LAKELAND OFFICERS FIND MARIJUANA PLANTS ON CITY LAND AGAIN

LAKELAND, Fla.- For the second time in less than a year, Lakeland Police
officers have found marijuana growing on city land used for flood
prevention and drainage.

"You're kidding," was City Manager Roger Haar's first response when he was
told of the plants found growing in a small portion of the 1,800-acre plot.

On Thursday afternoon, police found 11 marijuana plants valued at $11,000
about 50 yards north of where they made a major seizure in June 2001 which
netted 750 marijuana plants worth $750,000.

No arrests were made from either seizure.

Lakeland Police Sgt. Dennis Mack said the two cases are probably connected
and the growers are the same, if unknown.

"These guys are experienced," Mack said. "They know what is going on and
know how to work the system. Unless we catch them doing it we can't pin it
on anyone."

The city bought the undeveloped and heavily wooded property in 1995 from
the Green Horizon Land Trust, the Lake Wales-based nonprofit group
dedicated to preserving environmentally significant land and open space in
Central Florida.

It was purchased to use for flood prevention and drainage, and city workers
don't need to routinely visit the area, city officials said.

Officers spotted the plants while on helicopter patrol. The plants, growing
in pots, were about 100 yards from a city street.