WIDOW WILL LOSE RURAL ACREAGE

DENVER -- A 68-year-old Tulsa widow who bought a rural acreage with
benefits she received as the spouse of a man listed as missing in action in
Vietnam will lose it because she allegedly allowed her son to grow
marijuana there, a divided appeals court ruled Thursday. The federal
government will be allowed to take Ozella Scott's land under a drug
enforcement law, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1.

Her attorney, James C. Linger of Tulsa, said the land in nearby Bixby
consists of 25 or 30 acres. He said he thinks the appraised value is about
$30,000.

Scott was not charged with any crime. She put up a legal fight to stop the
forfeiture of her property, arguing she was the innocent owner of the land.

A federal Bureau of Indian Affairs agent and an Oklahoma Air National Guard
pilot were killed Aug. 28, 1995, when their helicopter crashed while they
were conducting drug surveillance over the land.

Scott's son, Mark, was arrested later that day for marijuana crimes on the
property where he lived in a trailer.

The two appellate judges who decided Scott should lose ownership of her
land concluded she had turned a blind eye to her son's illegal activities
on her property.

"Congress has placed strict duties upon landowners to rid their property of
drug activity," they wrote in an 11-page decision. "The fact that the
occupant was Ms. Scott's son does not relieve her of her duties as a
landowner to take all reasonable steps to keep her property free of illegal
activities."

She denied she had allowed him to engage in marijuana growing and cited her
efforts against his illegal activities.

The other judge, who wrote a seven-page dissent, said the lower court judge
should have allowed a jury to determine whether evidence proved that Scott
was "willfully blind" to her son's criminal conduct. She did not live on
the property.

The lower court judge, James Ellison of U.S. District Court in Tulsa,
granted a summary judgment in favor of the federal government, concluding
there was no need for a jury trial.

Scott's husband, who was shot down over Vietnam, was declared dead after
several years listed as missing in action, Linger said. Scott received
government benefits as the surviving widow and used the money to buy the land.

Mark Allen was convicted of several crimes connected to his marijuana-
growing activities on the land. Police caught him with five marijuana
plants, 1.4 pounds of marijuana and items allegedly used in drug activity.

He testified he tried to conceal his criminal activity from his mother.

The U.S. attorney in Tulsa initiated the forfeiture proceedings against
her. The law allows a judge to give the government ownership of property
"used, or intended to be used . . . to commit, or to facilitate" a drug crime.