September 23, 2008 by PT Rothschild.

MARTIN VICTOR’S ARREST WAS DEFINITELY POLITICAL, NOT CRIMINAL

Temecula, CA – Thanks to Lance B. for that timely morning eye-opener about how ‘the law’ really works even outside the ‘beltway of the Bush Admin.’ Spending time covering the underground allows me access to the ‘back story’ of many people here in T-Town, and ‘Marty’ Victor with his cast of medical Mary Jane patients is no exception, so here is how all that led to this morning’s story along with the eye-witness account and update.

Marty is part of a legal (by Prop 215 & SB 420) co-op that grows medical marijuana. The people that live in his house and the rest of the co-op are like an ‘over-the-hill gang’. I don’t think that I met one person under 40 when I was last at his house a few years ago, catching up on the legal battles, the current state of illnesses around the group, and some good old-fashioned Christian/Jewish debate. Marty is Jewish, I am a Christian. After that we set out for a hemp seed pancake fest where I had a chance to meet and smoke with Jack Herer. For me it was like meeting one of the Stones (pun intended).

Being above the underground, Marty and his band of medical misfits have always gone by the book in everything he has done regarding marijuana and the state limits regarding it. I can attest to that. Now the tie-in. Marty is friends and in league with Lanny Swerdlow, Director of MAPP (Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project) in Palm Springs. There is a long history of joists between the San Bernardino law officials, city councils, and county supervisors (Jeff Stone in particular) versus Lanny and MAPP members.

You see, Sports Fans, the state passed a law by voters and the state elected officials refuse to go by its mandate, thereby imposing their own ‘home rule’. Each time they have placed a new burden on these medically handicapped people, they look more ‘downtown mission’ than ’stoners’ and are not ‘pictures of health’. Thanks to medical pot, they are a cheery bunch like at a coffee house rather than smelling of death and depression (see article, ‘We Review Cancer, the Disease Not the Band – Paul Bahou part 1).


Periodically the Feds and Sheriffs raid a co-op or clinic and the whole process of capitulation starts over for the MAPP crew. A ‘new’ organizational ‘non-profit’ was starting up Lanny got word of it and along with several other MAPP members went to their first meeting.

Here’s what happened on the evening of October 2, 2007 in Lanny’s own words and also keep in mind that Martin Victor is Lanny’s ‘star witness’:

“In the past few emails I have written about a new group formed to fight medical marijuana dispensaries. Made up mainly of current and former law enforcement folks, they have wrapped themselves in the mantle of protecting our children from drugs to mask their main goal of developing public opposition to medical marijuana. This is seen in the recent op-ed column (http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_7021530) written by their chief organizer Brenda Chabot who authored a vitriolic column attacking medical marijuana as “decoy for drug legalization.” These people are seeking federal grants (i.e. your tax dollars) to pay themselves and their expenses to destroy the medical marijuana movement. I have always believed in “know your enemy,” so I decided to go the meeting and find out just who these people were and what they were all about. Although it was not necessary, they did request that people coming to the meeting RSVP so they would have some idea how many folks would be there. I did send them an email RSVP and was sent an email back stating that they hoped “you can make the event.” When I got to the meeting at the James Bulte Senior Center in Rancho Cucamonga, I went to the room where the meeting was to be held. In front was a table where they asked that you sign an attendance sheet.

While signing the sheet, I was accosted by Paul Chabot, the organizer of the event, whom I think was aware that some supporters of medical marijuana might attend. He asked what was in the small box I was carrying. I said there was information about medical marijuana in the box. Standing by was an aide to former San Bernardino Supervisor and now Assessor Bill Postmus who recognized me from watching videos of our TV show on You Tube and informed everyone there of that fact. At that point, the impeccably dressed, coiffured and I might venture to add really cute Mr.Chabot, informed me that I was not an invited guest and I would have to leave. I informed him that indeed I was an invited guest having received an email response invite to my RSVP. I asked him why he was afraid to have me attend the meeting and he said he just didn’t want people like me in there. I told him I had received an invite and I had driven all the way from Palm Springs because I wanted to know what this group was all about. At that point I walked around the table and past Mr. Chabot who was standing in front of the door. As I walked inside and looked around to see what kind of crowd there was, I asked if there was reporter there as I felt Mr. Chabot’s paranoid fear of me might be of interest. I had been led to believe that a reporter from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin was going to cover this meeting due to that paper’s coverage of this organization in recent editions of the paper.

There were not very many people there – I counted 26, seven of whom were medical marijuana advocates who had come to see what this group was all about as well. Mr. Chabot followed me in and informed me and everyone else in the room, that I was not invited and that I would have to leave. I repeated that I had received an invitation and then announced to them that I was director of a medical marijuana patient support group and that they did not want me there for that reason. One woman turned to me and said in a genuinely surprised tone of voice “medical marijuana?” I said yes and handed her a pamphlet out of the box. I then handed out some pamphlets and took my seat in the back row. At this point a very visibly agitated Mr. Chabot informed me that if I did not leave, he would call the police. At this point a lady from the Senior Center came up to me and said I would have to leave. I asked her why and she said I was disrupting the meeting. I said I was invited and I intend to stay and listen. She asked me if that was all I was going to do and I said yes, I wanted to learn about these people. She said “okay, then you can stay if you’re not going to disrupt the meeting.” I said I had no intention of doing anything of the kind and she started to walk away, but Mr. Chabot went up to her and said he didn’t want me there so she then asked me to leave. I said “no, I am invited guest, I drove all the way from Palm Springs and I am here to learn what these people are up to.” She walked away. Everything seemed to settle down and the meeting began. The first speaker was Brenda Chabot, the author of the medical marijuana hit piece in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. She explained about the organization.

After about ten minutes she was getting ready to introduce the main speaker, Paul Chabot, when in walked a Rancho Cucamonga police officer and asked me and three others of us to step out into the hallway.  In the hallway, he asked why we were there and I told him that we wanted to find out who these people were because they were going to use federal money to attack and undermine California’s medical marijuana laws. He said that they wanted us to leave because we were not invited. I explained that I had received an email inviting me to attend. He then asked to speak to me privately and I said whatever it is he wanted to talk to me about, he could do it front of the other people. He then informed me that Mr. Chabot was having him arrest me for assault and battery because Mr. Chabot claimed that I pushed him when I walked past him into the meeting room. He had me put my arms behind my back and then very tightly handcuffed me and marched me out of the hall and into his waiting police car. After about an hour of sitting in the car while the police questioned some of the people and ran background checks on the four of us who were there and questioned me as well, the officer issued me a citation citing me for battery. They informed me that they were not doing this because they had seen anything but doing it because Mr. Chabot was pressing charges against me. They were very courteous the entire time and I suspect that they felt this was all a crock, but, if I understood them correctly, they had no choice but to arrest me because Mr. Chabot was adamant in filing charges. During my 90 minutes spent in handcuffs I did have some interesting conversations with the police officers – yes, police officers. The four of us were such dangerous felons that the Rancho Cucamonga Police felt it necessary to have three police cars and four police officers there.

They informed me that San Bernardino County doesn’t recognize the ID card and I informed that they are required to recognize the card because state law says they have to. Then they came up with the old stick about federal law and I explained to them about Sec. 3.5 of the California Constitution. What was really interesting to me was that they knew about the ID card and they knew about the federal/state nonsense, so this issue is obviously of some concern that ordinary routine officers were aware of the issues. But I realized their awareness was only what they had been told by law enforcement and that they had not been exposed to either the legal issues on our side or the importance of marijuana for the health and welfare of so many members of the community. One of the officers said he would never smoke it. I asked him why and he replied because it’s illegal. This is so typical – the reason for abstaining has nothing to do with it’s being bad for you or makes you do crazy things, but just because it’s illegal. Denying himself and his community the benefits of this ancient herb has absolutely nothing to do with marijuana and everything to do with marijuana prohibition. He even seemed to recognize that marijuana is not a problem as he glanced up with a slight nod when I stated “I bet you have a lot more problems with people drunk on alcohol than you do stoned on pot.” It was around then that the handcuffs were taken off and a citation was handed to me charging me with battery. They asked then asked if I would give them some of the pamphlets I handed out at the meeting. I knew it was for some kind of evidence but I always relish giving out information on marijuana. I said sure and got out enough pamphlets for every officer there. I gave them each a set and, this is so bizarre, they stood there for at least five minutes as I gave them the pamphlets and explained to them what each one was about. I explained about Russo’s Long Term Use Study and Tashkin’s lung cancer study and then gave them copies of the Press Enterprise article that ran last Saturday and explained how effective marijuana is relieving pain. I then invited them to come to one of our meetings and learn about the health and medical benefits and meet some patients and talk to them. I don’t really know if they were just being polite and courteous or if they were hoping I would say something incriminating or if they were genuinely interested, but they heard me out.

What we sometimes forget, is that a lot of police are on our side. 70% of the country supports medical marijuana and although I am sure the percentage is lower among police due to their indoctrination and fear of losing some jobs, police officers are not going to be that out of line with the general publics attitudes on this or other issues. LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) is an organization of active and retired police who are working openly and effectively to end this country’s insane, ineffective and inhumane prohibition laws. But LEAP cannot be everywhere and do everything – mmj activists and patients need to educate police in their local communities. Of course how best to do that is something I am short on ideas right now, but if anybody out there has any suggestions I would very much like to hear them. As for Mr. and Mrs. Chabot and the hundreds of thousands of folks whose livelihood and financial security are directly tied to prohibition and the million plus Americans imprisoned because of it, I doubt if you could ever reason with them. Getting back to the “incident,” I am scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 8 a.m. at the Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court. I have no idea how this works when the police arrest you because someone else files charges against you. I intend to find out and defend myself as best I can. If I get the charges .dismissed or I am found not guilty, I intend to sue Mr. Chabot for false arrest as I did not push him or even come into bodily contact. As a former police officer, Mr. Chabot used his knowledge to have me arrested in retaliation for my presence there and my challenge to his position on medical marijuana dispensaries. Mr. Chabot is a professional speaker who now earns his living doing this kind of thing and I imagine no one has ever challenged him on any of this. Not only do I threaten his professional integrity but also their paranoid fear of legalized marijuana threatens his and his wife’s financial integrity. His hotheaded reaction to these perceived threats and my subsequent arrest would, if my lawsuit is successful against him, seriously deplete whatever nest egg he has set aside for a rainy day.”

On Friday night, the collective operated by long time patients and advocates Marty and LaVonne Victor was raided by Riverside County Sheriff Officers. Here is an email sent out by Dale Gerringer of CalNORML about the raid:

RIVERSIDE SHERIFFS RAID MEDICAL MARIJUANA COLLECTIVE OF LOCAL PROP 215 ADVOCATES

Sept 20th - Riverside Co. sheriffs raided the collective garden of Martin & Lavonne Victor in Temecula, destroying their crop and arresting Martin on $50,000 bail.   The Victors were part of a 12-person collective including local MMJ advocates Lanny Swerdlow and Dave Herrick. Herrick & LaVonne Victor says the garden was compliant with the AG’s guidelines, consisting of 50 to 70 outdoor plants, mostly small. The members had state ID cards, and their crop was guarded by a security fence and cameras, which were seized by the cops.  The collective was well known in Riverside, having operated for eight years.  Sheriffs showed up at the Victors’ door on Friday evening, asking to inspect the coop.   The Victors presented books and paperwork to show they were in compliance with state law.  The sheriffs objected that they did not have a legal license as a non-profit coop, and hauled Martin off to jail on three felony charges. “This is BS’ says LaVonne, “They knew we were legal.” No “license” is required for collective gardens under Prop. 215 or SB 420. The raid appears to have been politically motivated, as the coop’s membership includes prominent Riverside patient advocates. Lanny Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project in Palm Springs, is presently facing trial in a dispute with a local anti-drug advocate.  The Victors were arrested in 2001 for cultivation, but were dismissed from felony charges under Prop. 215. Herrick was one of the first medical marijuana patients arrested for assisting a patient coop in Southern California shortly after passage of Prop. 215. Lanny says, “I am going to the Victor’s as soon as this email goes out. Marty is not doing well and Marty’s mother Iris, who lives with them, is badly shaken up by the incident and not eating. Not a good thing for a frail 81 year old woman. LaVonne is holding up well for the moment. The attorney representing me against the false battery charge filed by drug warrior Paul Chabot believes that it is way more than a consequence that Marty was arrested on the weekend before he was to testify at my trial this Monday. This malicious and nefarious plot between San Bernardino and Riverside County law enforcement officials will not succeed. Marty will be at my trial this (past) Monday morning at 9 a.m. The trial is being held in courtroom R-10 at the Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse, 8303 Haven Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga 91730. If you can make it to the trial this Monday, you will be supporting not only Marty and I, but your right to your medicine, your rights under California law and that Inland Empire law enforcement’s reign of terror has got to end. Lanny760-799-2055.

“And now you know the rest of the story.”

(I always thought that when people knew the law but decided to set that law aside, it was called ‘anarchy’. I guess I was wrong, it’s called ‘business as usual’ as we still wait for whoever leaked the Plume identity to go to jail. Oh wait, that guy was pardoned by the elected official who said he send the ‘leaker’ to jail after he fired him first. I rest my case.)

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September 17, 2008 by PT Rothschild.

“AND THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH”

DCP Zone, CA – By the way, for those who haven’t guessed it, DCP means DeComPression, because it’s back to being in the Default World, the ‘real’ world your teacher or minister or ‘rent would tell you. You know, the place where ‘reality real world’ shows are scripted and shot at the expense of what the Burning Man art festival/society holds most precious, our home, this planet, and something that we are ALL responsible for (see ‘TV Makes a Mess’ and sign the petition, I did). So it really came as no shock when upon showing several photos to a business neighbor close to my ‘day job’, I got the comment, ‘These people must all be on drugs,” as the neighbor stared at them wide-eyed. How the World is deceived, I thought to myself, when a regular customer to Bev-Mo, the largest and grandest alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) beverage establishment in Riverside County, looks at photos of art cars, sculptures, people riding hand-decorated bicycles, generally having a good time, and says, ‘they must all be on drugs’. This comment is coming from a culture that when you turn on the TV, almost half the ads are for ‘drugs’. Too fat, take a pill. Too thin, take a pill. Sneezing when you dust, take a pill. Not enough iron, take a pill. Not happy enough, worried, and depressed, take a pill. Kids don’t pay attention in school, give them a pill (Ritalin). Don’t want your dog or cat pregnant, crush up a pet birth control pill in their food, so they can have a sex life and not get preggo, just like regular folks. In the week that I was at Burning Man, I saw or heard of not one ‘Heath Ledger’ incident in a city of 49, 599 (official population as of Saturday, August 30^th – Black Rock Beacon) people. And Burning Man exists in a city. Black Rock City has an FM radio station (BMIR – Burning Man Information Radio – 94.5), a TV station, and a Post Office (Zip code 89412) though it looks more like a movie set. The clerks are friendly, engaging, and one of them led me to a symbol necklace that made IPod, when she saw mine, whisper in my ear while flashing me her ‘Lucky Charms’ gleam, “I want that pendant. I’m going to have to figure out a way to get it from you,” which drew a sharp, sudden gulp of air from me. (I wait with bated breath for the ‘con of Woman’, and really enjoy the fun and romance in swimming with these young sharks). Another aspect guiding the hustle and bustle of this ‘off-world’ city are the Rangers, whom I met one night with Goose when we joined up with the Capt. at the Ranger Station house that was down the street from the Black Rock Dinner, which served up free grilled cheese sandwiches but had no regular business hours of operation. Whenever you saw a crowd there you could get the free food. I fetched IPod a sandwich when the snacks Ranger Sasquatch whipped up for us didn’t quite iron out that stomach wrinkle, plus we were all the way across town. Sometimes IPod forgets to eat so she was extra hungry. You’d just know that the sandwich shop opened about 10 minutes after we were told about it. Yeah, Black Rock City is like that. The Rangers keep you out of trouble with the ‘law’ and the ‘undercovers’ that are roaming around, plus they make sure you are safe and will provide you with medical attention if you become sick or injured. There were 36 arrests for drug trafficking which is not bad for a city of 50,000 who are partying. Unlike many law enforcement agencies in the Default World, the Rangers really do ‘protect and serve’ rather harass and intimidate. They reminded me of the police during Kentucky Derby week in Louisville, Kentucky, and the police I met when I traveled in Canada, except the Rangers were more folksy and in the Spirit of Smokey the Bear. People who want to, imbibe in the privacy of their campsite. Also there are no DUI’s at 5MPH, the posted speed limit on all streets in BRC, because you are part of a team, either with the group you came with or the crowd you just met. If you really need to, you can take a scheduled bus back to the closest town for $5 round trip. There is also a place to bowl and a mini put-put golf range, so next time I’m taking my custom putter along with the one my ex-wife used to make stand up all by itself.

The history of Burning Man is explained through a timeline display and is symbolized by a logo theme found on the various sculptures and works of art, which numbered at 194 all scattered at various points in the Playa. The logo is also found on every piece of swag you collect pretty much and especially on the pendants you wind up with. Besides the one IPod has her peepers on, my favorite symbol pendant is the one I was gifted with from one of the crew as I sat and talked to my favorite bartender, B.A. (Bad Ass), in the shade underneath my favorite bar, the Tree Top Lounge aka ‘Raise The Bar’ on the Sunday morning after the Man burned. As the early Christians had their ‘fish’ symbol (Pisces) which though secret was known to each of them, so it is with the symbol of Burning Man. I won’t reveal its shape here, Dear Reader, but if you ever come to BRC, you will know it almost immediately. This symbol becomes a part of you. I have worn the symbol either as a patch or on a pendant every day since returning to the DW. It’s the one piece of BM that I keep close to my heart until I can go ‘home’ again. To glance at pictures of the festive BRC and sum it up to ‘drugs’ is why BM will never be ‘mainstream’. My grandfather used to say, “Son, in the Parade of Life, there are 3 kinds of people: people in the Parade; people watching the Parade; and people saying, ‘what Parade?” The Bible tells us that a third of Mankind will be lost but two-thirds will be on hand when Jesus returns. Those odds don’t sound too bad for surviving but the Bible also says that only 144,000 out of the millions left will be catching the first ‘up’ escalator. Everyone else will get a ‘do-over’ for a thousand years. Jesus himself said to go through the narrow gate. When I look at the society and city built, attended, and cared for by a population who ‘chose’ to take part and feel the abundance of love and a certain level of meekness generated by close to all the week’s inhabitants, people from different cultures, different countries, and people like myself who find themselves at BRC through unforeseen circumstances, getting the cheapest thrill from the biggest bang because it takes money to be able to live in a cashless society, you know a force which is not man-made has to be the magnet. Some churches and some religions may think they have the key to God’s front door and announce that they are the ‘chosen few’, made so by their holy decree, but I ask you the AC/DC question, “Who made who?” If we, Man, made God up as some say, because we needed a ‘god’ for our own good to help explain things, then indeed it is ‘us’ who will pick the chosen. But what if the Bible and all the other works on religion are correct, that there is an Intelligence, a
Will, and a Plan to what we call reality? We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the world, the Default World, as we know it, the one that Jerry Springer shows us, is nowhere  close to the reality of any metaphysical realm. The Bible comes as close as anything written to accurately describe ‘earth life’ and doesn’t feign the flowery language of some religions to do it. Though Jesus tells us not to look for his second arrival to be in the desert, the desert is where he was first tested. It’s where he chose to become the first inhabitant for a new world, a world yet to come into being. I would put forth the Burning Man and Black Rock City are a testing ground for a society for a new world, hopefully to come after the old world is swept away, as is foretold. BRC could be the blueprint for the meek when they ‘inherit the earth’. For though I saw raw sensuality and good-natured revelry, I never once saw or heard any aggression. Everyone had a natural patience and relaxed attitude toward one another, regardless of attire. Two days after I arrived in BRC, I named this series to be called, ‘The Burning Man Experience – Life After The Rapture. The nature of this BM culture demonstrates a lifestyle currently unattainable and unsustainable on a permanent basis in the world today though the technology exists to make it so. I consider it a miracle that BRC can even be present and real for a week. But in a new world, one without commercialism and money, such a city and population could forge and flourish in fun, when the meek inherit the Earth. To be continued… Next: Burning Down The Man

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September 16, 2008 by Bill Gould, Publisher.

Northern Virgina - Here is a clip from VARTV.com, a news site for the Virgina area, that features an interview with George Gould about his firm TOGG Inc. TOGG Inc provides network security and computer support to small and medium sized businesses.

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