Good grief! Is this any way to treat a displaced foreign traveler?
Just a typical foreign tourist visiting California, Gauldry Almonte-Hernandez must have spent a day at the San Diego Zoo and taken in the Venice Boardwalk, then driven up foggy, twisty and beautiful Highway 1 to take in the sights of San Francisco. After shopping in Chinatown, dining in North Beach and admiring the street theater around Pier 39, he headed north to see the world-famous coastal redwoods.
But something went horribly wrong.
On the road to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove, he must have taken a wrong turn on Highway 36. Once up in the rugged mountains of Trinity County, anyone can get lost. Cell coverage is spotty. Gas stations and supplies are scarce. The poor gentleman’s vacation went terribly wrong, and the next thing you know, he found himself camped out at a remote marijuana plantation south of Hayfork.
At least, that’s the impression a reader might get from a U.S. Forest Service news release, sent out to the media Tuesday morning, about a marijuana raid earlier this month. It describes Almonte-Hernandez as a “displaced foreign traveler from Michoacán, Mexico.”
Strangely, though, this poor displaced traveler — far from welcoming his rescue by the Forest Service, Trinity County Sheriff’s Department and Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement — instead reportedly tried to flee and hide as those agency’s officers arrived at the marijuana “garden,” which contained more than 7,000 plants.
A Forest Service law-enforcement dog team ran down Almonte-Hernandez, who, the Forest Service says, faces a federal charge of manufacturing a controlled substance that, if he is convicted, could carry a 10-year prison sentence.
Is that any way to treat a displaced foreign traveler? Good grief, our tourism-dependent economy is bad enough. How much further would it sink if the north state won a reputation for this kind of hospitality? Will Interstate 5 motorists dare even stop for a stroll on the Sundial Bridge? Will recreationists shun the struggling former timber towns in the north state mountains?
Look, there’s no doubt the Forest Service needs to clean up the woods and try to keep a lid on marijuana growing, but messing with travelers is asking for trouble.
We hate to encourage political correctness, but maybe the Forest Service could come up with a polite euphemism for “displaced foreign traveler” so as not to spook the tourist trade. Non-NEPA-compliant agriculturalist, perhaps?
http://www.redding.com/news/2010/jul/21/a-pot-grower-no-a-displaced-foreign-traveler/
lol! yeah I thought this one hit the spot. And it’s from my hometown paper. I moved away at 21 but still read the local news. Check out the Sundial Bridge – http://www.riverstoneredding.com/wp-content/uploads/sunDialBridge.jpg
10 Responses
Home-School-prod
02 Dec 2010
ellisdee
02 Dec 2010
too long…
Primo
02 Dec 2010
He shouldnt have ran. It makes you look guilty
mooyang
02 Dec 2010
This pot isn’t mine, officer. It belongs to my dog. Really.
gws35
02 Dec 2010
I think the fact that his name is "Almonte-Hernandez" has much to do with getting the kid gloves treatment in spite of being an obvious criminal.
He’s not a drug trafficker, he’s an undocumented pharmacist. Ya, that’s the ticket.
Democrats are desperate for every vote they can get.
RayHere
02 Dec 2010
Typical criminal B/s The man drove 60 70 miles in the wrong direction and find is bewildered self at a pot farm B/s
How far off the road was the pot farm? Why did he run?
who is #1?
02 Dec 2010
Thank you for standing up for people with hyphenated names. So often they are discriminated against because they are assumed to be Liberated. Poor man probably didn’t speak English so was naturally concerned when the cops showed up.
I’m sure it was just a coincidence that he unerringly made his way to an obscure corner of the outback where there was a huge pot farm. Could happen to anyone.
thescalesofjusti
02 Dec 2010
And California wonders why they are bankrupt.
Dent ArthurDent
02 Dec 2010
I agree, this is no way to treat tourists. I mean, next we will expect them to have passports and spending cash. Every time I go to Mexico, I extend the courtesy of a passport and drinking money to my host country.
But how twisted, how perverse is it that putting a seed in the ground is "manufacturing?" Next they will say that picking a dung-loving psilocybe is "manufactur…never mind. but I digress…Damn PCers
Loveinthemist
15 May 2015
Well..according to Mr. dude, the icnd2 Actualtests and Testking are not updated, even if they chanegd their date of update. That means they are trying to fool the buyers, which the dump companies often do to increase their sales.P4S is also not updated for icnd2 exam. You can check their website. I think they’ve gone to sleep mode after july31st.The only one dump left is testinside and i don’t think they are updated too. In fact all dump makers are pretty much dead nowadays. They all are copying each other…And so? What’s your plain, CareerCert?
Brilliant stab at confabulation of the lost details.
However, as I have often said, Political correctness is the successful ability of leftists to keep Conservatives from telling the truth.