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A Lovingston man was arrested this week on the banks of the Rockfish River, where police say he was paddling his kayak to tend to a marijuana garden.
Steven C. Manning, 64, was charged with one count of manufacturing marijuana, said Sgt. David Cooper of the Virginia State Police. The crime is punishable by five to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Authorities arrested Manning Tuesday on the Rockfish River near Woods Mills. The marijuana garden had 104 plants that were about three feet tall, in the early stages of growth, Cooper said.
“He was accessing the marijuana patch by coming down the Rockfish River and entering the land by kayak,” Cooper said.
After his arrest, police searched Manning’s house and found a small amount of what is believe to be marijuana and several smoking devices, Cooper said.
Manning had been arrested on similar charges five years ago, Cooper said.
The kayak was seized in the arrest, which was the result of a three-week drug investigation by special agent R.K. Kincaid of the state police’s drug enforcement section, with the help of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office.
Reader Reactions
can’t we all just get along. We should should break out the PEACE pipe!
Freedom, I cannot imagine that you are as illiterate as your posts make you seem. Though, I suppose that if you are, you won’t understand what I am talking about.
I gotta tell you that this post has surpassed all your previous posts for being impossible to understand. Between the the spelling which is so bad it makes your posts unreadable, to the bad grammar, which makes it impossible to understand what you are saying.
You can not just write down whatever falls out of your head without organizing it into coherent thoughts. You ramble and write so badly, I really don’t know what you are trying to say.
I am perfect willing to go toe to toe with you in a discussion anytime you like, but you have to write so people can understand your points.
At best, all I could do is spell check your posts for you, but even the most basic word processing program will do that. Heck, even the Firefox browser, which is free, will do it for you.
Freedom I am done trying to argue with you here, at least until you put some effort into making your posts readable. It really is not worth my time.
Freedom, you are missing the point by so such a wide margin it is comedic. What Jefferson did, or Washington, is of no consequence due simply to the fact that marijuana was not illegal when they were growing it. However, marijuana is illegal now. As for “drug district”, define the drug district? Are you applying racist profiling here? How are you defining drug district? And are you actually saying that we should not enforce the laws in the calm quiet places, like river banks, and instead only enforce them in the inner city? Is that what you are actually saying?
And Freedom, what possible relevance does California law have in the Commonwealth of VA? The officers involved were from Nelson Co Sheriff’s Office, Va State Police, and the Va Dept of ABC. There were no federal officers there.
As for your “delegate” status, so what? Did you lobby for drug law changes, or where you there at the convention as one more warm body to fill the chairs. Having a letter from the Shrub carries no weight unless it was because you were fighting to change those laws you see as bad. I once rode up the elevator at Hotel Roanoke with George Takei of Star Trek. So, are you suitably impressed? You aren’t? Well perhaps it is because, like your letter from Bush, it means nothing in this discussion.
Stick to the subject please.
As for your statement that it was once legal to grow marijuana, so what? It was once legal to own a fully automatic weapon too (like a machine gun). Not anymore. It was once legal to own slaves, not so much anymore (marriage notwithstanding). There are many things that were once legal to do that are no longer legal now. That means nothing.
Bottom line, right now, in the Commonwealth of Va, it is illegal to grow, possess, use, sell marijuana.
Anything else you may wish to argue about is off topic.
Freedom, I had forgotten what a joy it is to read your disjointed, rambling rants. You make no sense here. Aside from the your grammar and syntax is atrocious, you simply can not write down what ever spew is falling out of your head. It does not make sense. In any case, the fannie/freddie thing did not happen locally, this crime did. Don’t talk about national and international crime as a response to local situations, that is just silly.
-FACT: Cultivating, possession, etc of marijuana is illegal in the Commonwealth of VA.
-FACT: The individual in question was going out of his way to violate the law secretly.
-FACT: This was not his first offense.
So,with all the facts in view, just admit that the guy is in the wrong…he screwed up and let it go. Stop with all the silly ranting about having been stopped, or trying to place blame elsewhere. This guy was wrong, he knows it, you know it, everyone knows it.
Like I said, if you do not agree with the drug laws, lobby to have them changed. Don’t sit behind an anonymous screen and spew rants if you are not going to get involved. Oh and no…you still can’t eat your cake and have it too, no matter how you try to slice it.
Whether or not the law is ridiculous is not the point. It is the law. if you think the law is bad, talk to your congressman, lobby for change..get involved in the system, but don’t just sit back can complain. And certainly, do not get on the cases of the Law Enforcement officers, who are merely doing their jobs. It is ironic and a bit disgusting that when people get caught for speeding, the common complaint is “Why aren’t you doing something about all the drugs and crime?“. Well, now we have a report of drugs being seized and criminals being arrested and yet people still complain. Make up your mind people. Can’t have you cake and eat it too.
Leave old man alone and the teen which hit the toddler…..PARENTS ARE TO BLAME FOR THAT not her
How sad is this to sentence someone with such a stiff penalty for marijuana plants. He’s probably one of the happiest people living there, and his liver works just fine. Feed them alcohol and no one cares, they just die daily. What’s wrong with this picture?
Too much focus on marijuana. It should not be a crime to use it or grow it. It is less addictive than tobacco…from my personal experience. I quit mj years ago, but cannot give up smokes. I saw the recent article in The Altavista Journal where the police had found plants. OMG…give it up. Go get some real criminals.
So many crimes have less punishment involved.This Country suffers from reefer madness.When is the last time you heard of someone under the influence of Pot Commiting A crime that hurt someone.Drunks on the otherhand you hear about everyday.
Satan didn’t create anything. Wonder who created marijuana plants? Wonder if they are illeagal just because they create a big revenue for the government.Maybe they might put the big money drug makers and alcohol producers out of business. Way to go cops,I feel so much safer. I can sleep well to night.I won’t need my Ambien or Lunestor
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