On Sept. 20, the Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District hosted a neighborhood meeting at the community center west to address illegal marijuana grow operations. Posts on a Facebook community page prompted the meeting because of concerns for the existence of illegal marijuana operations in the Falcon area, according to a resident who attended the meeting and wished to remain anonymous.The resident requested anonymity because of possible ramifications related to grow operations run by organized drug dealers. She is being attributed as ìthe resident.îAbout 25 residents attended the meeting, as well as Mark Waller, District 2 representative of the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners and EPC Sheriff Bill Elder and Jeff Shulz, an EPC sheriffís deputy, the resident said. ìPeople commented on the post, saying things ranging from having no idea that there was a problem in Falcon to having knowledge of three grow houses on their street,î she said.Elder spoke at length and answered a few questions toward the end of the hour-long meeting, the resident said.ìI think people showed up to the meeting feeling optimistic and hopeful that there was something we could do (about the illegal operations), but after Sheriff Elderís talk, it sounded to us like the laws were not written like they (lawmakers) anticipated this being a problem,î she said.In a separate interview, Schulz said meetings like these are important because it gives the community a chance to voice their concerns and gain a better understanding of how the sheriffís department works and how they investigate illegal grow operations. However, Schulz said the people running illegal grow operations do not care about community meetings or the concerns of the residents.ìThey are running an illegal operation, and all they want to do is grow their plants, sell them and make money,î he said.The resident said her family and several others on her street have considered looking for new places to live, hoping to escape the problems in her current neighborhood.At this time, Woodmen Hills has not scheduled additional neighborhood meetings. Schulz said the sheriffís department does not set up meetings like this, but they will gladly attend if invited.ìWhen the new house bill (House Bill 1220) goes into effect in January that limits the number of marijuana plants to 12 per dwelling, I think we will have a few more meetings,î Schulz said.The resident said she thinks meetings like this are helpful in keeping residents aware of the illegal activities and the responses from the sheriffís department. ìThe more people that know about it, the better the chance that we can do something about it,î she said.
