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Health & Fitness

Are We Welcoming Mexican Drug Cartels to Novato?

Well intentioned efforts to provide affordable housing might overburden law enforcement.

I wonder if the bump up in gang activity in Novato is directly related to the pot farm busts in West Marin. The latest occurred this past week near Nicasio and is linked to a Mexican drug cartel.

On Sept. 4, 2006, a Marin IJ editorial addressed the largest bust in Marin County history, seizing 22,000 marijuana plants near Bolinas, with a street value of $50 million. It was also presumed to be the efforts of a Mexican drug ring. The editorial lamented, as I do now, this is way too close to home.

Essentially that means, four years later, the bad guys continue to find our beautiful Marin landscape fertile ground for these environmentally destructive and criminally attractive operations.

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My guess is there are many nuances that occur from the planting and harvesting operations, to the trafficking of the drugs, and more than a few seedy folks involved in the process.

I wonder if some of them are coming to our city and if we are too welcome a host?

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If we in Novato are inadvertently adding to the problem by offering low-income housing meant for the law abiding to the law breaking, are our best intentions causing more harm than good?

 Are we causing an undue burden on an overworked police force?  These are men and women that I have the utmost respect for. They struggle mightily to do their jobs without abusing their power and our precautionary principles in the process. They comport with an extraordinary sense of balance.  At work, they are not afforded the freedom of activism on either side of the fence.

What can we do as concerned citizens to help law enforcement stop criminal activity from escalating? We are working together to attack graffiti, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

A local columnist recently noted the possibility of having to accept more gang activity in the county, due to financial cutbacks in law enforcement. Shortly thereafter he suggested a Marin Grand Jury investigation into exactly how much gang activity is occurring in Novato (and San Rafael), the inference being, in my mind, that perhaps accurate information is not being released by these cities.

We need all the accurate information we can get about what’s going on with gangs in Novato. We do not need nor want a soft sell for public relations benefits. We certainly don’t need feeble attacks by anonymous trolls who are too scared to identify themselves, but are quick to call the police if a campaign mailer is accidently delivered in their mailbox. We don’t need sissies or wimps, those that are so angry at activists, one side or the other, but hide behind the fear of intimidation.

We need our city safe and our quality of life protected and we are willing to do our fair share. Many, many Novatoans have become involved in this struggle of late and that’s a fantastic thing.

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