By KEVIN NEVERS

Burns Harbor Town Marshal Jerry Price doesn’t know exactly what the street value would be of the wild-growing marijuana seized in Thursday’s eradication operation conducted on Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (INDU) property.

But Price is pretty sure it’s worth more than he makes in a year.

This year’s operation, the seventh in which the Burns Harbor Police Department has participated, is the largest yet, Price told the Chesterton Tribune today. Approximately 25 rangers and officers from the National Park Service, the BHPD, the Portage Police Department, the Porter County Sheriff’s Police, and the Porter County Drug Task Force uprooted enough pot plants to fill multiple five-ton dump trucks, he said. “It was a lot.”

The marijuana is currently drying at a secure, guarded location, Price noted, and will later be incinerated.

“It was hard work,” Price said. “Hard, dirty, nasty, painful work. We’re all kind of worn out today but it’s a satisfied worn-out, don’t you know. It’s one of those things that’s got to be done. If you don’t try, you’re not doing your job.”

Price declined to specify where the marijuana was seized, except to say that it was found growing wild on INDU property at the western limits of the Town of Burns Harbor and the eastern limits of the City of Portage.

By the way, Price added, any citizen who cares to finish the job for law enforcement should look up and smile for the video surveillance cameras which have been installed by police on the site.

There was one casualty of the operation, Price said: Lt. Cliff Burch of the Portage Police Department, who was attacked and stung multiple times by bees “who took great exception to his walking through their area.” Burch, who has an allergy, was transported to Porter hospital by EMS personnel and treated but was later released to return to the eradication operation, Price said. “He’s okay.”

“It was a good job,” Price said. “A job well done by the poor saps who sweated and got stung. It was the most help we’ve ever had and we seized the most marijuana we ever have.”

In a statement released on Thursday by the National Park Service, Chief Ranger Mike Bremer said that the marijuana was not cultivated but was found growing wild. Visitors are urged to report any wild-growing marijuana which they may find in INDU by calling (800) PARK-TIP.

Posted 8/22/2008