boutons_deux
08-16-2013, 04:31 PM
The police raid of a small organic farm in Arlington, Texas, which lasted for more than 10 hours and included aerial surveillance and a SWAT team, resulted in a confiscation of vegetables and plants on the property only, Huff Post reported (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/texas-swat-team-conducts-_n_3764951.html).
Owners of the property called “Garden of Eden” are now demanding an apology from police and compensation for what was taken from them including 17 blackberry bushes, 15 okra plants, 14 tomatillo plants, native grasses and sunflowers, after police were granted a search warrant for marijuana plants. Ironically, no evidence of marijuana was found on the property.
The raid resulted in all adults being handcuffed and the residents held inside at gunpoint for at least half an hour, according to owner Shellie Smith:
"They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation…They destroyed everything,” she told WFAA. (http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Owners-irked-after-raid-on-Arlingtons-Garden-of-Eden--219354841.html?c=n&fb=y&can=n#statement)
"There were sunflowers for our bees and gifting. Lots of okra, and we had a sweet potato patch that they whacked down with a Weed-Eater…The weeds that we used to shade our crops are also gone”, she said.
Moreover, Smith claims (http://intothegardenofeden.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141&Itemid=381) that police failed to show a warrant until two hours after the raid began and hid their nametags to avoid identification.
City of Arlington, spokeswoman Sana Syden said (http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Owners-irked-after-raid-on-Arlingtons-Garden-of-Eden--219354841.html?c=n&fb=y&can=n#statement) the Garden of Eden had been cited for numerous violations and a number of complaints by neighbors that marijuana was being grown on the property. However, no such plants were found.
http://www.alternet.org/activism/police-destroy-organic-farm-massive-swat-team-raid?akid=10816.187590.Wm8QL1&rd=1&src=newsletter883812&t=2
Owners of the property called “Garden of Eden” are now demanding an apology from police and compensation for what was taken from them including 17 blackberry bushes, 15 okra plants, 14 tomatillo plants, native grasses and sunflowers, after police were granted a search warrant for marijuana plants. Ironically, no evidence of marijuana was found on the property.
The raid resulted in all adults being handcuffed and the residents held inside at gunpoint for at least half an hour, according to owner Shellie Smith:
"They came here under the guise that we were doing a drug trafficking, marijuana-growing operation…They destroyed everything,” she told WFAA. (http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Owners-irked-after-raid-on-Arlingtons-Garden-of-Eden--219354841.html?c=n&fb=y&can=n#statement)
"There were sunflowers for our bees and gifting. Lots of okra, and we had a sweet potato patch that they whacked down with a Weed-Eater…The weeds that we used to shade our crops are also gone”, she said.
Moreover, Smith claims (http://intothegardenofeden.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141&Itemid=381) that police failed to show a warrant until two hours after the raid began and hid their nametags to avoid identification.
City of Arlington, spokeswoman Sana Syden said (http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/tarrant/Owners-irked-after-raid-on-Arlingtons-Garden-of-Eden--219354841.html?c=n&fb=y&can=n#statement) the Garden of Eden had been cited for numerous violations and a number of complaints by neighbors that marijuana was being grown on the property. However, no such plants were found.
http://www.alternet.org/activism/police-destroy-organic-farm-massive-swat-team-raid?akid=10816.187590.Wm8QL1&rd=1&src=newsletter883812&t=2