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Local Briefs: May 28
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School board budget session rescheduled
The Conejo Valley Unified School District board canceled Tuesday night's planned budget study session.
The meeting has been rescheduled for 5 tonight at the South Building boardroom, 1400 E. Janss Road in Thousand Oaks.
The board will discuss possible budget cuts at tonight's meeting but will not vote on them until its next regular meeting on Tuesday.
Los Angeles County
Fatal crash probe leads to pot clinics
Federal agents Tuesday morning arrested the owner of six Los Angeles-area medical marijuana dispensaries and his wife after an investigation stemming from a traffic accident last year on Highway 101 in Ventura County, authorities said.
Virgil Edward Grant III, 41, and Psytra Monique Grant, 33, both of Carson, were arrested on suspicion of multiple federal charges, including operating dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools and churches, according to a statement from the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities said they are also seeking Stanley Jerome Cole, 39, an employee of the THC outlet in Compton, owned by the Grants.
The investigation began after the Dec. 19 crash just north of Ventura, that killed Andreas Parra, 20, of Phoenix and paralyzed California Highway Patrol motorcycle Officer Anthony Pedeferri, 36, authorities said.
Pedeferri was speaking with Parra during a traffic stop when a pickup driven by 20-year-old Jeremy White, of Paso Robles, drifted onto the shoulder and hit Parra's vehicle.
According to the DEA, White acknowledged being under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident, saying he had purchased it from a medical marijuana dispensary in Compton. White, who remains in Ventura County Jail, faces a number of charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence.
Federal investigators determined White purchased the marijuana from THC in Compton and began investigating the dispensaries in Compton, Gardena, Los Angeles and Van Nuys, authorities said.
Undercover agents bought marijuana at several dispensaries owned by the Grants, including a $5,700, one-pound transaction from a shop's back door, facilitated by Cole, authorities said.
— From staff reports
Posted by Equitable_Enforcer on May 28, 2008 at 9:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Perhaps this should be a top level local news article.
CHP Officer Tony Pedeferri will suffer for the rest of his life, thanks to those who push so-called medical marijuana. Many of us who posted to this site immediately following the accident expressed opinions that medical marijuana clinics merely provide the means by which potheads can obtain pot. It was also expressed that shady doctors write prescriptions for imagined pains, etc. Many defended the clinics.
I've observed clinic customers at two marijuana dispensary locations. Most looked like hippy rejects ... not average citizens who needed marijuana to mitigate pain from a medical condition.
Cody Murphy, Newbury Park HS, recently died on PCH at 17, while driving while intoxicated with alcohol and with marijuana in his blood. Friends were severely injured in the crash. A marijuana dispensary container was found in or near the vehicle. Where the kids obtained their alcohol and marijuana cannot be proven.
It is my opinion that those who provide drugs or alcohol to minors should be charged as if they purposely killed or maimed those who suffered as a result of their illegal actions.
Abuse of both alcohol and other drugs continues to be the force behind too many deaths and injuries. I don't know the answer. I do know that our only option at this time is to enforce existing laws to the max ... and that penalties for those who provide drugs or alcohol to minors must be increased signficantly. This can only happen through legislation.
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