Sunday, October 4th, 2009 at 1:02 pm | By: Radical Russ
(KETV) SAUNDERS COUNTY, Neb. — Police officers in Ashland, Neb., seized 150 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop Wednesday night on Highway 6.
The seizure was the largest in Saunders County history, said Ashland police.
He said the incident started when police stopped [a] conversion van driving erratically. When the officer approached the van and saw several bags of marijuana in plain view, he called for assistance, police said.
[Ashland Police Chief Mark] Powell said multiple agencies responded to that call. The drugs were in duffel bags found throughout the vehicle, police said.
Three men in the van were Christopher Ryan, Irvin Dana Beal and James Statzer.
All three are being held in Saunders County Jail and are suspected of drug possession with intent to deliver, officers said. They all face charges of possession with intent to deliver.
Beal is a political activist who has advocated for marijuana legalization in the U.S.
Authorities said Ryan and Statzer are being held on $100,000 bond each. Beal is being held on $500,000 bond.
Yes, it is the word of a police officer, but if indeed there were bags of marijuana “in plain view”, then add this story to our pile of Stupid Stoner Stories.
Few stories I’ve written have generated as much firestorm as this one. Check out the coverage on CelebStoner, where I’m being called “an asshole” (three times), “Smellville”, “a fool”, and being threatened with an assault-by-pie.
I even received a phone call from a New York activist who I met at the NORML CON last week. He was at least civil and explained to me that Beal has been providing very low-cost marijuana (”$3-$7 per gram”… that’s still $85 to $200 per ounce) for medical patients on the East Coast. So I apologize for any insinuation that Beal was making a luxury living as a weed dealer charging prohibition profits to average pot consumers.
What I’m upset about isn’t necessarily Beal in particular, but the general issue of a “record bust” of a prominent activist returning from NORML CON. Every day I beat back prohibitionists who say that medical marijuana, especially in California, is being abused by criminals that are hiding behind the lax statutes to cover their interstate trafficking. The average reader doesn’t know Beal has a history of altruism and support of desperately sick people; they just see “150lbs of marijuana” being trafficked by one of our own coming back from an activist conference in California. They see a “legalizer” and assume he’s getting rich by drug dealing and it taints the message we’re all trying to deliver.
Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 7:34 pm | By: Radical Russ
Dana Beal (immediately to right of Madeline Martinez in red) at Russ Belville's "Tools for Activists" breakout panel at NORML CON 2009
(CelebStoner) New York marijuana activist Dana Beal has been arrested again in the Midwest, this time with 150 pounds of pot. Nebraska police apprehended Beal and two others in a van on Wednesday in Ashland near Interstate 80 (just West of Omaha) after the vehicle was stopped for driving erratically. Bail was set at $500,000.
Beal was last seen in San Francisco at the NORML Conference. Presumably, he was driving back from California when the bust took place.
The Cures Not Wars founder has had numerous run-ins with the law, the most recent of which came last June when Illinois authorities confiscated a small amount of marijuana and $150,000 from him. This past May, Beal pled guilty to the pot charge and paid a fine, but the cash was not returned.
Beal organizes the annual Global Marijuana March each May.
Dana Beal was in the front row of my break-out session Saturday at NORML CON. Before we started he asked for a moment to address the attendees regarding the Worldwide Marijuana March.
It was my first opportunity to meet him and thank him personally for the march. It was at the Portland March in 2005 where I first met Madeline Martinez and this whole crazy career of mine started into motion.
One hundred fifty pounds of cannabis, huh? Unless that’s personal use for a lifetime, it looks like Dana was trying to make a living off of prohibition. When you’re a high-profile activist, a trafficking bust like this doesn’t really help the cause much. It kinda erodes the moral high ground to be rallying to end prohibition because it gives young people a criminal record on the one hand, but then profiting from the black market excise tax those young people will pay to buy marijuana on the other hand.
I hope everything goes well for Dana; he is a very nice gentleman and I’d like a chance to see him again someday.
Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 8:20 am | By: Radical Russ
(WOWT) The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the finding of a lower court, ruling Thursday that a secretary who worked for a warden in the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services should not have been fired for smoking marijuana.
John Ahmann by all accounts was a good worker, but when he was randomly selected for a drug test, he tested positive for having used marijuana and was fired by the state.
Ahmann and his union went to court noting that the drug use had been during off-hours, that it had not impacted Ahmann’s “spotless” work performance and that Ahmann had expressed a willingness to stop using marijuana.
The lower court agreed that while the state might discipline Ahmann in some fashion, firing was too severe and Nebraska’s high court agreed.
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am | By: Dudemaster
Back in March, 20 year old Acea Schomaker stuffed a cat into a bong and smoked it. The cat lived, and Acea was fined. Well, he finds himself in trouble with the law once more.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – A young Lincoln man who acknowledged putting a hyper kitten in a homemade bong to calm it with marijuana smoke has been ticketed again on a pot charge.
Lincoln police say 20-year-old Acea (ACE-ah) Schomaker (SHOE-maker) also was cited for being a minor in possession of alcohol.
Police Capt. David Beggs say Schomaker was ticketed by officers who were called to a disturbance Saturday night. They took Schomaker to be Cornhusker Place Detox.
Beggs says officers found 1.7 grams of suspected marijuana in a plastic bag in 1 of Schomaker’s pockets.
In March, after his first brush with notoriety in the bong cat incident, Schomaker told The Associated Press that he was swearing off marijuana.
Pot doesn’t make you stupid, but some people are just too stupid to smoke pot.
Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 6:20 pm | By: Dudemaster
Sheriff’s deputies discovered about $20,000 worth of marijuana and a fake hand grenade when they raided a rural home in Washington County, Nebraska.
If you were to just take this story at face value, you’d probably just leave the story with the assumption that two evil people are now behind bars while their poor children are being properly looked after. Read it and tell me what YOU think.
Nebraska — Detective Kevin Willis said an anonymous tip led to the arrest of a 33-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman Wednesday. They were booked into the Washington County Jail on suspicion of possessing and manufacturing marijuana.
Three children, ages 3, 10 and 12 were placed in foster care.
Deputies went to an apartment above a barn several miles outside of Herman, Neb., at 2:30 p.m., Willis said. There they discovered “a significant” growing operation that included dozens of plants under grow lights as well as many more “hanging up to dry.”
During the search, officers came upon a grenade attached to a wall just below knee-level height.
“The grenade startled us a little,” Willis said. “It’s something we’re trained to look for, but you never know what you are going to find.”
Officers stopped the search and requested help from the Omaha Police Department’s bomb squad and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Explosive experts determined that the grenade was not live.
“This isn’t the largest marijuana operation we’ve uncovered here in Washington County, but it was significant,” Willis said.
This is the only version of truth I could find about this poor couple. But, after reading THOUSANDS of stories just like this one, and personally following HUNDREDS of incidents like these, let me tell you what I assume to be the most likely scenerio.
One of these two (or both) probably have a very bad chronic condition that requires they use medical marijuana. In the meantime, one of their boys plays with Army toys and tape. Now, as a result, they have lost their house, their children, and probably much more before it’s all over with. You can figure out the rest.
When you read stories like this, look past the obvious yellow journalism and try to see into the heart of what you to to be the “TRUTH”. Because the victor is the one who writes the history book, the book is almost always wrong.
I want a NORML chapter in all fifty states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. I want double the number of chapters. So I really need your help.
Just this last two weeks, I have received emails from budding activists (pun intended) looking to start NORML Chapters in Colorado, North Carolina, Alaska, Alabama, Florida (Miami), Missouri, Virginia, Idaho, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Mississippi, Vermont, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Kansas, as well as four new college chapter inquiries and inquiries from Australia, Japan, Guam, and Mexico (Cuidad Juarez).
I work to put the people in the same state in touch with each other because the hardest thing about forming a NORML Chapter isn’t finding the guy or gal to lead, it’s finding the other four people to form your board.
So Stashers, if you’re in one of the above-named states or countries and you’d like to get on board with a new local chapter, send me an email to stash@norml.org with the subject “Join a Chapter” and I’ll hook you up.
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 at 7:03 pm | By: Radical Russ
OMAHA, Neb. – A man who tried to cool out his hyper cat by stuffing her into a boxlike homemade bong faces cruelty charges — and catcalls from animal lovers.
Lancaster County sheriff’s deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call Sunday alleged they saw 20-year-old Acea Schomaker smoking marijuana through a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped, plastic glass box in which the cat had been stuffed.
Schomaker told deputies 6-month-old Shadow was hyper and he was trying to calm her down. The contraption she had been stuffed inside was 12 inches by 6 inches. Shadow was timid but in good condition Monday at the Capital Humane Society, executive director Bob Downey said.
Schomaker was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty and paid a $400 fine. He also faces drug charges. He did not immediately respond to phone messages left Monday seeking comment.
I don’t know if cats have cannabinoid receptors or not. I don’t know if marijuana is harmful to cats at all. What I do know is forcing your pet to get high is immature, cruel, and flat wrong. Hell, stuffing your cat into a 12×6 box is cruel to begin with! It’s a six month old cat; it’s supposed to be hyper!
The ironic thing is this guy is probably going to get in more trouble for the marijuana than for the animal cruelty.
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 11:19 am | By: Radical Russ
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is the only state that requires people to fill out an application and pay a fee before entering a bar.
But the shelf life of this law — enacted 40 years ago in a state where nearly two out of three residents are members of a religion that shuns drinking — appears to be dwindling.
In Utah, and across the country, governors and lawmakers faced with budget deficits are advocating loosening laws that restrict alcohol consumption in the hopes of boosting tax revenues.
– In Georgia, Connecticut, Indiana, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota, lawmakers are considering legislation this year that would end the ban on Sunday liquor sales. All but 15 states sell booze on Sundays.
– In Nebraska, a state lawmaker has proposed allowing beer to be consumed in state parks as a way to boost tourism.
– Other states, including Utah, are considering allowing the sale of liquor on Election Day.
Drinkers shouldn’t break out the bubbly just yet: Two dozen states, including California, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Virginia, are looking to help their budgets by raising alcohol taxes.
Earlier this month, distillers in Kentucky poured bottles of bourbon on the statehouse steps there to protest a proposed tax increase.
In Pittsburgh, a 10 percent tax placed on alcohol last year inspired an animated satire, resulted in some bars printing signs saying the tax’s architect was not welcome and one restaurateur challenging Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato to a charity boxing match.
Ben Jenkins, a spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council, said states would be better off if they simply made alcohol more accessible to meet consumer demand. States that lift the ban on Sunday sales see a 5 percent to 8 percent annual sales increase, he said.
Other states, meanwhile, are trying to eliminate much less onerous hassles associated with buying alcohol.
In Colorado and Kansas, grocery stores are fighting for the right to sell full-strength beer. Most of the opposition in those states isn’t coming from morality groups, but instead from liquor stores who like having a corner on the market.
A similar effort is occurring in Tennessee, where lawmakers are considering allowing the sale of wine in supermarkets.
In Alabama, a proposal to raise the amount of alcohol allowed in beer from 6 percent alcohol by volume to 13.9 percent is being considered, although some church groups fear it would result in people getting drunker quicker.
Incredible. Here you have a hard liquid drug that directly caused 21,634 deaths in 2005 just from poisoning the body’s organs, led to 11,754 fatal auto crashes in 2007, and addicted 14 million Americans, and the states are frantically trying to increase this drug’s use and available potency, even as we’ve been somewhat successful in reducing this drug’s use. And yes, alcohol is a hard drug. In my definition, “drug” = “manufactured intoxicant” and “hard” = “toxic and addictive”.
But nobody will speak about the elephant in the room — the untapped, untaxed marijuana market that kills and poisons no one. Jeffrey Miron of Harvard University estimated that the revenue from taxation and savings from no longer arresting, prosecuting, and imprisoning marijuana consumers would range from $10-$14 billion annually – and that doesn’t count revenues from spin-off industries like hemp and associated payroll and sales tax revenues. Dale Gieringer of California NORML estimates California alone would reap $8-$13 billion annually when all new jobs and taxes from legalized marijuana are realized.
I’ll never understand people who are afraid of legalized marijuana but accept bars with parking lots as normal.
Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 4:49 pm | By: Radical Russ
Last year there was a horrible tragedy in Omaha when Robert Hawkins, 19, went to the mall and began shooting innocent people, killing eight and himself. Yesterday, Hawkins’ mother Molly appeared on the Dr. Phil television program so the two of them could “get real” (to mock one of Dr. McGraw’s favorite catchphrases) about what led her son to go on a shooting rampage.
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While Dr. Phil did emphasize Robert’s troubled family life, history of depression and psychotic episodes, and easy access to an AK-47 assault rifle in exploring the reasons behind Robert’s suicidal rampage, he also goes to great lengths to emphasize Robert’s use of cannabis. (I hope you enjoy this… Dr. Phil charged me $6 just to get the transcript of the program…)
TRANSCRIPT from JANUARY 07, 2009
McGRAW: Robert Hawkins’ mother says she did not see the warning signs because it was one year ago that her 19-year-old son walked into the Von Maur department store at Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, with an AK-47 and killed eight people. According to the police chief, Robert fired more than 30 rounds, then he took his own life.
… Your questions to me–and I get so many of them–are, `Dr. Phil, why? Why, why does this happen? Who does this? How can we spot it before it happens to protect ourselves or our children?’ Maybe it’s one of your own children acting strange. Maybe it’s one of their friends. Maybe it’s a co-worker or somebody that you’re around. You say, `How can we protect ourselves?’ We’ve seen this all too often. Columbine, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, the Utah Trolley Square shooting. There are tragically just too many to name. But could these have been prevented?
Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 9:42 am | By: Radical Russ
Just catching up on some of the reports from the March this weekend:
Close to 500 protesters took to the streets [of Calgary, Alberta, Canada] Saturday in favour of marijuana’s medicinal use and making it more accessible to those suffering debilitating pain.
Amid the incense aromas and reggae beats, several hundred Austinites rallied at the Capitol on Saturday for the legalization of marijuana for personal and medical use.
“These guys are easy compared to the anarchists,” said Sgt. Voepel of the Portland Police Department, “they’re on time, and they’re orderly.”
According to the Sarge, the only rabble rousers during the march were two drunkards who were pestering people but were unconnected to the peaceful pro-pot gatherers. No pot smokers were spotted.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
SneakerPimp: and good afternoon
mr reuben: I could do without seeing Rob K. on tv. But Bruce and Eithan get a big thumbs up from me.
SneakerPimp: waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
mr reuben: I don't respect her opinion bluzguy.
Missippi Hippy: Something about the last year in a contract... folks become more ballsey... and Oprah has big ones.
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
More information on Dana Beal 150lb bust
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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; is she incognito like me 
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