PORTAGE | Portage police officers Terry Swickard and Bill Smith disappeared into the thick brush and moments later the tops of the towering plants shook, releasing a cloud of pollen, and then came tumbling down.
After several minutes of work, the officers and several others from various local departments reappeared carrying arm loads of marijuana plants and piling them high on ATV's and inside various four-wheel drive vehicles.
"Green acres," one officer joked.
Another called out to a fellow officer, "You parked on the reefer, dude."
The officers worked up a sweat in the annual marijuana eradication effort in an isolated area owned by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore just east of the Ameriplex at the Port business park.
Law enforcement officers from Portage (including its Stop It Task Force), NLS, Burns Harbor, the county drug unit and the Lake County Sheriff's Department teamed up to locate and pull 5,000 plants with a street value of a few million dollars, said Assistant Portage Chief Larry Jolley.
"We did not expect that," he said of the quantity.
The plants will be dried out for a few days and then destroyed by burning them, said Burns Harbor police Chief Jerry Price.
It is unclear how the marijuana plants ended up at the site, but they have been there for several years and have multiplied, said Chief Park Ranger Mike Bremer.
Marijuana had been grown elsewhere in the past for legitimate reasons, such as making rope, he said. And while these particular plants are of low quality as a drug, he said they have value to dealers to mix in with their better grade products.
Bremer said his aunt had stray marijuana growing on her farm in Illinois and each year it had to be cleared away by law enforcement.
"None of the animals on the farm were right," he joked, "and they ate all the time."
Despite their origins or quality, Bremer said the plants are illegal to harvest.
"If we do catch you down here helping yourself, you are committing a crime," he said.
There were no people interfering with the eradication process Thursday, but Portage police Lt. Cliff Burch was rushed off to a waiting ambulance after disturbing a bees nest and ending up with close to 30 stings.
Portage Police Chief Mark Becker said Burch was treated and was doing well.
