We used to have oleander bushes in the divider along the freeway from here to Sacramento. Looked nice and broke up the flat desert looking area. Years ago they had to remove them and have actually concentrated over some of the places as they found marijuana planted in among them all the way to Sacramento and Cal Trans was watering it for them unknowingly. There are so many meth labs around here in old beat up camping trailers that anyone who is hiking and happens to stumble across one of them just automatically avoids it and reports it to the police. Trouble is we just have 3 DEA agents and there is no way they can even keep up with the known labs and gardens, let along spend time hunting the hundreds of thousands of acres of canyons and forests for them. And the underground operations are very sophisticated and about the only way to find them is with a tip or finding where they have climbed a power pole and tapped into the electricity. Down in Jamo's area they face the same thing except they also have the huge vineyards to try and contend with. Here they are telling the people that used to hike into the mountains to fish the rivers and streams to stay out if they value their life. A good friend who cuts wod on weekends told me he had seen an old van hidden way back up in the mountains and some Mexicans came walking out and waved to him. I told him to report it to the police and he did and they did a fly over and found two huge pot gardens just about a half mile up the mountain from where he was cutting wood. I know of at least three meth labs they are watching within a mile of my house. This is not the kind of country it was when I first moved up here from Fresno. I feel more as if I live in a war zone and the average citizens are afraid to go for hikes any more. And it is getting worse sad to say as more and more illegals move in.
Ron
