthy share of the black market…risk was high, and the price of weed kept increasing due to prohibition.

• To save face, the BLM boys immediately claimed Green Sweep was a success. Days later, the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project and several residents would file a lawsuit against those involved.

And now, for Operation Green Sweep: Part 2…

Ego Shaken Sheriffs

Although law enforcement strives to represent that agencies work cooperatively as a team, it’s obvious the federal grandstanding of Operation Green Sweep really got under the skin of our local Sheriffs. Instead of receiving an “attaboy” and more money, funds were being fed to the feds.

The SOs were thinking, “what the hell do the feds know about marijuana eradication?! At first they didn’t want anything to do with it, now suddenly they’re trampling (and hovering) over the hillsides, getting money that should be ours, creating a firestorm of local outrage.”

Instead of caring about his constituents’ rights being violated, Sheriff Renner of Humboldt took his opportunity with the media to brag about how the Sheriff’s eradication efforts were better than the feds. A pissing match.

As they watched $150k/day being spent on Operation Green Sweep, all 3 Emerald Triangle Sheriffs threatened to quit eradicating weed altogether.

While notably not helping their constituents, local Sheriff Offices were doing their best to downplay their involvement, at first saying they had no participating personnel.

When a reporter asked Mendocino County SO why one of their deputies was on site at the Green Sweep base camp, they were forced to admit they DID have an officer there, but it didn’t count if he was being pimped out to BLM on contract.

Residents In A Rage

The people of Humboldt are peaceful folks by nature. They are self-sufficient and don’t expect, nor ask, for much from others, including the government. The Sheriffs were more interested in preserving their budgets and bruised egos than hearing resident complaints about Operation Green Sweep.

Residents whose properties were in the path of the military agenda near the King Range National Conservation Area, or whose recreational activities (like hiking) used those trails, were met with a variety of federal aggressions throughout the operation:

“I feel for people who were surprised by this, but it goes along with the territory in a drug raid.” - Head of BLM, Cy Jamison

The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project

Created by Humboldt locals in 1983 as a response the government intrusion from the War on Drugs, the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project was headed by Ron Sinoway (God rest his soul), a man who holds legendary status in both Humboldt and cannabis history.

Ron served as The People’s attorney time and time again against the government’s unabashed actions during the War on Drugs. He suffered a stroke a year or two before Operation Green Sweep which affected his speech and physical ability, but Sinoway didn’t let it slow him down much.

Ed Denson was Sinoway’s right hand for years prior to Denson himself passing the Bar and becoming an attorney in the latter half of his life. He’d spent the first weekend post-military invasion in 1990 meeting with residents. Meanwhile, BLM met with the media to tout the operation’s banner success, and how excited they were to expand it across the country » Mission Accomplished!

Shortly after conducting depositions with locals (some of them children, who were traumatized by the government’s conduct), CLMP retained attorneys willing to take the case on a pro-bono basis. Damn good attorneys, too.

On Dec. 21, 1992, (Republican) federal judge, Fern Smith, allowed the lawsuit to proceed for the following allegations:

1. Illegal military activity

2. Invasion of privacy by low-flying helicopters

3. Illegal force against innocent residents

4. Lack of environmental impact studies and filed reports

At this time, the judge ruled out any possibility of financial restitution. She did, however, leave the door open to change. There was room within the scope of the case to argue the points above on behalf of residents to effect procedural and fundamental change to future marijuana raids. In other words: control. Power. The People had a shot.

The way the laws are written, it would be a tough case. Well worth trying, though. After all, if the government can use optics as a method of persuasion, so can the People. And their lawyers.

Judge Smith was of the opinion to let private citizens enforce the legal ban on undeclared Martial Law. The people of Humboldt were ready.

According to Bernadette in her 1997 update in Humboldt Area Archive, “Judge Smith was highly offended at the roughshod approach the government took in this instance.”

The Prosecution and Defense

Operation Green Sweep Plaintiffs:

1. Civil Liberties Monitoring Project

2. Blossom Edwards (a minor represented by her mother, Bernadette Webster)

3. Karen Pergens

4. Don McGreevy

5. James Martin Lynn

6. David A. Taylor

7. Bernadette Webster (on behalf of herself and others similarly situated)

8. Drug Policy Foundation

Operation Green Sweep Defendants:

1. William Bennett - Individually and as Drug Czar, and as Director, National Drug Policy Council [RESIGNED 4 MO’s AFTER THE GREEN SWEEP FIASCO]

2. U.S. Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Land Management

3. Jamison Delos - National Director, BLM

4. Ed Hastey - State Director, BLM

5. Roger Bruckner - Incident Command Chief, Operation Green Sweep

6. Craig McGill - BLM Chief of Eradication Surveillance

7. A. L. Wright - BLM Ukiah District Manager

8. Walter Johnson - BLM National Law Enforcement Agent

9. Chris Brong - BLM California Law Enforcement Agent

10. US Atty General Richard L. Thornburgh

11. Robert Bender - Individually and as Special Agent in charge of the DEA

12. US Marshal, Glen Robinson - Northern District, California

13. Admiral J. William Kime - Individually and as Commander of the US Coast Guard

14. Karen McDonald - Airspace Technician of the Federal Aviation Administration

15. Paul R. Andrews - Individually and as Regional Director of the US Customs Service

16. Lou Bristol - Individually and as Group Supervisor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

17. Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney - Individually and as Secretary of the US Dept of Defense

18. Major General, Jerry White - Individual and as Commander of US Army 7th Infantry Division (light)

19. Paul Barker - Individually and as Regional Forester of the US Forest Service

20. General Robert C. Thrasher - Individually, and as Commander of the California National Guard

21. George Deukmejian - Governor

22. Hal Walt - Individually and as Director of the California Dept of Forestry and Fire Protection

23. Carolyn McIntyre - Incident Command Chief for the California Campaign against Marijuana Planting (CAMP)

24. Maurice Hannigan - Commissioner of California Highway Patrol

25. Tim Shea - Individually and as Mendocino County Sheriff (TERMINATED: 11/04/1991)

26. Major General Charles Armstrong

27. Dean Bibles - State BLM Director

28. Major General Raymond F. Reese

29. Interior Sec. Manuel Lujan, Jr.

30. Phil Ward - National Park Service

31. George J. Doane - Chief, Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement

It took 8 years, but the People of Humboldt changed federal law through activism, passion, and persistence. A new protocol was developed BY and WITH the people and the Department of Interior officially adopted it in 1999. It’s still used today.

Ironically, the fight-until-you-win character of Humboldt is a result, in part, of the War on Drugs. Residents aren’t looking to battle, but they will not back down when provoked. Strong minds and tender hearts, the Humboldt way.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Seth Ferranti and Outlaw Films’ Tangled Roots Humboldt docuseries on Vimeo. It’s so worth the $10, you guys. I’ve already watched it twice! This is the kind of documentary that explains the people, counterculture, and generational wisdom that made Humboldt what it is today. It’s extremely well produced in cooperation with dozens of local farms and residents. If you’re from here, you’ll definitely see some familiar faces!

Seth Ferranti will be the focus of Inside The Emerald Triangle in a couple weeks. His story is truly unbelievable. Before you balk at the $10 price, consider this homey spent 24 years in prison for non-violent cannabis crimes, where he became a successful writer, filmmaker, and producer FROM BEHIND BARS. His movie, White Boy, made it into the Netflix Top 10. So consider the $10 toward the cause to create the other 3 parts of this series, which are already filmed but not yet funded. Power to the people!

Here’s a recent interview with Seth on Humboldt’s KMUD radio.

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE NEXT SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Sorry, no space for the GLOSSARY this week!

On July 30, 1990, America was not yet at war in Kuwait. It was at war with itself in Operation Green Sweep. Under direction of the White House and Department Of Defense, fully armed military troops in camo hid in the wilderness. They surveilled the area, the people, the comings, goings, and doings in and around King Range National Conservation Area, showing zero respect for residents.

For all intents and purposes, it was undeclared martial law in the Emerald Triangle. The mission was warrantless eradication and, ultimately, arrests. Yet after deep cover and several days, troops would only end up eradicating about 1,200 immature cannabis plants (no buds), along with some ground plumbing…without arresting a single person.

You’d think the local Sheriff would be happy for the extra help, but he was kinda’ peeved that these yahoos from BLM were getting a large share of money that would’ve normally been in his budget. Sheriffs were also big on glory—they loved the news spotlight—so the national media hype that skipped our local Sheriffs during Operation Green Sweep didn’t add any love to the sitch.

Much of this story has been documented in first-person by Humboldt Area Archive, authored by Bernadette Webster, a generous, community-oriented Humboldt mom and wife who fought hard for the rights of her family. She sued on behalf of her outraged community for the civil liberties and homeowner rights one can expect after sacrificing the conveniences of modern life for peace and quiet in the rural vastness of the Emerald Triangle.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jonathan Leo, one of Bernadette’s attorneys, in Part 2 of this article publishing next week. He details the trial and consequences of this astonishing story. Let’s start with a historic baseline to fill in some blanks…

How Civilians Are Protected from Martial Law

The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act

The Posse Comitatus Act’s primary purpose is to forbid military personnel from executing the laws or having any direct involvement in civilian law enforcement activities. Specifically, the Act states:

“Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

In reviewing the military’s actions under the Act, Courts have developed three tests for determining whether the military has violated the Act.

1. The first test asks whether the military’s actions were “active” or “passive.”

2. The second test asks whether the use of the armed forces “pervaded” the activity of civilian law enforcement officials.

3. The third test is also the most common test, and looks at whether citizens were subject to military power that was either regulatory, prescriptive, or compulsory.

H.W. Embarrassed by U.S. Cred

Bush Senior took office in 1989, along with the new President of Mexico, Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Being from Texas, H.W. was focused on improving relations with our southern neighbor. Due to increased supply from Colombia (mainly through Mexico), the price of cocaine had plummeted in the 1980s. Coke became readily available, and one of America’s favorite party and lifestyle drugs. Colombia was harder to sway, but H.W. was confident he had a shot with Mexico for help against cocaine.

“The logic is simple. The cheapest way to eradicate narcotics is to destroy them at their source. . . . We need to wipe out crops wherever they are grown and take out labs wherever they exist.”

– George H.W. Bush

The cartels created gangs, and gangs created crime, and hard drug use was increasing. So Bush started schmoozing the Mexican President, attending events with him, being photographed helping to remove his jacket in a show of friendship. H.W. invited Salinas de Gortari to Texas, the White House, Camp David—the whole bit.

In February 1989, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Charles Pilliod Jr., stated in a press release that narcotics trafficking was the most serious diplomatic problem between the 2 countries, and that both leaders were taking steps to usher in “a new era” of mutual understanding.

By October 1989, the men were obviously attempting closer relations while vacationing at Camp David together. That’s when Bush Sr. officially asked Salinas de Gortari to curtail the cartel. H.W. needed Mexico’s help with this cocaine issue.

The liberal Mexican President agreed to create a plan/budget in an attempt to reduce cartel action. He then surprised his American host by asking in return that Bush put a stop to the sinsemilla from Northern California. Trade between the countries was also negotiated on this trip.

H.W. was notably embarrassed to be called out about weed. He became determined to honor the commitment he’d made in exchange for help with the cocaine being funneled through Mexico. So much so, he signed 7 symbolic agreements with the Democratic Mexican President during that “you can trust me, I’ll prove it” Camp David meeting.

In August, 1990, Michael Isikoff reported for the Seattle Times:

“The idea of a new federal war on marijuana might at first glance seem puzzling. Federal surveys show that use of the drug has declined sharply and is now at its lowest levels in more than 15 years. The percentage of high-school seniors reporting that they had smoked marijuana in the past month dropped by more than half - from 37 percent to 17 percent - between 1978 and last year.

Yet paradoxically, in large part because of increased federal interdiction efforts at the borders, the share of the market controlled by U.S. marijuana producers has been growing rapidly.

In the past five years, domestic marijuana production has more than doubled, ballooning into an estimated $20 billion-a-year industry, according to federal officials.”

The Proof Is In The Optics

One thing politicians do well is fluff their feathers, especially when they feel weakened or threatened. Reporters sometimes determine whether a hot story is buried within the fluff by how defensive a politician becomes about it. Speaking of fluffing feathers, the graph below shows what happened to the War on Drugs budget after the 1989 meetings with the Mexican President.

At this point in cat and mouse game of the War on Drugs, the mouse had quickly adapted to the cat’s overreaching property seizure laws by growing on public land. I can only imagine that the ever-adaptable mouse considered growing cannabis on public land a form of ironic justice.

Operation Green Sweep

Operation Green Sweep was intended to be a nationwide endeavor, created to magnify the optics of a hard line against sinsemilla for better relations with Latin American countries, using military personnel in cooperation with public land agencies. The orders came directly from the White House, with tactical ops spearheaded by the Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management. Dick Cheney was Secretary of Defense at the time and greenlighted the initial battles in California and Missouri.

Troops were set to be deployed in all 50 states. A war on farmers. The lionshare of the budget, and the first of Operation Green Sweep’s missions, took place in Northern California’s notorious Emerald Triangle. It was to be the gravitas, a Tony-award worthy performance of a crackdown. A not-so-subtle message of action from H.W. Bush for the President of Mexico and all of Latin America—“see? I can be trusted.”

The fact that the event was mainly for show explains a few things:

1. Why the operation seemed ill-prepared with poor communication with, and training for, troops unaccustomed to civilian raids. Just months earlier the same Army Infantry used in Operation Green Sweep was invading Panama to oust Noriega.

2. Federal agencies did literally zero environmental research prior to treading all over pristine wilderness and disrupting its ecosystem. Further, they cleverly circumvented submitting an Environmental Impact Report before creating a battlefield in a Humboldt park literally named as a national “Conservation Area”.

3. Why was it done in late July/early August while plants were still young, not in full flower? Eradicating full flowering plants was the usual protocol for local teams (Sheriff, CAMP, Marijuana Eradication Team) because, much like a consumer paid a dealer, the federal government paid the Sheriff by the pound for weed.

   Not the case in Operation Green Sweep. To inflate the numbers for posturing, a flat rate of $3,000 per plant was assigned, later it was adjusted to $2,000 per plant, which is still absurd. Cannabis plants in early budding are worthless, so this was a carefully manipulated mark-to-market approach to artificially inflate results.

4. When he was interviewed about the Green Sweep battle in Humboldt, BLM Director, Cy Jamison said, “if it’s one plant, it’s enough for me”, meaning if the entire operation eradicated just a single plant, he’d be happy with that result.

   One plant?? He was working with a $700,000 budget for a 5-day multi-agency eradication event. Those numbers don’t jive. And when it comes to government policy, contracts, and budgets, if the numbers don’t jive, there is always an ulterior reason. Unfortunately, reporters didn’t dig any deeper into the numbers.

Military Might in the Humboldt Hills

It’s safe to assume the last thing the Edwards siblings expected to see as they trekked through their large yard on a summer day were military men in Army fatigues pointing automatic rifles at their faces. That’s exactly what happened to Bernadette’s children in the early days of Operation Green Sweep.

The list above reflects military personnel and equipment. Operation Green Sweep was executed at the direction of federal and state agencies, who also added nearly 100 (mostly armed) employees participating with vehicles, tools, and equipment at their disposal, including backhoes, bulldozers, ATVs, etc.:

• BLM

• Fish & Game (now Fish & Wildlife)

• USFS

• DEA

• CHP

• H.W. Bush’s newly created Office of National Drug Control Policy

• Mendocino Sheriff even threw a deputy at the cause to show local cooperation

• Private contractors (equipment operators, informants, guides/trackers, service providers)

Private Property Means PRIVATE

The planned 10-day eradication operation ended abruptly on Day 5, when it became obvious the optics may be playing into more of a blunder than a banner moment for H.W. Also, the Kuwait invasion had started in the middle of all this!

During the 5-day appetizer of hell in Humboldt, undeclared martial law was at its best. Locals were met with assault rifles on public trails. And as Bernadette’s 17-year-old daughter, Blossom, would soon find out, children weren’t safe in their own yard. When she and her brother, Logan, noticed camo’d, armed troops aiming to kill them through madrone bushes in their yard, Blossom called out to the soldiers. No response. No ease. No movement. Children caught in a military conflict in their own California backyard. Unreal.

Days later, a fuming Bernadette Webster would attend a meeting at Mateel Community Center led by civil rights advocates…a couple of the War on Drugs’ capeless heroes of the Emerald Triangle, Ed Denson and Ron Sinoway. Ed worked for the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project and Ron was a highly revered (no pun intended:) Humboldt defense attorney who fiercely defended locals and their civil rights in the cat and mouse game of the War on Drugs.

Bernadette and many others would spend the better part of the following weekend (8/4 - 8/5/1990) providing documentation, witness accounts, and a piece of their mind, to legally contradict yet another blatant overreach of the government into their personal lives, not to mention the pristine Emerald Triangle environment.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Mendo Local on Substack by Elise Cox. For those of you who want to stay up to date in all 3 corners of the Emerald Triangle, the journalist to follow in Mendocino County is Elise Cox. I love this Substack because it’s nitty-gritty, super current, digs deep, and is extremely educational with background info for those new to the area, or otherwise just diving into local news. Thanks for your hard work, Elise!

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram I’m @NorCalWeedGal

GLOSSARY:

Cred - Credibility.

King Range National Conservation Area - A delicate part of Humboldt’s pristine ecosystem that locals viewed as their public backyard, utilizing trails and public lands regularly.

Martial Law - Has to be officially declared by government officials in cases of emergency when military forces may be necessary to be used in civilian circumstances (weather catastrophes, riots, etc.).

Mateel Community Center - Built by locals in Southern Humboldt (Garberville, Briceland, and Redway) as a gathering space during the War on Drugs. Locals would meet here to discuss the latest moves by law enforcement and how to better protect themselves, their children, and their quality of life.

Sitch - Modern American slang for “situation”.

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1. Our counties were receiving multi-millions in federal funds to eradicate marijuana from many sources…BLM, USFS, DEA, CAMP, etc. Local law enforcement often bought equipment and resources locally.

2. Farmers, farmhands, and trimmigrants all had cash. They paid in cash for everything. This boosted small local economies immensely.

This timeline was created as an overview into the War on Drugs from where I grew up inside the Emerald Triangle. It’s a glimpse, a snapshot. There is so much more, but this timeline gives everyone an educational baseline for reference.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Hopko Art Glass in Weaverville, California. Mike Hopko and I were mates at Trinity High School in the 1980s. Stoner buddies! Mike went on to become an incredible glass artist, dedicating his life to family, blowing glass, fishing, and golf. He’s living a life he carved out for himself—let that be an inspiration to those of you stuck in jobs you hate! It’s possible!

You’ll see his art worldwide—it’s sold at the highest levels of hospitality, celebrity, and gallery. Check out his videos of works in progress on Facebook! Or check out his portfolio here if you’re interested in ordering a piece.

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE NEXT SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Subscribe now

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In choosing weed, I also chose to hide part of who I am for safety’s sake. Back in the 1980s, we weren’t as worried about being labeled a stoner, as we were about being busted by the cops. During the “Just Say No” era, stoners were constantly hiding around corners, behind bushes, and famously, in basements or laundry rooms. Eventually, I was only hiding to escape judgment.

Stonership IRL (In Real Life)

The way the timeline above has played out in American culture is due, in part, to strategic indoctrination by the federal government. Beginning in the early 1970s, stoners (and organizations run by stoners, like NORML and High Times) have attempted to dismantle the propaganda machine that spewed lies and spun the data in favor of conservative ideology for decades.

While crime was increasing after years of fighting a War on Drugs they’d started, the government was telling us the war was working—just look at all the arrests and busts they’d made! Logic would argue that if the war had been effective, crime would have decreased, not increased.

Chances are you, or someone you know, smokes weed everyday and is fully capable of professional-level conversations and capacity. We all know those people, or ARE those people. I can smoke and smoke and smoke and not really feel high because my tolerance is through the roof. But my limit with alcohol is 2 shots of Jameson—a total lightweight. I rarely drink.

So why do I smoke if I don’t really ever feel high? I enjoy it. The point of consumption for me is not necessarily euphoria, it’s joy. Pure pleasure. The fact that it likely has some positive effects on my immune system is a bonus, although to what degree remains to be seen. Overall, I’m extremely healthy.

My lungs have been on the receiving end of the negative effects of daily smoke inhalation for nearly 40 years, and I’m reminded of that sacrifice regularly. The Emerald Triangle cannabis I consume is organic, but in terms of long-term damage, there’s no escaping that smoke is an enemy of the lung. People who don’t understand weed have told me to switch to edibles instead of smoking. It’s a different experience, a totally different high. Maybe I’ll get there in my elder years.

The cigarette and alcohol industry had a stronghold for a long time on consumer preference…demand for liquor, beer, wine, and cigarettes held pretty steady since the end of alcohol prohibition in 1933 until the 1970s. After all, drinking and smoking at the office were perfectly acceptable, while marijuana was shunned by conservatives.

Medical history would enlighten us all, turning cigarettes into “cancer sticks” and alcohol into “dementia drinks”. The most recent research about alcohol shows that there is NO amount that is healthy to drink.

The way my body reacts to alcohol makes it obvious it’s poison. The way my body reacts to weed makes it obvious it’s medicine…at least for me.

As one who strives for success, laser focused on aspirations, I gravitated toward weed partially for its allure of harmlessness (I’d seen my parents smoking regularly, yet never out of control nor lethargic), but I also think I chose it as a way to self-medicate, for the balance it provides me. Smoking weed helps to ground me. It unwinds my mental state in a way that allows me to think more methodically. Instead of slowing me down, it regulates my fast-paced mind to an average speed.

The Incredible Endocannabinoid System

A breakthrough in our human endocannabinoid system (ECS) came smack-dab in the middle of the War on Drugs in 1988. A female scientist, Dr. Allyn Howlett, based her work on discoveries from the 1960s and isolated the THC cannabinoid receptor in rats to show how bodies process cannabinoids from the cannabis plant in such an efficient and medicinal way, it was systematic. It should’ve taken medical and pharmaceutical communities by storm—a whole new system of receptors designed to distribute cannabis medicine without any visible negative side effects or overdose.

Think about the intricacies and importance of the nervous and circulatory systems. This new regulatory system was a phenomenal discovery at the time! But the importance of that discovery wouldn’t make its way throughout the medical community, much less into the general public anytime soon—the U.S. government saw to that. Big Pharma was positioned to launch an opioid epidemic in the late '80s, so they weren’t interested in natural medicine.

Politicians and agency heads needed to “ixnay the edicalmay” information because it interfered with their agenda of creating criminals to imprison, as well as Big Pharma’s (Big Donor/Lobbyist’s) goal of hooking vulnerable Americans on prescribed heroine. The more people they hooked, arrested, rehab’d, and imprisoned, the easier that data was spun to make the War on Drugs look like it made sense. In reality it was (and still is) a continued policy fail, costing billions in taxpayer dollars without producing any positive results.

As scientists are encouraged (and financed) to research the intricacies of the ECS, we will come to understand more about how various cannabinoid cells affect people in different ways…why one person can have a panic attack after smoking weed, while another experiences a blissful, happy high smoking the same strain at the same time. The explanation is in chemistry yet to be discovered.

Here’s an interesting timeline for those of you who want to rabbit-hole the history of cannabis and the endocannabinoid system.

My Marijuana Masquerade

When I was a teen and young adult, hiding that I was a stoner became part of my identity as much as my stonership itself. My adult life took off, and camouflage became a necessity…as an employee at world leading companies, as a mom, a Rotarian, a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador, a neighbor, a school Board member, a traveler & guest, a marketing consultant, even as a friend (some of my friends frowned upon weed).

For a long time—a good 20 years of my life—I thought the best way for me to break the stigma was to achieve. I called myself a “high achiever” among my close friends to buck the stigma and felt huge pride in my accomplishments…awards, wins, promotions, big salaries…thinking each triumph would prove to the world something I felt destined to exemplify: that stoners aren’t flakey dipshits.

My intentions were solid, but my aim was off. I was shootin’ wild with both hands, trying to hide part of my identity, while somehow simultaneously proving to the world that the identity I was hiding was worthy. In retrospect, it makes absolutely no sense.

I became so accustomed to the masquerade, it took me about 5 years to fully embody my NorCalWeedGal self, slowly shedding those layers of protection after recreational legalization here in California. I dabbled in that freedom before then, but felt it too risky (professionally) in the long run.

After California’s recreational legalization in 2018, I slowly started realizing I didn’t have to hide anymore. And when I “came out of the basement” so to speak, I flexed. When our individual spirit is suppressed and suddenly finds itself free to soar, it wants to fly to exhaustion.

By 2020, I was in full Emerald Triangle research and development mode…talking with farmers and business owners here, meeting Visitor Center directors, networking, and snapping pics and vids of iconic Em Tri scenery on road trip after road trip. Breaking that stoner stigma gradually folded right into my work and it all felt right.

I realized about 6 years ago that it was time to adapt and retire my second nature of hiding. I knew it would be uncomfortable, maybe even awkward. Yeah, whatever—worth it! No more subtle shame. No insecurity. And no flexing needed. Just be me. I figured out who that was along the way, giving this journey in the latter half of my life some unexpected purpose. It wouldn’t be until 2024 that I put all my chips on the table and changed my Facebook profile to include my NorCalWeedGal identity.

People sometimes use my nickname to insult me on social media. I’m cool with that. After years of R&D about the history of cannabis and the Emerald Triangle, the putdowns feel more ignorant than insulting. I simply don’t believe them, so they vaporize like a puff of full-spec rosin in a NorCal breeze.

Celebrity Power for the Flower

If you want something said, say it. If you want it to be heard, have a celebrity say it. The truth in America is that celebrities have a level of unrivaled power that gives them opportunities to shift public thinking. My step-mom was a legal secretary for the attorney for the Grateful Dead. She’d tell us stories at the dinner table of Jerry Garcia walking into their office smoking a joint, or lighting one up in the middle of a meeting. That was just Jerry.

Snoop Dogg is the same way. During the Roast of Justin Bieber, Snoop was seated next to Martha Stewart, who said he never stopped smoking blunts and by the end of the show, she was high as a kite! Normalizing it doesn’t encourage smoking weed any more than a guy holding a beer encourages drinking.

Woody Harrelson put himself out there as a stoner fairly early in his career, refusing to hide. He used his celebrity to do more than smoke at his leisure, he became a loud advocate for legalization.

Harrelson continues to make strides in the industry with The Woods dispensary and smoking lounge in Southern California (and expanding with locations nationwide), where he holds annual cannabis competitions to highlight and support small farmers.

A fan of Emerald Triangle outdoor herb, Harrelson created a category solely for EmTri outdoor farmers called “Woody’s Personal Stash” and this year, chose flower from Trinity Alps Canna Craft as the winner. A spotlight on their brand these boutique farmers wouldn’t otherwise see.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the legend himself—Willie Nelson. The original IDGAF-what-you-think stoner. Willie proved the stereotype false early on, except no one was paying much attention to that fact. Willie’s smoking became more of a running joke than a testament of truth.

These celebs are just a handful that used their power to help break the stoner stigma by showing and doing. It wasn’t a gimmick, or hype. It was just them being themselves. A freedom not to be underestimated.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Cannifest 2026 in Humboldt! This year’s event takes place the weekend of Sept. 12-13th at Arcata Ballpark in Arcata, California. Not to be confused with the worldwide CannAfest, Humboldt’s Cannifest is filled with Emerald Triangle industry legends (it’s where I met legacy farmers Jill and Eric from Humboldt’s Most Wanted). I nerd out on that shit, but if rubbing elbows with legacy farmers isn’t your jam, there’s a TON of other cool stuff…

• A couple nice stages and live music for most of the festival

• Local bands and outsiders that rock the house

• Artists in action (graffiti artists, henna tattoos)

• Local vendors on site (candies, hemp goods, merch, food, alcohol)

• Shuttle and walking to local dispensaries for legal cannabis purchases

• Dispensary owner meet & greets at their exhibit booths, discount & promo cards

• Dancing, shopping merch, eating the best EmTri food truck grub, frisbee

• Fun, easy-to-meet locals looking to have a good time, awesome vibe

• On-site smoking lounge areas (no alcohol allowed in these areas)

• Cannifest in Humboldt celebrates the origin of sinsemilla—The Emerald Triangle

Weekend passes available. Last year I camped nearby to avoid driving. Here’s the Cannifest list of recommended accommodations. Get your tickets now while they’re still discounted before July 21, 2026!

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY: Small Town Girl

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Subscribe now

GLOSSARY:

Allyn Howlett, PhD - Scientist professor who isolated and identified the endocannabinoid system in the human body in 1988. Her breakthrough paved the way for a deeper understanding of receptors CB1 and CB2 in the 1990s.

Endocannabinoid System - A receptor system in humans and all animal life, from mammals to invertebrates, that helps us maintain biological balance. The only plant that also has an endocannabinoid system is cannabis. When the plant is consumed, the endocannabinoids in the plant “speak” to the human receptors and are distributed accordingly as medicine. Sometimes people have adverse reactions to weed (like panic attacks) and medical studies are finally now being allowed to determine more about how and why the plant works as it does. Stay tuned!

Full-Spec Rosin - Refers to “full-spectrum rosin” as a type of vape cartridge. Rosin is created through manufacturing cannabis.

Ixnay the edicalmay - Pig Latin for “nix the medical”, meaning “don’t discuss it”.

R & D - Research and development.

Stonership - The act of being a long-term stoner. Membership in the Club of Stoners.

Weeducator - A weed educator, someone who has extensive knowledge about cannabis and shares it with others through workshops, conferences, speaking engagements, published work, and various channels of media distribution. Different from people getting high in front of a camera. Weeducators are more about getting knowledge in front of the camera.

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“This reporter and photographer wanted to do a story about marijuana cultivation. So they come up and talk with Sheriff Kelly, who invites them into our briefing about this raid we're about to do up at Evan's Bar in Junction City, We'd flown it twice, so I knew there was a grow patch there. We got word they had guns, so we were prepared. After the bust, Sheriff Kelly (a Navy guy) was wading a canoe with the detainee over the river and it capsized from a big wave. Soaked his AR-15!” -Sgt. Chuck Sanborn, Trinity Sheriff’s Dept.

Thank you to the San Francisco Chronicle for allowing me to share this story written by Stephen Magagnini, (and accompanying photos) originally published Oct. 6, 1980, when the War on Drugs was just starting to ramp up in the Emerald Triangle. Pre-published material is copyright of Newspapers.com. Proprietary color photo is copyright of NorCalWeedGal.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Blue Ox Millworks & Historic Village in Eureka, California is a step back in time. A perfect stop for history buffs, especially those with interest in logging and millwork, a cornerstone of Northern California. The facility is a working mill! It’s also a walking tour museum of some incredible manual equipment dating back to the mid-1800s. Blue Ox even offers woodworking classes! With a presence on the Magnolia channel, a formal resolution by the California Assembly, and one of the most fascinating collections of antique wood milling equipment, Blue Ox is a gem within the gem of the Emerald Triangle. Very cool experience for people of all ages! They’re closed on weekends, so plan your visit accordingly, open 9a-4p Mon.-Fri. at 1 X Street on the “Arcata side” of Eureka. Reach them by phone at (707) 444-3437 or visit their website here for more info!

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE NEXT SUNDAY: Small Town Girl

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

Subscribe now

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Herbicides in the Emerald Triangle

The prefix herb- and suffix -cide tells you unequivocally, that the intent of herbicides are to kill herbs. Or more broadly, plants. The words herbicide and pesticide are often interchanged, and dusted on almost every crop of anything you can imagine—from forests to food. Even organic foods use a certain amount of certain types of pesticides.

Did you know that 80% of all aerial herbicide sprays in America are distributed on cereal crops? Rice, corn, and wheat. I didn’t! The super dangerous herbicides, which we’ll be covering today, have names like “2,4-D” and “2,4,5-T”, commonly referred to as DDTs. These two particular herbicides were mixed together in a 50/50 split to create Agent Orange, used with reckless abandon by the United States government in another war—Vietnam. For the purposes of an easier read, I’ll refer to these pesticides as simply Agent Orange. For the record, 2,4,5-T was the most dangerous.

Also, as a heads up, this article is focused on the government’s role in herbicide distribution, although agriculture and cartel weed growers certainly contributed to the problem. In terms of long-term damage, though, nothing beats the aerial spraying of Agent Orange chemicals.

I interviewed a currently registered Forester in Northern California for this piece (let’s call him “Scott Lee”), who gave me such an education, it was hard to contain even a quarter of that information into one article. Under an agreement of anonymity, he was able to share more than he could as an identified employee of the Forest Service. Specializing in herbicides professionally for 7 years now, Mr. Lee has worked in both pre- and post- wildfire conditions, as well as forests all over NorCal.

My biggest takeaway from our conversation was Scott explaining how there likely wouldn’t be a problem with herbicides if they were used “as instructed on the label”. The EPA standards are created based on EVERYONE exacting the labeled instructions which, he said, sadly almost never happens. Variables of whether or not instructions are precisely followed include cost (time and product), safety regards, training, management, intelligence, attention to detail (even the type of applicator nozzle makes a difference), and human error.

Scott isn’t pro-poison, he’s pro-forest. And he’s absolutely anti-aerial spraying in the wilderness. He offered a deep, respectful understanding when he explained that forests need to be managed to mitigate wildfires, to allow for trails and recreation, and to even BE forests at all (vs. mostly brush with a few conifers). Scott has the luxury of working in the 21st century—a good 50 years in the future from the 1970’s herbicide battles of the Emerald Triangle—with Jetson-style technological advancements (like GPS and drones).

Effects of Agent Orange Poisoning

Short-term effects of exposure are nausea, diarrhea, sore throat, and body lesions similar to acne. Long-term effects of inhalation, contact, and ingestion (food & water) can lead to miscarriage, birth defects, tumors, and certain types of cancer, specifically thyroid and non-hodgkin lymphoma. Animal studies have shown effects from prolonged exposure mutating in a blood line for 3 generations.

Dioxins, the chemical compounds in these ultra-potent herbicides, are also released into our environment through a number of sources having nothing to do with aerial spraying, like forest fires, volcanoes, and paper mills (the chemical is created by chlorine after bleaching paper).

The most dangerous aspects of dioxins are the way they attach to food and settle into water sediment, an uninvited, lethal guest. They don’t disintegrate quickly, often causing long-term exposure for residents where it’s sprayed. The half-life in the human body is around 10 years, which means it doesn’t start to leave our body for 10 years, and takes twice that (or longer) to be gone entirely, provided we’re not taking in any new dioxins.

“Farmers, farmers, put away your DDT. I don’t care about spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees. Please.”

–Joni Mitchell, 1970

Mendocino’s Long-Fought Championship

Despite opposition by the local Environmental Protection Agency and the North Coast Sierra Club, in 1976, CalTrans received a permit from the state to use 23 different herbicides alongside roadways in Mendocino and Humboldt (and their northern neighbor, Del Norte) counties for weed control.

CalTrans said only 5 of those herbicides would be used in coastal zones. Whew, right? Except the 5 they deemed safe for coastal roadways included 3 that have since been determined (ironically, by the state of California who’d approved repetitive previous roadway sprayings) as moderately to highly toxic to aquatic life. The deadly Vietnam Agent Orange combo accounted for 2 of them.

The fight really started on April 22, 1977, at 5:30 in the morning, when a hired helicopter by the Masonite Corporation attempted to cover 200 acres of a 530-acre target area with Agent Orange. As the wind picked up early that Friday, the toxic spray drifted 3 miles from its intended target (as later measured by residue). Many residents reported illness but were blown off since they weren’t able to “prove a conclusive link”. Here’s a clip from the Ukiah Daily Journal:

Symptoms reported by locals were the EXACT side effects of Agent Orange poisoning, yet there was no “conclusive link” from the sloppy spraying of toxic sludge to the illnesses reported in the following days.

Well, when Masonite Corp. poisoned Mendocino children and then told locals to “prove it”, it set off a public chain reaction in the county that would gain traction in 1979 when the people of Mendocino voted a ban on all aerial spraying of Agent Orange-based herbicides.

The feds and state argued in court for the right to toxify Mendocino, because who are the people of any rural county to have jurisdiction of their land over state and fed? Sierra Club lawyers fought hard representing Mendo’s residents, forests, and delicate coastline. It would take 5 years of appeals, all the way to the California Supreme Court, who agreed (by 1 vote!) with Mendocino County in 1984.

The issue being argued wasn’t even the toxicity of herbicides, it was much bigger than that—whether or not the feds (or state) had the power to aerial spray Agent Orange in Mendocino County, willfully ignoring local legislation. This decision for the People of Mendocino altered the power balance of aerial spraying in California. Suddenly, counties had a voice.

Corruption & Condescension

The corruption in the Emerald Triangle doesn’t stop with the Boards of Supervisors, Sheriff’s Departments, CHP, and their cronies. The Forest Service, BLM, CalTrans and even some non-profits are notorious for doing what they want, then lying about it, even falsifying records to cover their tracks. Hell, I’ve personally witnessed an Executive Director at a successful local non-profit perjure herself in a California court! Her Board members know, but don’t care how many laws she breaks. Untouchable.

Once ego-centric people are in positions of power in small towns, they can be untouchable through layers of protection by the corrupt players around them. And once they know they’re untouchable, it can get ugly. They’ll say anything, do whatever they want without concern for the law. They answer to no one, so the buck stops with them in terms of paperwork that can be fudged, and bold faced lies to prevent further investigation. They do it over and over because they get away with it over and over.

The vibe was condescension from state and federal representatives during herbicide publicity moments of the 1970s and '80s. Here the government was, literally dumping the MOST dangerous chemical known to man on mining claims and ranches, on forests and watersheds, then scoffing at residents who thought spraying Agent Orange chemicals from a high altitude was dangerous.

Richard G. Reid, an Information Forester for the USFS, told the people of Trinity County in 1977 that Agent Orange was “less likely to cause birth defects than Vitamin A or table salt”. He made this absurd claim well after studies had proven birth defects and miscarriages in 1970, when it was banned from food crops.

“That’s someone who doesn’t understand dose and exposure”, countered Forester Scott Lee in our interview (5 decades later), “that’s what toxicity is…it can only be understood by concepts of dose and exposure, right? What he’s saying is that an acute dose of the chemical that he’s applying [an Agent Orange chemical] was less likely to cause birth defects than the same acute dose of salt. It’s not acute exposure that we’re worried about with herbicides. Prolonged exposure is what is most harmful about herbicides, not dose.”

For years and years, government reps kept lying to the public, and worse. Retired CalTrans employees have verified that the practice of lying, then altering paperwork to match the lie, continues by management. Here’s what this type of corruption looks like:

• Spraying in areas that shouldn’t be sprayed (near creeks, wildlife habitats, etc.)

• Spraying chemicals that shouldn’t be sprayed (high concentration levels, illegal chemicals)

• Not notifying the public with ample notice before sprays

• Not filing an environmental impact report for any sprays

• Over-spraying

• Aerial sprays on windy days (can drift 30+ miles)

• Aerial sprays that were dropped from a high altitude (reports of 200’ drops in Denny)

• Purposely setting fire to pre-sprayed areas to create noxious fumes (to drive out hippies)

• Not posting proper signage (CalTrans and Forest Service employees both admitted seeing this happen first-hand)

• Spraying during harvest (berries, vegetables, fruit, weed)

• Spraying just before and during deer hunting season, against a state mandate

• Swearing it is safe, then telling the public not to hunt in sprayed areas

• Belittling the public as if they’re stupid for thinking Agent Orange was unsafe when it had been banned for food crops in 1970 by the EPA. (In February of 1977, the EPA began a process to ban the chemical from use by Forest Service)

• Acting as if label guidelines don’t pertain to them (i.e., not preventing animals from contact for 24 hours with roadside sprays)

In 1976, a spokesman for the herbicide industry (funded by Dow Chemicals and DuPont—no conflict of interest there, right?) actually stated that Agent Orange “vanishes” when sprayed. That’s how stupid they thought we were!

Trinity County’s Herbicidal Tendencies

The same story about the school bus stop was happening throughout the Emerald Triangle, except in some cases, it was much more deliberately done to penalize hippies. The feds and state could do what they wanted because there were no consequences for poisoning people since a “conclusive link” was impossible to prove and lies (or cronies) would cover it up anyway.

Witnesses were aplenty…

“You don’t have to take my word for it, there are thousands of people who have witnessed this very thing happening. Chamber of Commerce President, Les Arbo, was in the Denny area and watched the same thing take place. Many people have watched the USFS contracted helicopters apply these phenoxy herbicides as high as probably 200 feet above the ground with the wind blowing hard enough to create small dirt devils. Yet, it is denied by USFS personnel.

You deny these herbicides reaching our domestic water, yet the Forest Service puts signs up saying, ‘Caution this water may be slightly toxic’. It’s beyond me how you can look anyone in the eye and call Bill Neill, District Attorney, a liar.”

– Chuck Bryant, Denny, CA resident, 1977

The Chamber of Commerce President weighs in…

And, in a subtle hint at redneck justice, Les Arbo (whom Chuck Bryant mentioned in his letter) also wrote a letter to the Trinity Journal Editor and included an excerpt from Organic Gardening magazine (he cites page 6 of the January 1977 issue) about an organic homesteader in Minnesota who was arrested for shooting blanks into the air when USFS sprayed Agent Orange near his family’s ranch. It was self-defense against the government’s “chemical warfare”, he argued. The farmer was found not guilty by a jury, and Mr. Arbo concluded his letter by asking, “Sound familiar? Who is God?”

Another story from Denny…

“Our son was born with a hair lip in 1978. I had hiked for hours thru the smoke of a 2,4-D /2,4,5-T sprayed area that was being burned when I was 2.5 to 3 months pregnant. At the time I did not know it was toxic smoke until I got to the trailhead and saw that the area being burned was smoke coming from an area that had been previously sprayed with Agent Orange. We went to court. Evergreen helicopter paid $10,000 for their part in aerial spray of Agent Orange.”

—Darlene Cody, 1970s Denny, CA resident

Proof of disregard for residents…

The newspaper clippings below prove 2 important facts about the Trinity County USFS in 1977:

1. They consistently did NOT give proper advanced notification before aerial sprays of Agent Orange.

2. They were completely ignoring a mandate by California State Food & Agriculture Dept. (announced on July 25, 1977) prohibiting the spraying of Agent Orange during deer season + 2 weeks prior. This would’ve meant no spraying from mid-Aug through about October, 1977. You know why they ignored it? To poison weed farmers and their crops during harvest season. The War on Drugs was no joke.

We Had Alternatives All Along

Cost was ALWAYS the primary reason the USFS and CalTrans gave for aerial spraying Agent Orange on our forests, rivers, coastline, and mining claims throughout the Emerald Triangle. Bill Neill, Trinity’s badass D.A. at the time, finally had enough and called them out on it…

When the United States completely banned all use of the 2,4,5-T Agent Orange chemical in 1985, you’d think the USFS would’ve gone broke, right? All that bitching about how impossible things would be without aerial sprays, yet somehow, management figured out an alternative to poisoning its wildlife and residents with aerial DDTs year after year.

The birth defects, miscarriages, and levels of cancer were all abnormally high for residents of the Emerald Triangle who were forced into prolonged exposure by the government. Alternate solutions always existed, they just weren’t as cheap and easy, and didn’t exterminate hippies, so the Forest Service couldn’t be bothered.

Between 1987 and 2000, the release of dioxins in the United States reduced by 90%. The diminution is attributed to a reduction in “environmental releases” since the 1980s, citing regulations and advancements in pollution control technologies. See, Forest Service? You were wearing our ruby slippers in the Emerald forest all along, you just needed to click your heels.

Forester Scott Lee assured me in our interview that USFS is now managed by folks who actually care about the environment. He said it’s a lot different from the 1970’s Forest Service reported here, which he admits, was horrifying. Scott’s a firm believer that when certified professionals who actually care about the forest and the entire ecosystem it supports, follow the label and carefully apply manual applications safely and minimally, glyphosate (RoundUp) is one of the safest ways to maintain a healthy forest. He’s very specific about its purpose, dose, and manner of application.

For me, it sounds like a tall order from an agency willing to kill and deform unborn babies during my lifetime, but I’ll take hope where I can get it, and Scott Lee was a glimmer of that.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Trinity County Brewing Company in Weaverville, CA. I cannot say enough great things about this business, its vibe, and its owners. Oh, and award-winning beer—ah-hem! TCBC (as it’s known to locals) is a happy place. There’s usually something fun happening…live music, open mic, “science on tap” (an evening of science-based local info), holiday bazaars, trivia, yummy food specials, and parties, both inside and out in the dog-friendly “backyard” filled with picnic tables and umbrellas. Grab yourself a hat or hoodie for mems!

Closed Mon.-Tues. Open 11-8 Sun., Wed., Thurs. Open 11-9 Fri. & Sat. Visit their website to view the menu and upcoming events, and give ‘em a call at (530) 423-4114 with any questions. TCBC is located at 301 Main St. in Weaverville, Trinity County, the upper right corner of the Emerald Triangle.

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

No space for the Glossary this week! In fact, I have so much information from this article, I’ll release a companion piece later this week with the Glossary, and supporting info in case you’d like to dive deeper.

Subscribe now

How Hippies Happened Here

In the 1960s in Humboldt, Trinity, and Mendocino, there were many small communities made up of extended families—generations of cousins and siblings and land owners whose families had been here since their towns were founded during the gold rush era. They lived on legacy land established after the Natives were run off, or massacred.

In the Emerald Triangle, we’re known for less people and more open space in between them. The hippie counter culture from the San Francisco Bay Area saw that open space as a gift. A doorway to the life they envisioned for humanity, yet could not seem to manifest in an urban (or suburban) environment.

The hippie movement did more than create incredible fashion and music, it changed perspectives and shifted priorities. It was, at the time, a complete phenomenon. These Baby Boomer rebels felt empowered by breaking norms. Hair got longer and razors went by way of Cleaver-family ideals. Clothes, including shoes, suddenly seemed optional, as did deodorant.

Side Note: My parents were hippie in mind and heart, not in physical appearance. Protests were a civic duty of utmost importance, up there with voting and education. Dad shaved his beard in the early ‘70s and commuted from the vineyards of Sonoma County to his teaching job in Tiburon, California. After moving to the Emerald Triangle, my mom would also find her long lost razor, and cozy into a county job with the kind of stability that eluded more hardcore hippies. Both part of the original movement in 1960’s San Francisco, they became more “hippie light” throughout my childhood.

Hippie Culture (in the Emerald Triangle)

• Communal living (shared housing or property, vehicles, child care, food, etc.)

• Freedom in sexuality (open relationships, throuples, orgies)

• Minimal clothing (nude was norm, especially on communes)

• Bathing was low priority (and sometimes communal, river baths were seasonally popular)

• Hitch hiking was a form of transportation

• Growing & hunting food (locals shared knowledge, and hippies loved books so they learned)

• Growing weed (most used Ed Rosenthal’s Marijuana Grower’s Guide)

• Created systems of survival (relying on one another and learned skills)

• Bartering was common (trading among one another, or with willing local vendors)

• Build It/Fix It (they were handy at building and fixing through shared and self education)

• Lack of censorship (hippies believed their children should experience art without shame. They weren’t handing us Playboys, but they weren’t shielding us from news, nudity, or life)

• Arrived in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s in the Emerald Triangle as young, idealistic adults, expecting to create the life they envisioned for themselves and their children

• Used Self-Deprecating Humor to diffuse hated and biased directed their way (naming themselves “freaks” and “drop outs” as a snub to reset societal expectations of them)

• Bought land in the mountains, or leased BLM mining claims (relocated, almost communally)

• Saw tradition as fluid—something to be reimagined and reshaped like Play Dough (similar to how younger generations see gender now)

• One of their mottos was to “turn on, tune in, drop out” started by Timothy Leary in 1967

• The Emerald Triangle Back-To-Landers were all hippies (but not all hippies became BTLers. Hippie was a fundamental culture, BTL was one variety of it)

• No matter the obstacles (and there was no shortage), BTLers held tight their vision of their Utopia

• Conservatives despised the influx of newcomers (who seemed to spit in the face of everything they stood for—tradition, military service, and respectable personal hygiene)

Side Note: As a newly welcomed member of the team at the Counterculture History Coalition, I’m thrilled to share some of their stories and works. CHC has been working for years with the Back To The Land Project and other affiliates to document this valuable history accurately, from the hippies who lived it, in the Emerald Triangle and surrounding areas and states. More on CHC’s vision and a link to their page are below in this article.

Back To Lander Stories from Denny & New River

Brian Hill’s story is about his life as a new Back-To-Lander in 1972-73, shortened for length. Susan’s story is about going from Manhattan back to the land in 1970, published in full below.

Thanks to both these BTLers for allowing me to share their stories. For more information about the Counterculture History Coalition and Back To The Land Project, visit their website here.

What Happened To Hippie Culture?

The wave of hippie change crashed onto the shores of American society. Many of the BTLers nestled into their new homestead locations for the long-term, their families still around decades later, contributing through art, education, health care, business, and farming.

The Legacy Farmers of the Emerald Triangle perfected sinsemilla in the mid-’70s, the first cannabis without seeds. That innovation leveled-up marijuana forever. Some of those generational farms have survived very tumultuous times since then, and are still goin’, still growin’, like Huckleberry Hill, and Hogwash Pharms. We salute you!

Comedians like George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and the Smothers Brothers were inspired to break rules on stage, and on air. They pushed the envelope of “acceptable” to broaden the meaning for everyone, giving us all more freedom to say, do, and be what we want. And they inspired future comedians like Eddie Murphy, Dana Carvey, and Stephen Colbert.

Artists sprinkled themselves into the mountainscapes and produced powerful work. My mom’s close friend, Heidi Endemann, settled with her husband in Gualala (Mendocino), where inspiration and space for a personal gallery were both abundant. Gualala (and small towns in Mendocino, especially on the coast) became somewhat of an artist mecca.

Entrepreneurs of hippie culture applied their activist energy to launch businesses and non-profits…Birkenstock USA, Laguitas Brewing, Traditional Medicinals, counter culture magazines like High Times, Rolling Stone, and organizations like NORML and Greenpeace. They organized the first Earth Day in 1970, which led to nationwide environmental protections, like the EPA and Clean Water Act. In the Emerald Triangle, Phil Jergenson settled in to manufacture the Protopipe in Willits, and Marie Mills opened The Hemp Connection in Redway (later moving to Garberville).

In a most ironic twist, however, many of the hippies that stayed in San Francisco and Marin County became yuppies in the 1980s after their net worth and property values skyrocketed. Yuppies…an instrument within the very machine hippies had resisted just years earlier!

The undoing was a fascinating transition to witness in real time (and I did) as the hippie movement became virtually comatose in San Francisco and the Bay Area, swallowed up by the materialism of the 1980s. The new era of mall shopping and name brands was rather atrociously reflected by bumper stickers that read: “He who dies with the most toys, WINS”.

For bougie yuppies, their former hippie life felt like an embarrassment. Something they did, not part of who they were. They traded their Volkswagons for Mercedes, and protesting became as blasé as polka.

The hippie influence will never be lost, it’s still a powerful part of California history and ideology. Personal stories like Susan’s and Brian’s will continue to resuscitate the vivid truth of the Emerald Triangle history they lived. Without these individual stories, the hippie movement is just an era.

Instead of a Glossary this week, I thought it would be fun to share a list of slang words made popular by hippies. I think it’s important to note that many of these words originated in Black culture.

List of Hippie Slang Words from the 1970s

Anti-natalist - An advocate of population control.

Bad - Really cool, as in “that car is bad!”, which evolved into “badass”.

Boss - Impressive.

Bread - Money.

Chick - A female. Said to be derived from the 19th century word “chickabiddy”, friendly slang for a young girl. I would debate that in hippie culture, it more likely came from “chica”, the Spanish word for girl.

Clean - Free of drug addiction, or free of possession of drugs.

Cool - Replaced the word “keen” from the 1930s to describe something impressive or respected.

Drag - Something that’s bringing you down.

Dude - Originally referred to a male, but has evolved to be universal and genderless.

Dudette - THIS WAS A TEST. THERE’S NO SUCH WORD! PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T EVER USE THIS WORD.

Ecocide - The willful destruction of the natural environment.

Ecofreak - An environmentalist.

Freak - Hippie-minded. Eventually “freak” would evolve into a negative connotation, often following “Jesus” or “speed”. The media didn’t help, instantly creating an ominous reputation around freaks, like using it to describe a homicide suspect.

Grasshopper - Someone who smokes weed.

Groove - A rhythm or positive energy flow. If something was groovy, it was good.

Hippie - Someone on the cusp of new trends and information. The term comes from “hep” used by Blacks in the 1930s, as in “he’s a hep cat”, which evolved into “hip cat”, then shortened to “hip”, followed by the more friendly sounding “hipster”, and finally, “hippie”.

Heavy - Intense. Weighted with emotion.

Imploit - To take measures that will offset exploitation of natural resources. In modern terms, we refer to this as a negative (or reverse) carbon footprint.

Love-in - Less of a protest, more of a peace festival, grounded in fundamentals of peace and love. A hippie-cousin of a “sit-in” (born during the Civil Rights movement), love-ins were often held to draw awareness and resistance to a topic, like the Vietnam War, and sometimes just for fun. In the height of falling in love, John Lennon & Yoko Ono famously had a 2-week “bed-in” protest in 1969. What a sacrifice! Kidding aside, these events were really about an awareness of love.

Plastic - Someone or something fake.

Rap - To talk or chat. Derived from “rapport”.

Sexism - Prejudice or discrimination against women.

Shades - Sunglasses.

Stagflation - Inflation characterized by stagnation in consumer demand and price-wage imbalance.

Stud - A handsome, muscular man.

Tripsie - Companion to someone on LSD.

Urbicidal - The destruction of cities.

Wiped Out - Exhausted or otherwise empty, like financially. Also used to describe a surfing, skating, skiing, or biking accident, someone may say they “wiped out”.

Counterculture History Coalition’s Vision

To gather, organize and curate exhibits from Affiliates’ collections, which showcase the various aspects of Counterculture values and methods of harmonious living, community self-reliance and individual inventiveness and resilience arising out of the Counterculture of the 1960s.

Back-to-the-Land (BTL) Project (Weaverville, Trinity County, CA)

The back-to-the-land project is an independent research project born in 2018 from the meeting of Cultural Anthropologist, Brian Hill from Trinity County, and Paolo Stuppia, a Political Science PhD., who has worked with southern France back-to-the-landers for 15+ years.

The main goal of the project is to collect a data base of stories told by the people who created and experienced the BTL movement since the 1960s in the West Coast. They call this collaborative effort a “collective ethnography”. It also includes a comparison with European BTL movements. Brian Hill and Paolo Stuppia are among the original founders of the CHC. Twitter. Facebook page. Instagram

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Gold Rush ruins in Old Shasta, California. Okay, technically, this isn’t in the Emerald Triangle, but it IS one of the gateways in the Trinity corner of the triangle. It’s also an important part of the gold rush history in our region and Old Shasta preserved their gold rush antiquities in a way that allows you to stroll both sides of the town (divided by Highway 299) and explore the ruins, as well as the museum across the street. There’s even an original cemetery on the east side, about a block down. Old Shasta is wonderful stop on your road trip, or add in a hike to Whiskeytown Falls (trail head is a few miles west on 299) and make it a full day!

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out the Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE EVERY OTHER SUNDAY!

Hi, I’m Kerry Hurley, aka “NorCalWeedGal” (thanks to my lifelong stonership). Thanks for reading! A little about me…I consciously decided to become a regular cannabis consumer at 16 years old. I wrote about that here, if you’re interested to read more.

Anyway, I grew up, and currently live in, the Emerald Triangle. A perfect place to be a teenage stoner! (except the War on Drugs was raging here then) My friends and I, including a retired Sheriff Sergeant from Trinity County, have some wild stories from that time. And in my 6 years of research and interviews, I’ve discovered so much more to share about the dark side…the corruption, scandals, murders. And the inspirational side…the talented innovators, artists, and multi-generational farmers. I hope you’ll subscribe and join me!

Stories from Inside The Emerald Triangle are all true, to the best of any witness recollection. I also do my best to verify information through public records, additional first-hand accounts, photos, archives, and media reports. This isn’t bullshit. It’s 100% human written and human lived! I don’t use AI, even for editing. (as you may notice by the occasional human error)

The purpose of this publication is to document and distribute true history about Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity Counties (mostly during the War on Drugs from 1979-1996) in order to preserve it, while at the same time, sharing it to entertain and educate others in a modern context.

I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history, and your kind consideration of upgrading to the paid version (even if just for a month or two) to help me continue this work. It really does help. Thanks so much for reading!

In high regards,

Kerry, NorCalWeedGal

» on Facebook & Instagram, I’m @NorCalWeedGal

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Factors To Consider

Sitting there reading this, the problems with a career in drug smuggling may look obvious. True, yet there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Consider those in vulnerable situations…runaway teens, foster kids aging into adulthood, addicts, anyone with unaddressed trauma (like those who’ve been abused). In Mexico, the Cartel targets poor children, locking them into a lifetime of trafficking. High paying jobs can be limited for myriad of reasons. No one in 3rd grade wanted to be a drug mule when they grew up, right? It’s just one of those jobs someone naively falls into, then gets trapped.

2. By choking supply, the War on Drugs created a thriving black market—BIG profits for those willing to take the risks. Let’s break it down…back in the 1980s, I paid $50 for an ⅛ of weed >> that’s one-eighth of an ounce. So, $50x8 = $400 x 16oz in a pound = $6,400 street value for one pound of weed in the mid-late 1980s.

   According to my OG farmer friend with 50 years of experience growing weed for sale on the black market, plants from seed yield more bud than plants from clones. And clones weren’t really a thing until the 1990s. He said it was normal for his plants (all from seed) to yield 5 pounds in the 1980s.

   That’s $32,000 FROM ONE PLANT. Multiply that by 40 plants, which was a mid-size “patch”, as the cops used to call it. That’s why guns and dogs were almost always found on raids (and occasionally boobie traps, which we’ll cover in a future article), because farmers needed to protect their most valuable possession.

3. The risk of being a drug smuggler increases over the course of employment. Mules learn names, addresses, relationships, cost/profit numbers, and a lot of “classified” information accidentally acquired by necessity of the job. Mules don’t ask questions or seek out information. They know better. The longer someone runs drugs, though, the more information they have, which eventually means one of two things for their boss: that person is either an asset or a liability. Respectively, life or death.

Side Note: While researching drug mules, I came across an interesting artifact at the DEA Museum in Arlington, Virginia. It’s from a literal drug mule used in the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Laos) for opium smuggling. Here’s a link if you want to check out the photo and description in detail.

Interview With An Emerald Triangle Drug Mule

In my recent interview with a long-retired Emerald Triangle mule, I was given quite the education. She ran cannabis from Trinity County to the Bay Area, then would run drugs back from the Bay Area to Trinity in the 1980s during the height of the War on Drugs. She’s never spoken of this before now. As a follower of my work, she was willing to open up for the sake of preserving this Emerald Triangle history. After our interview, she commented that it felt good to get it out, release the past that she’s held in for so long. Names are changed or undisclosed to protect anonymity.

[The writer’s voice is in bold from here on]

How old were you when you started?

19.

How did you find out about the job?

I hung out in Douglas City all the time, and I met this guy, Donnie, and was hangin’ out with him. And we were down river one day and he set this white stuff on the hood of his car. I go, “Oh! What’s that?” and he goes, “You have to snort it with a straw”, and he showed me how. And I tried it. I was 17, 18, something like that. And that was it! That was my drug of choice, the high was great. That’s back when it was good. Now it’s tainted with all kinds of stuff. Back then it was just Drano (laughs), now it’s all kinds of other stuff. But that’s what got me sucked in, was him. I got hooked on that and I was hooked in the business.

Then he had people he wanted to rip off. Everyone who was growing around here, he knew who they were and he would rip them off. Then he told me, “You’re gonna’ be the driver. I got people in the city, you’re just gonna’ drop it off, pick up money or other drugs, and bring it back here”. And that was my job, just to go back and forth.

Who did you work for? How many farmers?

Just him. He would go out in the middle of the night during harvest season. This was before such things as cameras or people stationed in the crops and all that. He would pull them and just have like two big armloads of pot, come runnin’ down the hill, filthy dirty, shove everything in the car, and say, “GO!”.

One time when I got down to the city, one guy opened the trunk and grabbed a bud stalk. That sucker was this long (gestures with hands about 12” apart), this big around (cups one hand into a partial circle about 3”), he says “man, this is great shit!”. I didn’t know anything about it, and he goes, “you’re gonna score this time!”.

I’m like, “okay” (indifferent). I was just a dumb teenager back then.

Did you ever smoke it?

I tried twice to smoke it, but all it does is comatose me and I can’t function.

What was it like when you started? Can you set the scene for me?

Once I got hooked on the drugs, I mean, Donnie took me down south (Bay Area) and introduce me to these people as his girlfriend. So I kinda’ got in and knew them. And then after that, he didn’t go anymore, it was just me. And I knew if I didn’t bring everything back exactly how they gave it to me, I was gonna’ get my ass whooped.

Did you go down and back in one day?

It all depended on if they had the product ready (meth). I may sit there and wait a couple hours or stay overnight or whatever.

Where did you meet up with them?

If I didn’t know where they lived, I’d meet ‘em at a gas station, and get into their car. They’d blindfold me, and one of them would drive my car. Once I was inside their house, they’d take the blindfold off. And the whole time you’re thinking, “I gotta’ trust who I’m working for and this is all gonna’ turn out okay and I’m not gonna’ end up dead”.

It was all men? No women around?

All men. I didn’t see any women.

Were you ever raped?

Thank God I was never raped.

Do you think that’s because your boyfriend introduced you to them?

I don’t know. I was very lucky. I got left in some weird spots down there that scared the livin’ life outta’ me.

How much did you make per week? Or were you paid by the run?

I don’t know how much he made, but it was a lot. He covered our expenses. I made the run.

Oh, so you weren’t paid for the run?

No, that was all him. And that’s the thing, you could make $1,000 in an hour on the meth we brought back. We made thousands of dollars a day on the meth. There were so many addicts up here. And if you can break it down and sell smaller portions, you’d make more money off of it. It was crazy. It was good money and then you get to a point like, “crap I gotta’ get out of this”, you know?

So for you was the money in the meth once you returned?

Yes, I made some money on selling it. He paid for everything else—fuel, food, housing.

Were you the only mule working for him?

I didn’t know and I didn’t ask. Whoever else he worked with, I have no idea. He did have someone that was helping him. But the less I knew, the better off I was.

A few times he got pissed at me and I said, “fine, I’m just gonna’ leave, I’m not gonna’ do this no more”. I was packing my stuff…and where did that get me? Handcuffed and locked in the closet for days on end, or scrubbin’ the bathroom floor with my own toothbrush, you know? And he says, “Now you’re gonna’ go back to work”. That’s why I never left. That’s why my nose is crooked. It got broke.

He punched you in the face with his fist?

Mmm-hmm. I got beat all the time. That’s the whole part of being in that job. I mean, everybody wanted “The Emerald Triangle” stuff. And I would take it down (to the Bay Area), and if the guy didn’t have Donnie’s meth ready, the guy would stick me in a camper and lock the door. I was always being locked up somewhere! And all I got was water and a Snickers. Finally he’d come out, “okay, you’re shit’s in your car, you can leave”.

How often were your trips down there?

It was only during harvest season, and I was goin’ down there all the time. He’d kind of give it a rest for a while in between. He’d wait a week because someone would get their crop ripped off, and everyone would be keeping their eyes open. As soon as things calmed down, he’d do it again.

So the stealing of the pot…where did he…?

Tucker Hill, Vincent Gulch…those areas where you get in there, and it was just wooded, you know? Some of these people, I knew exactly who they were and hear them talkin’ about their crop getting ripped off and I was thinkin’, “oh man, I know who did it. And I had to haul that stuff”. It was rough. He’s lucky he didn’t get murdered. I’m surprised. He’s in the valley now in a rehab. He actually called me a month ago to apologize. He said, “I called to apologize. It’s part of the program and I want to apologize for everything that I’ve ever done to you”. He wasn’t sorry back then, so… (shrugs)

How long did you haul cannabis down to the Bay Area?

For him, 3 years. And then him and I split up finally and he had someone else do it.

You went to work for someone else after that?

Well, my next boyfriend worked at the mill and he was a (meth) supplier for this whole town. He was a drug dealer. And I thought, “well, that’s cool. He deals drugs, I love drugs”. And that’s when the logging industry was really going, the marijuana was happening.

Yeah, there was a lot of money in Weaverville back then.

The bars were packed every night. Every single night.

So you started working for him, and were you doing the same thing?

No, I wasn’t transporting any more, we just sold meth. He’d get it from different people and break it down. He’d rent me a motel room somewhere and I’d go break it down. We’d add like Vitamin B-12 to it to cut it and nobody knew. You’d make more money off it. And he got the stuff so pure that you’d have to break it down or people would just kill themselves on it. And now they’re lacing it with fentanyl.

You mentioned a couple cities: Fairfax in Marin County, and Vacaville in Solano Co. Did you go other places, too?

San Rafael. I worked for Donnie and he worked for all these other people down there in Fairfax, San Rafael, Fairfield. So I was their runner back and forth. I remember one time when I got home…I had bought this sportscar, a fancy one, I loved it. I was cleanin’ it out and I looked underneath the dash and I found this wad of cash that had been crammed up in there. I was like, “how did that get there?”. I kept it and didn’t say a word.

You told me about the murdered guy who smuggled for the Cartel. Can you describe how you two met?

His name was Mundo, he was from Mexico. I met him at the bar, someone introduced me. This was years after I quit everything, but we were talkin’ about stories because he’d bring stuff here from Mexico and I was like, “how the heck can you get it across the border?” He goes, “we have ways”. He never talked about it and I never asked more.

He told me that with the Cartel, if you’re caught stealing, they’d just get loppers and start cuttin’ your fingers off. If you do something wrong, it’s no problem to tie you to a post in the barn and let the dogs attack you. He just started listing stuff. It’s disgusting.

He said in Mexico, when you work for them, you don’t get out. He goes, “you’re lucky. You’re out, you’re free, and you don’t even want to do this shit anymore—that’s really good. I can’t get out. Ever. I’m up here doing their work.” His girlfriend had a house up there on Buckhorn (Mountain) and he was staying with her for a while.

I’m sure they (Cartel) have someone who replaced him up here.

How did she kill him?

She shot him in 2018. It was in the paper. She called him up to the house for something (from Weaverville to Buckhorn) and he went up there. He walked up to the house and she pulled a gun. He put his hand up, got a bullet through it. He turned around and ran and she shot him in the back a few times. He got all the way to the highway there. That was so sad. This whole town was just so upset. Such a good guy. The girlfriend self-inflicted wounds to make it seem like he’d hit her so she’d look better in court. She only did 7 years, just got out of prison.

(Here is a link to a story about that in The Trinity Journal)

Her boyfriend before that she stabbed him in the gut. She was super crazy.

Side Note: Mundo had 7 kilos of meth when he got shot, and it disappeared somewhere. I heard it was hidden in the wall of the house. Either the cops or the Cartel ended up with that undocumented stash.

What was his story? How’d he get into the game?

He said down there (Mexico) what the Cartel did is they start gettin’ you as a kid. If you need money—and he said everybody needs money down there, they were all poor—and they give you nice clothes and a place to live…they give you lots of money. You get in and you just don’t get out. I had never met anyone in the Cartel before. What I did wasn’t shit compared to what Mundo did!

Was there a reality of death on the job? Or more a feeling of invincibility or naivety?

Oh yeah. There was a few times that I got so scared, I just accepted death was coming. I was ready. Because there was one time when I wanted out and Donnie put one bullet in the gun to my head and played Russian roulette. And that’s where you just prepare yourself for death. And every time you heard that ‘click’, your heart just frickin’ jumped through the roof. It was a very scary time. I remember sittin’ at that table and the guys that were sittin’ there were just laughing about it. They thought it was funny.

There was one time we were way back up on the road behind the store (Holiday, then Tops Market, in Weaverville), at this old lady’s house all partying one night and for some reason, him and his friend thought it would be really funny—because they were all slammin’ (injecting) it—and I was like, “nah, I don’t like needles, I don’t wanna slam it”.

Next thing I know, they’re holding me on the floor, put my arm out, stuck it in me, and all I could hear was just this freight train running through my head. When they slam that stuff, it’s a weird feeling…a weird feeling. And I woke up just soaking wet, and I’m like, “what happened? I’m wet!” and he says, “You died. We had to do CPR and we threw you in the bathtub”. Later he told me, “if you would’ve stayed dead, we’d ‘a just hauled you off to the bushes and left you there”.

So I don’t know if I actually died. They could’ve been lyin’, but that’s what they told me.

What was the scariest drug run you ever made?

I drove to San Rafael, I had the marijuana, and met them at a gas station. I got in their car and they blind-folded me and drove me to their house, one of them drove my car with the weed in it. They led me inside, sat me on the couch, and took off the blindfold.

All the windows were covered, it was very dark inside. And this guy came in and threw this huge baseball-type thing on the coffee table, a big huge thing of meth, and he goes, “help yourself. We’re gonna give you a ride back” (from Marin County to Trinity), someone will bring your car. And I’m thinkin’ “oh shit”, because they’re flinging their guns around thinkin’ it was all funny and stuff.

So they blindfold me and put me in the back of a little teeny, tiny car, and we headed out. After we got outta’ their place, they took off the blindfold. It was late when we got to Goose Ranch Rd. (in Lewiston, Trinity County), and we went down Partridge Lane. They got out and walked down to this house, tied the owner up really well in phone cords and duct tape, and robbed the place while they had me waiting in the car.

They came runnin’ back with bundles of trimmed weed, loaded it all in, and said, “okay, we’re gonna’ drive you into town to your house”. The only reason I know they used phone cords and duct tape is because they joked about it in the car. I’m sure they knew the growers were not going to call 9-1-1.

They got into town and I said, “you can just drop me right here in front of the mill. I’m fine”. I wasn’t gonna’ have him drop me off at my home! I tell you what—I never ran faster in my whole life! Left my car there. This was midnight, 1am. As soon as I got outta’ that car, I just ran. I mean, I ran and didn’t stop. Did. Not. Stop.

Donnie went to the mill for the car the next day.

How did you stop being a drug mule?

That’s when I finally left Donnie, we had a break-up. Got the court involved because we had a kid by that point.

He wasn’t worried about you talking?

He talked about it more than I did! He still talks about it! He’s in rehab right now, I’m sure he tells everybody. He’d always talk about, “remember when…?”, and I’d go, “yeah”, you know?

So when you guys broke up, you were done being a drug mule?

Yeah, I didn’t want to be a mule anymore. But when I met my next boyfriend, he was workin’ at the mill sellin’ the stuff (meth). Then I got into sellin’ it with him because he was working all the time.

And I guess you get free stuff that way?

Yep! Kept the stuff up your nose, you were doin’ good. It was good shit back then.

What was your most valuable lesson or takeaway from that experience?

I wish I would’ve done something else besides becoming a mule. You know? I could’ve gotten a good job and been so much further in life than I am now. I’m very thankful I got a good (office) job after that…at least I have some type of retirement, that’s good. But I could’ve done better in my life.

I wish I would’ve never tried meth. That was a huge downfall. I loved him (Donnie), and wanted to be cool. I wanted to try it. And then I loved it.

This interview was not easy for my source, opening old wounds that understandably created trauma. I’d like to thank her publicly for her time, candor, and willingness to preserve truth.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: A selfie at High & Highland Ave. in Eureka, California! This is a neighborhood, so y’know—please respect people, cars, and the quiet vibe. It’s a cool photo opp, though, and right in town. Grab some sandwiches at Pile High Deli or The Grotto and have a picnic with a view at nearby Highland Park!

Eureka recently invested in renovations to the park to add activities and landscaping. They modernized it, so bring your pickleball paddle for a fun afternoon on one of their 8 courts (or 4 tennis courts). Or if you’d rather stroll off that lunch, the rehabilitated walking path will suit you perfectly! There is also a playground and open space for the kiddos. Eureka is a very dog-friendly city, so well-behaved furry friends are welcome. Restrooms on site. Entrance off Highland Ave. right near High Street. (see map below)

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

If you like murder mysteries and podcasts, check out my new Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast on YouTube! Uninterrupted, professional murder mysteries that keep you in suspense until the last scene. Always a twist ending!

NEW EPISODE THIS SUNDAY: Escape To Skull Island

With high regards, I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history! Follow me on Facebook & Instagram @NorCalWeedGal

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GLOSSARY: (If I’ve used a word/term not listed here, consider reading previous articles, or my Official Emerald Triangle Glossary. I try not to repeat definitions in the glossary.)

1/8 - Common size of a bag of weed, referred to as “an eighth”. On the black market in the 1980s, an eighth of good weed (ganja) was around $50. By the early ’90s, it was $60—I even remember paying $65—for an eighth of an ounce. To give you an idea of how hard the market fell after recreational legalization in California, I can now buy a whole ounce of purple, outdoor, sticky bud for $50.

Bay Area - San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California.

Buckhorn - The large, steep mountain separating Redding from Weaverville.

Down River - A term used in Trinity County to designate a region from Weaverville to Willow Creek.

Drug Mule - Someone who smuggles illicit drugs, usually across a border (county, state, country).

Golden Triangle - Area in Southeast Asia known for growing the best opium poppies in the world, consisting of 3 countries: Thailand, Burma, and Laos.

Loppers - Heavy duty shears.

Meth - Methamphetamine. Aka “stuff” or “shit”.

OG - Originally a term coined in Black American culture meaning “original gangster”. This term is intended to give automatic respect since the OGs are like the elders, the wise ones who’ve been through some shit and lived to see another day. Since the 1980s, “OG” has come to be used to describe anyone who is part of the beginning of something extraordinary.

Runner - In this context, someone who transports illegal drugs.

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Creating an illegal market for cannabis, then choking supply with a war on drugs, then caring more about the ag war they created than actual human lives…THAT’S what caused the problem here.

Side Note: For the record, I was raised with a healthy respect for cops and authority in general. I’ve never been arrested, detained, or run with others who were. So, when I say law enforcement caused the problem, it’s out of observational truth in history, not bias.

I went into this project of Inside the Emerald Triangle with neutrality, having conducted hours of interviews with LE. I truly appreciate the work good cops do, the sacrifices they make, and risks they take. I see them as heroes alongside other professions like firefighter, pilot, and of course, military.

My research into the War on Drugs has unearthed some of the corruption, cover-ups, scandals, and exploitation long buried in the Emerald Triangle. It’s ugly to learn and hard to fully digest. The historical evolution of trimmigrants began with adventurous naivety, and sadly ended decades later with misogynist priorities.

A History of Trimmigrants

1960s

The Back to Landers (now known as Legacy Farmers) relocated and started growing everything, including weed, which quickly proved to produce the highest yield and profit, so they grew more. Extended harvest parties were common in Fall, farmers would invite friends to come up from the Bay Area and down from Oregon to help them trim. It was a very communal set up with a full hippie vibe. Some of those visiting friends decided to stay in the area and became Legacy Farmers themselves.

1970s

Legacy Farmers cultivated sinsemillia, the first weed without seeds. American society was easing up on stigmas against cannabis and by the mid-’70s, laws were starting to follow. In an underground employment network, trimmigrants connected with one another as well as with farmers. The farmers shared trimmers within their network. This was a win-win that would continue for decades.

1980s

The Emerald Triangle farmers unwittingly created a world renowned brand. Cannabis enthusiasts came from all over to experience the phenomenon of trimming for an Emerald Triangle farmer. Meanwhile, Reagan’s War on Drugs was in full force with raids, property seizures, hefty fines, and prison for cultivators (trimmers didn’t really face consequences since cops were focused on growers).

Federally funded local Emerald Triangle Sheriff Departments were getting an extra $3-5 million a year, as well as embezzling weed and guns from the evidence locker to sell on the side. This propped up the Black Market (supply was less, so demand and prices grew), as well as local economies. Trimmigrants added heavily to that Q4 economy since they were paid in cash and often spent a good amount of it locally before leaving town (hotels, clothing, shoes, dining, gifts, souvenirs, etc.).

1990s

Loose regulations on medical marijuana laws in California enticed an influx of Cartel and nefarious actors, buying property in cash to use as a fortress. Pollution, trash, rape, murder, and disappearances began to skyrocket. Law enforcement focused on the illegal grows, notoriously never the rapes, murders, or disappearances. This significantly increased risk for trimmers, especially females.

2000s

Trimmigrants started using the internet to locate work in the Emerald Triangle. While law enforcement continued to focus on cannabis cultivation, the rapes, murders, and number of missing people increased year over year. That’s where the Reveal article below picks up. I hope you’ll read it in its entirety. It’s got teeth…very eye opening about the trimmigrant subculture in the Emerald Triangle, offering examples of LE’s willful ignorance through stories from trimmers who lived it. Notably written before the market fell out, and still perfectly captures the essence of the lifestyle at the time.

This article was originally published by Reveal on Sept. 8, 2016, written by Shoshana Walter, shared with permission.

Accountability, Criminal Justice, Immigration, Inequality, Trimmigrants, Worked Over, Workers’ Rights

In secretive marijuana industry, whispers of abuse and trafficking

In the Emerald Triangle, trees are ever present. They peek over small towns and dip into valleys, sheathing this cluster of remote Northern California counties in silence.

For decades, the ancient forests here have provided cover for the nation’s largest marijuana-growing industry, shielding pot farmers from convention, outsiders and law enforcement.

But the forests also hide secrets, among them young women with stories of sexual abuse and exploitation. Some have spoken out; a handful have pressed charges. Most have confided only in private.

Students from the nearest college, Humboldt State University, return from a summer of trimming marijuana buds with tales of being forced to give their boss a blow job to get paid. Other “trimmigrants,” who typically work during the June-to-November harvest, recount offers of higher wages to trim topless.

During one harvest season, two growers began having sex with their teenage trimmer. When they feared she would run away, they locked her inside an oversized toolbox with breathing holes.

Contact with law enforcement is rare and, female trimmigrants say, rarely satisfying.

Continue reading Shoshana Walter’s Reveal article here…

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Mendocino Country Store in the village of Mendocino, California. This delightful little store is packed with quality items and prides itself on outstanding customer service. The seaside location makes for an easy walk from downtown with lots of great stops in along the way. Their concierge-like service offers a wine bar with tractor seats, wine shipping, and personalized gift services. This is a great place to pick up a locally made or artisan gift with a lovely variety of small to interesting to vintage goods. Also a good spot for picnic extras, like sauces, dressings, jams, and of course, wine.

Open daily, 11a-5p. (707) 397-1414 Located at 10481 Lansing St, Mendocino, CA 95460

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

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GLOSSARY: (If I’ve used a word/term not listed here, consider reading previous articles, or my Official Emerald Triangle Glossary. I try not to repeat definitions in the glossary.)

Q4 - A business abbreviation referring to the 4th quarter of the year from September-December when most companies make profits enough to see them through the next year.

Reveal News - Outstanding online news source with in-depth reporting, award-winning reporters and photo journalists.

Trimmigrant - Word coined for people who migrated from all over the world to the Emerald Triangle to trim weed during harvest season for Legacy Farmers.

Trimmigration - When trimmigrants saturated the Emerald Triangle from about August-November for work during harvest season.

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The flow of tips from the public is a freeway of information for cops. Depending on the quantity and quality of those tips, law enforcement (on every level—from the FBI to local police) use this information to develop their response. In other words, cops could not do what we expect of them if it weren’t for informants. Such a fundamental part of law enforcement and yet, no oversight, no regulatory boundaries.

The public is encouraged to call, assuring us we can remain anonymous. That model has proven successful because most cops honor the first rule about informants:

“You never give up an informant. You just don’t do it.” – Sgt. Chuck Sanborn, retired, Trinity County Sheriff’s Department during the War on Drugs

For scenarios like missing people or unsolved murders, tips can make or break a case. This was also a strategy during the War on Drugs—to persuade people to report their neighbors for growing weed.

But where is the line? …the line between informant and entrapper? The line between cop and criminal?

Pay-to-Play

Tipsters calling in to help solve a case (even for a reward) are much different than a compensated informant. When an informant is incentivized to participate in a sting operation, cops are intentionally flipping the script to work from the inside out. This goes back to the topic of manufactured crime that I skimmed over a few weeks ago in the Dirk Dickenson Prelude article.

Instead of being prepared to solve crime when it happens, or tackle cold cases, cops use sting operations to attempt to get ahead of crime. They use intel from informants to set the stage for the crime in order to “catch” someone committing it.

Monetary benefits are very appealing to individuals among certain categories…addicts, convicts, single parents, young adults…anyone with limited financial opportunity. Since there is no regulatory oversight on the practice of incentivized informants, or informants in general, lines can get blurred.

How Did Cops Find Informants?

The following is an excerpt from a 1981 interview with an undercover Mendocino County Sheriff’s Officer (MCSO) proudly describing his tactics…

Knowing Good Intel From Bad

Law enforcement had a grading system for informants. A good informant could get traded around to other precincts and agencies like penny stock on a Monday. Those with the best grades were well-compensated. A record was kept in the informant’s file noting each subsequent court conviction, acquittal, or dismissal from the intel they provided. Obviously, the more convictions, the higher an informant’s grade.

Informants earning bad grades were those with a pattern of acquittals and dismissals. Informants who made empty promises, proved untrustworthy or otherwise ineffective also had their records flagged to prevent future attempts at a deal should they be arrested.

But the informant could only take LE so far…confirmation of the information provided was paramount. Cops could get eager (or ego) and pounce too soon, skipping valuable steps with tragic results. Without confirmation, intel was just hearsay. Validating the tip is what solidified it as intel.

Risks and Consequences

Snitches get stitches. Loose lips sink ships. All those cliches are true, especially in the culture of the Emerald Triangle. It’s a legit challenge for cops here because anyone new stands out. It takes a minute (10 years+) for locals to trust newcomers. Part of the reason for that is the reputation out-of-towners have built of taking advantage of locals. Swindlers have left behind a residual scar tissue effect on the culture that causes residents to be cautious about newcomers.

Also, from a strategic standpoint, how do you have an informant in a town of 160 people? Occasionally, tips would come in through informants located elsewhere who “knew a guy” (like in the case of Dirk Dickenson) somewhere in the Emerald Triangle. The further the informer was from the Emerald Triangle, the less reliable their intel.

In areas like Southern Humboldt, Northern Mendocino, Southern Trinity, communities were tightly knit. Redneck justice is our term for social justice in the Emerald Triangle (Redneck Justice will be a future article because it was phenomenal, like a forest gang). We’ve definitely had our share of thieves being murdered for trying to steal plants, their bodies found months—or even years—later. Sometimes never.

Have you ever seen one of those giant outdoor chess games? The risk of being an informant in the Emerald Triangle was like playing that giant chess game, using obvious moves they hoped would go unnoticed. Informants are more successful in a city…the Emerald Triangle has 2 cities, Eureka and Ukiah. The woman arrested at her home in this bust in 1977 was a Eureka housewife, not a hard-nosed criminal…

The informant in the story above likely would’ve left the Emerald Triangle after this bust to avoid the redneck justice that surely awaited him.

Undercover officers also chose a huge personal risk by putting themselves in the middle of heated, sometimes violent, situations. Cops could easily be killed or get their informant killed if they weren’t careful.

Being an informant in the Emerald Triangle was just like being an informant anywhere else, except totally conspicuous. A dangerous exception.

Narc Sharks

An undercover agent or officer (known as a “Narc”) is also a type of informant. This cop’s job is to bond so closely with criminals, the officer essentially becomes one of them, seen as a trusted criminal comrade on the street, or at the very least a link in the communication or supply chain. You’ve seen it in the movies, right? …where undercover boundaries are painted with watercolor-esque strokes, blending the intentional and the unintentional. Generally, the role requires submersion into whatever criminal underbelly is being investigated.

The bigger the operation, the deeper the cover. And the deeper the cover the more time it takes to develop. And the longer an operation, the higher the cost. That being the case, generally, undercover cops in the Emerald Triangle came from a federal agency, or were young, new hires that no one knew locally.

The Narc At Trinity High School

During my Senior year at Trinity High School in the late 1980s, the height of the War on Drugs, we welcomed a new student into my 4th period Journalism class. Since I served as Editor-in Chief of our school newspaper, I let the Assistant Editor talk with the newbie and put him on appropriate assignments. I never remember talking to him or being curious about his backstory. Feels rude now, but apparently I had other priorities.

A few weeks later, I was busted for smoking weed before school and suspended for 3 days. My friend and I had trekked way the hell out in the woods, but were apparently still on campus (only in Trinity!) when the principal heard us giggling and chatting while he was on “stoner duty” patrolling Headrush Hill before the first bell. (No kidding—the path to Trinity High School is nicknamed Headrush Hill by faculty and students!)

Side Note: It’s so funny to remember Sgt. Sanborn on the volunteer Board that met with me to discuss my violation of the law and consequential punishment. That was only 1 of 2 occasions I’ve quit weed for any length of time since I became a stoner at 16. I quit for 3 months that year. (The other time was before my new-hire drug test at NBC Comcast in 2010.)

During my suspension, this new kid, “Evan” from my Journalism class, came out as a Narc. He was a 23-year-old baby-faced undercover cop, a new hire by Trinity County Sheriff.

When I asked Sgt. Sanborn recently about Evan the Narc, he told me that Evan actually started his undercover gig at Hayfork High School before being planted at Trinity. Sgt. Sanborn admits the chilly, guarded welcome from students prevented Evan from making friends or gathering much intel, although he did get some (most likely on parents who grew or sold cannabis).

Sgt. Sanborn seems to be under the impression that a lack of weed supply at Trinity High proved Evan’s mission unsuccessful there. I find that ironic, since I always had weed, knew where to get weed, and was actually busted FOR WEED during Evan’s investigation. I was no dealer, but he didn’t dig very deep…I was a known stoner.

It makes my point about how the culture here naturally blocks newcomers. Sgt. Sanborn said faculty at both schools was not informed about Evan’s cover to ensure its stability.

Evan the Narc stayed with TCSO for over a decade, and of course EVERYONE in town knew Evan the Narc after that.

Cost To The Community

The costs and risks involved in manufacturing crime by developing relationships with informants and paying them (either with money or leniency) to create a situation that otherwise would not have happened, are more than monetary.

Think about it in terms of 100% being all of something. If a Sheriff’s Office devotes say (hypothetically), 30% of its focus on sting operations, where is that 30% focus being pulled from their 100%? Street patrol? Cold cases? Community relations? So, the cost is also in the form of a community’s law enforcement resources.

Another cost to the community has been tragic results from bad intel, like cops executing suspects who should’ve seen a courtroom. A life is a helluva price to pay in the name of a manufactured war on drugs that is supposed to be saving lives. And if cops were too lazy (or eager) to confirm the intel using surveillance and interviews, the price of their mistakes was millions of dollars in lawsuits, and another thick layer of scar tissue distrust.

Entrapment was becoming a crutch for cops and they began to exploit the lack of regulation. Attorneys and judges began to push back. The underbelly of the underbelly began to see light…

ABOVE: This archived news clip (1983) shows how law enforcement in Mendocino finally started to be held accountable for encouraging people to buy drugs in undercover schemes. The kind of headline MCSO DID NOT appreciate.

BELOW: This jury took 15 minutes to deliberate on entrapment after a 2-day trial, costing Mendocino thousands in legal/court fees on top of law enforcement salaries.

Whenever you see a headline about a drug “sting operation”, notice what was involved, why, and the ultimate outcome. Not the number of arrests, but convictions. Ask yourself if it was worth the overall cost. Sometimes it can be…for a big pedophile ring. But a sting that busts a housewife for selling weed? *eye roll*

It’s human nature to gobble up a headline, maybe even stow it away in your brain for future reference—that’s why I’m bringing this up. In doing my research for Inside The Emerald Triangle, I’ve noticed that cops (just like politicians) use media to twist the truth and gain public approval. I’m passing that knowledge along to better arm you when you see those headlines about big raids and sting operations involving drugs or non-violent crimes.

Front page (or prime-time) busts are like little wins for law enforcement, and they’ve been known to artificially manufacture headlines by inviting reporters along on potentially dangerous raids JUST TO GIN UP PUBLICITY.

Let that sink in a minute. Isn’t that mind-blowing?

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The lake’s full! :D Trinity Lake is near and dear to my heart. So many memorable holidays and weekends there as a kid, surrounded by forests and crisp, mountain air. Trinity Lake is manmade as part of a water system that also funnels water from the Trinity Alps to Whiskeytown and farmers in the Central Valley. There’s good ol’ Cedar Stock Marina and Trinity Lake Marina where you can dock, refuel, or rent boats and jet skis. Cedar Stock also has a lovely restaurant!

Pro Tip: Don’t bother with white clothes at Trinity Lake, you’ll be happier that way. The red dirt is everywhere along the shore and as fun as it is to make into clay, it stains like a bugger!

Check out Trinity Lake Marina’s website for more information.

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

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GLOSSARY: (If I’ve used a word/term not listed here, consider reading previous articles, or my Official Emerald Triangle Glossary. I try not to repeat definitions in the glossary.)

Informant - Someone who provides insider information to law enforcement. Sometimes the informant is compensated. Often they are kept confidential.

MCSO - Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office(r).

Narc - Both a noun and a verb, slang. Noun: A person who shares information, usually covertly to the cops. Also slang for an undercover narcotics officer. Verb: To snitch, to betray someone’s trust by telling their nefarious secret(s).

Penny Stock - An inexpensive share of stock, typically easily and affordably traded on the stock market.

Redneck Justice - A vigilante system of social justice in the Emerald Triangle that makes perfect sense to locals, but can be extreme. A good example is the dozen+ fires that burned hippie shacks I documented a few weeks ago in this article.

Sting Operation - When cops design the setting for a crime in order to arrest anyone who commits the crime they set up (a simple example would be keys left in an unlocked Mercedes Benz parked on the street for the purpose of arresting anyone who would steal the car).

Stoner Duty - When the principal or assistant would walk around Headrush Hill at Trinity High School listening for coughing or giggling to bust students smoking weed before school and at lunch.

Undercover - A cop who works from the inside of a criminal endeavor. The officer will do whatever it takes not to blow (give up) their cover…disguises are standard, as is a new identity, sometimes residence, and persona. They are playing a role, like an actor. Some will do drugs, sleep with sex workers, and other illegal activities, calling it “going deep”.

Thanks for reading!

It’s so nice to break from “format” and write a personal note to send my genuine gratitude out for your support of Inside The Emerald Triangle. I’ve written all types of genres—from fables and poetry (shared with very few), to press releases and ad copy (shared with thousands). Crossing those worlds and sharing MYSELF publicly was new territory. I’m now at 40 Substack articles! Cheers to that!

The recent Dirk series affected me profoundly and changed my life in several ways:

THIS FRIDAY: Informants. Dirk’s murder started with bad intel. It got me thinking about incentives for informants, consequences of bad intel, and undercover cops stirring the pot. I’ve scheduled a meeting with my buddy, Sergeant Sanborn, to dig into this topic with him, and will include some of his “intel”. Chuck Sanborn is a close friend of mine and supporter of this project, retired from Trinity County Sheriff Dept. where he served from the 1970s-1990s. I hope you’ll tune in!

Your free subscription validates my work.

Your paid subscription helps me continue it.

Thank you!

I appreciate all your Likes, Shares, Restacks, Podcast fans, and Comments! Keep ‘em comin’!

My door is open! Please feel free to email me personally with stories & ideas, network connections, must-see spots, or anything Emerald Triangle or War on Drugs related: NorCalWeedGal@gmail.com

With high regards,

NorCalWeedGal

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The Emerald Triangle’s Murder Mystery Podcast

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Part 2: The Aftermath - Recap

And now, for the finale…

Alderpoint 707 - Part 3: The Trial

Federal Agent Lloyd Clifton was reprimanded to desk duty (no gun, no criminal division work) after shooting unarmed Dirk Dickenson in the back on April 4, 1972. In January the following year, the Humboldt County Grand Jury heard some pretty remarkable testimony from 15 witnesses brought before them by District Attorney Bill Ferroggiaro (pronounced feh-ro-jee-ah-ro). Clifton was not among them, by Ferroggiaro’s choice. For the first time in the case of Dirk Dickenson, The People of Humboldt County were in control.

Jedi Defense Tactics

Agent Clifton’s defending attorney had successfully won the jury verdict for Officer Hahn in Ferroggiaro’s charges of involuntary manslaughter. CHP officer Hahn had admitted to shooting unarmed William Smith between the eyes and then lying about it for several days. Eureka attorney James McKittrick was feelin’ pretty good when the Grand Jury convened in January, 1973, to review the case of his new client, Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) agent, Lloyd Clifton. He bragged about being confident of the win.

Part of McKittrick’s arrogance was likely passed down from U.S. Attorney Browning, who had manipulated this case since the minute he laid hands on it. While testifying before the Grand Jury, Browning had the nerve to criticize Ferroggiaro for bringing a case against Clifton at all. This, after Browning had assured the public that it was the DA’s responsibility to indict Clifton or not after the DOJ denied the victim’s family any chance at justice federally. Now, less than 2 months later, he was openly gaslighting Ferroggiaro and The People of Humboldt. The Times-Standard reported that Ferroggiaro’s response to Browning’s accusation could not be repeated in the newspaper. The DA was livid.

Humboldt Count Undersheriff Bollman and BNDD raid supervisor from San Francisco, Kenny Krusco, both testified as being at Clifton’s side when he fired on Dirk. If a battle between feds and local authorities had begun, it wasn’t obvious yet. So far, the 2 were aligned…

…wait—what was that last part?? About having seen Agent Filben fall? The fall is one of those details that it seems not everyone saw.

Filben’s Fall

You may be shocked to learn that a federal agent stumbling over his own clumsy self was not mentioned in police reports filed by several guys who were in the chopper platoon. Remarkably, neither of these sheriff reports mentions Filben’s fall. Officers and agents are trained for hours in law enforcement academy on completing reports with accurate details, since reports can potentially be used as evidence to corroborate a cop’s story in court. The following are EXACT accounts regarding Filben’s fall, which then resulted in the shooting of Dirk in the back…

The story of Filben falling would be the gift that kept giving as it would grow to include sounds that agents now said they heard, like gunshots, at the same time Filben fell. Another coincidence for federal agents that would remain absent from any sheriff reports. In fact, reports often cited the loud noise of the chopper drowning out everything else, but over time Clifton’s story was embellished.

Deep Roots

In my research into this case and Clifton’s trial, I noticed headlines for Watergate getting bigger and bigger over time. Born in 1971, I find it fascinating to review history through modern news because, having seen the future, one can easily identify blatant biases and catalysts of change. Watergate was one of those fork-in-the-road moments for the collective consciousness of America. A chance to dig deep enough to determine that we needed to course-correct.

At the time Clifton was potentially headed for a courtroom to defend his actions in Alderpoint (February 1973), malfeasance was rampant throughout the United States federal government (in a more covert, shameful way than it is now). The BNDD had been around for about 5 years by that point, and had never been clean. All the drug agencies were claiming that drug manufacture and distribution was at an all-time high in order to secure a big budget, while also asserting the War on Drugs was working. Obviously both cannot be true.

The narcotics agencies were part of an intricate web of corrupt agents and higher ups, a corrupt DOJ to protect them, and a corrupt White House to defend it all.

The level of fraud was setting records. Americans had never before been faced with a Grand Jury trial like that of Watergate. And it gobbled public attention.

Major housekeeping was in order. Watergate had brought down the White House, and with it, any pristine facade built by presidential predecessors. A real effort was made to dissolve the agencies that lended themselves to a reputation of systemic corruption, and the narcotics agencies stood out like an infected third thumb.

The effort to reorganize started before Nixon resigned in a last ditch effort to save face. The head of the BNDD saw the writing on the wall and quit the day before the DEA was created on July 1, 1973. A federal fresh start. Lawsuits against the BNDD and its agents would continue well past its dissolution.

The Dead P.I.

Before the case got underway, before the DA moved one way or another, he needed intel on Clifton. District Attorney Ferroggiaro had partnered with other attorneys to fight Dirk’s case and they connected him with a young, smart private detective in San Francisco.

At just 27, Michael Murphy had years of experience digging up dirt on the BNDD. In fact, he had already retired from investigating federal agents due to the unfortunate consequences it had created for him. There was no peace in that life for Murphy…being followed, bugged, threatened. He had a family to protect, and the BNDD was infamous for a taste of vengeance rivaled only by their appetite to see it through. It was no secret that “payback is a bitch” was an underlying motto at the BNDD.

After receiving death threats during his investigations into other federal agents (a testament to the teeth in his work), he and Pam lived by 3 rules:

1. Never let a stranger into the house. For example, it was normal in the ‘70s to let someone use your phone if their car broke down or ran out of gas.

2. Always assume the phone is tapped.

3. Beware of door-to-door salesmen. Again, common back then.

The details of Dirk’s case would resurrect Murphy’s justice bone. He took the job. Michael Murphy was not about to stand by and watch another cover-up by the BNDD at the cost of a man’s life, just 3 years his junior. He started digging. Murphy dug up the info on Clifton’s past aggressions included in Part 2 of this series, Alderpoint 707: The Aftermath.

His years of investigating federal narcotics agents had taken their toll on Murphy, nearly destroying his marriage. Recently reconciling with his wife, the couple had planned to see a movie the night of December 29th, 1972, to celebrate Murphy acing his formal private investigator’s exam that morning. This was just days prior to the Humboldt Grand Jury indicting Clifton, Murphy had met with one of the prosecuting attorneys earlier on the 29th, handing over his research into Clifton going back to elementary school, which I imagine was a pretty thick file.

Murphy promised his wife this would be the last job he took against a “narc”. They agreed it wasn’t worth the safety risk. As a legit, licensed P.I., his work would be more stakeouts to nab cheating husbands than risky gigs uncovering corruption amidst federal leadership.

At 6:30pm, Michael and Pam decided on a movie and time to leave–7:30. She would drop their son at a friend’s house and be ready to go. He had just received a phone call and agreed to meet someone briefly but he’d be back by 7:30. Michael’s job didn’t welcome curious questions from his wife, and she fully understood that prerequisite. “Watch yourself”, she warned him.

His sober reply at 6:30: “I always do.”

He never came home.

At 8:25 the evening of December 29th, Michael Murphy was so intoxicated, he steered his station wagon up an exit ramp onto the MacArthur Freeway in the wrong direction, and proceeded to navigate like a salmon, while drivers in his path avoided a tragedy. Until one didn’t. In an instant, Michael Murphy and 2 innocent people were dead. Murphy’s blood alcohol tested .29. A curiously high number considering the circumstances. (.08 is considered intoxication)

Who was Murphy meeting? And how had his alcohol level skyrocketed within such a short amount of time? As an Irishman, I’m guessing Murphy was no lightweight (I’m also Irish, having witnessed this alcohol phenomenon first-hand in my own family). The only liquor I can think of to catch an Irishman unawares like that would’ve been Absinthe, which was extremely rare due to its American prohibition until 2007. Please feel free to comment if you have other theories.

Michael Murphy was buried the following week. Prosecuting attorneys could not attend due to the Humboldt Grand Jury proceedings. The young lad left behind a 2-year-old son, his wife, Pam, and a mystery yet solved 50 years later.

Motions Denied

Needless to say, the curious death of Michael Murphy lit a fire under the chair of the Prosecution. In trials against suspects from the Hayward & Burlingame raids, a federal judge had ruled any evidence from Alderpoint inadmissible due to the illegal entry and conduct of all officers and agents on site. It’s one thing for lawyers to say it, but when a federal judge calls out blatant misconduct by a federal agency, that’s kind of a big deal.

Richard Harris (who, unbeknownst to him, was in his final days as a reporter at the Times-Standard) was still doing the underbelly work for his fed buddies of referring to Dirk as a “narcotics suspect…wanted at the time of his death on federal warrants charging his participation in a San Francisco Bay Area drug manufacturing ring.”

At no point did Richard Harris do a piece on Dirk Dickenson, his life, family, friends, dreams, character. I can count on one finger—out of dozens of articles—how often Dirk was referred to as a “victim”. And never as a “resident” or “young man”. This is a thorn in my side. Since he was executed instead of tried, Dirk, whose mother was a Humboldt High graduate, was forever branded “narcotics suspect” by Richard Harris and the Times-Standard, failing the very community who lifted that local paper and deserved truth, not conservative slant.

Lloyd Clifton was arraigned on January 16, 1973 for second-degree murder of Dirk Dickenson. Involuntary Manslaughter was added as an option for the jury to consider. In the coming weeks, his attorneys would file 2 motions, both were denied:

Also, the Defense had requested delay after delay and were now blaming the Humboldt DA for not honoring a speedy trial. Ferroggiaro was lit up as he argued against these motions! There was nothing cooperative about how the feds conducted themselves after Dirk was killed, including not notifying him for a day and a half, refusing to meet with him for over a week, and then delaying their internal investigation for 6 months. It didn’t even occur to the feds to inform Dirk’s next of kin (his mom) about his death, a glimpse into the self-serving and off-kilter nature of BNDD.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Montgomery denied both motions by defense council to dismiss the charges against Clifton, saying, “the overall situation would support a finding that the homicide was not justifiable”. The defense had threatened early on that they would appeal to a federal court if their motions for dismissal weren’t upheld.

“The agent’s trial could impede federal law enforcement efforts because it might encourage other states to prosecute federal officials seeking to enforce federal laws in states which disagree with the federal laws.” —Clinton’s defense lawyer

That, right there, is called lawyer logic!

The question for Federal Appeals Court became: Was the shooting necessary and proper?

Not according to the federal judge. DENIED. (Again)

Appeals and Deals

Little did the residents of Humboldt know, their tax dollars were dolled out for Clifton’s defense! In April 1973, the Board of Supervisors approved a $21,000 transfer ($156k today) to help cover McKittrick’s fees to defend the federal cop who executed a local resident.

The attorneys for the defense were confident that the untouchable federal agent would never set foot in a trial courtroom, saying they would do anything in their power to get this case dismissed. All they had to do was to keep appealing to higher courts until they found a more Nixon-like judge, willing to accommodate a flagrant abuse of power.

In September of 1974, a federal judge finally agreed with McKittrick’s defense argument and granted the appeal. DA Ferroggiaro appealed the appeal.

For 3 years, the case lingered. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would be the sweet spot for Lloyd Clifton. On March 8th, 1977, 2 out of 3 judges upheld the defense appeal and dismissed all charges against Lloyd MF Clifton. Hey, you can’t say feds don’t look out for their own!

During that same time, Dirk’s family filed a civil suit against several officers of HCSO, as well as the federal agents who orchestrated the debacle. I’m still searching to determine how that suit ended. As of late September, 1974, it was still pending.

Lloyd Clifton died after a nasty battle he could not appeal. The feds couldn’t protect him from pancreatic cancer, which ended up executing Clifton in 2013.

Dirk Dickenson is buried in his hometown of Lincoln. California. May he rest in peace.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Humboldt’s Kinetic Sculpture Race over Memorial Day Weekend. This is quite the experience, and really catapults Humboldt into “Portland-weird” heights! Here’s a link to a YouTube video. And more from their website…

“A local tradition since 1969, the Kinetic Race is no parade! In the Kinetic Grand Championship bodies of art and artist’s bodies are put to the test. There’s 50 miles to go, over land, sand, water, and mud. These intrepid Kinetinauts are a unique breed of human. With a heart full of joy and a bucket full of tools, they face innumerable obstacles for just one reason ... For the GLORY!

Founded by metal sculptor Hobart Brown in 1969, this North Coast tradition has grown from a two block dash down Main Street Ferndale to a 3 day marathon spanning over 40 miles of Humboldt County California’s towns, beaches, trails, and Rivers every Memorial Day Weekend.”

All my recommendations are personally curated, authentic, and unsponsored. Feel free to tag me in pics! @norcalweedgal

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With high regards, I appreciate your interest in this slice of American history! Follow me on Instagram @NorCalWeedGal

No space for the glossary again this week.

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