Intrepid Reporter busted for pot. Dateline - Weed, California!

What a rush to judgement!

WEED, SISKIYOU COUNTY -- Chronicle outdoors writer Tom Stienstra and his wife were arrested at their Northern California home on suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale, and later released with no charges filed pending an investigation, officials said.

Siskiyou County sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said deputies found "a sophisticated marijuana cultivation operation in the barn" at Stienstra's home in Weed, a small town 30 miles south of Yreka, when they searched it March 25.

Authorities seized 60 marijuana plants, 11.1 pounds of processed marijuana, scales, packaging materials and other paraphernalia from the barn and the home, Gravenkamp said.

They also found medical-marijuana recommendation papers for Stienstra, his wife, Stephani Cruickshank, and Cruickshank's son, who also lives at the home, Gravenkamp said.

Stienstra, 55, and Cruickshank, 54, were booked into county jail on suspicion of one felony count each of possession of drugs for sale. Also arrested on suspicion of the same crimes were Henry Warren Lincoln, 32, of Medford, Ore., and Nathan Jacob Koopman, 30, of Gazelle (Siskiyou County).

Stienstra posted $75,000 bail March 26 and was released. His wife and the other two suspects were released Monday after no charges were filed against them.

County Assistant District Attorney Christine Winte said, "The D.A. has decided not to file charges at this time" against any of the suspects.

She said her office intends to have Stienstra in court for a proceeding in the case, but she could not give a date.

"The whole thing is under review," Winte said.

Stienstra's and Cruickshank's lawyers said they were hopeful the matter will go no further.

"All I know is that charges were not filed," said Eric Bergstrom of Yreka, Stienstra's lawyer. "That's very good news."

Chronicle Editor and Executive Vice President Ward Bushee said Stienstra's job has not changed at the paper. Stienstra covers the outdoors for The Chronicle, has a program on radio station KCBS and has published several books on hiking and camping.

"There are no charges filed, and we know very little about the allegations against Tom and hope it is resolved quickly," Bushee said. "In the meantime, we will continue to publish his popular outdoor reports in the Sporting Green."

Read original file in the SF Chronicle. Hey bud, we can't help but notice the felicitous convergence of appropriate names in this copy, such as Bushee, Sporting Green, and Weed. But if there's a medical marijuana prescription involved, the problem may not be too prolonged.

28 years ago...SF newspapers were "stitching their own noose"

A reader unearthed this old 1981 news broadcast which poked fun of San Francisco newspapers who put content online for free...back when the newspapers cost twenty cents and online charges(for greenscreens) were five bucks an hour, with very slow connections
and no graphics.

'Joe the Plumber' on his way to Gaza

Wrenching news. Joe the Plumber is gonna take your job. Foreign correspondents are shaking their heads in disbelief.

Yup, that trend of celebrity reporting has hit a new low. A notable numb skull from Ohio, who was personally addressed 23 times in the presidential debates, now is volunteering for a rather nasty task. He says he's coming to Israel for a ten-day stint of amateur war reporting in the waning days of the Republican regime.

"[I'll] go over there and let their average joes share their story," said
Joe the Plumber. He'll make the call on good guys vs bad guys for for the conservative website pjtv.com. Right. Better he fix the sewage problems of the blighted Gaza Strip.

Samuel J Wurzelbacher, dubbed America's most famous plumber since Watergate by McClatchy's Middle East Correspondent, famously told Fox news "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel," despite Obama's speech to AIPAC pledging friendship to the Jewish Nation. The celebrity hack aims to tell "Joe Six-Packs" what they want to hear. Well, Sean Penn reported from Iraq for the SF Chronicle, and Bono edited a "red edition" of the London Independent. Ben Affleck reported on the Congo situation for Time Magazine. SO maybe now it's time for this airhead to go on air, apparently.

Do American viewers understand the difference between fame and notoriety?
Do they care? The Feral Beast wagers that he won't get accredited or go any further than the standard celeb tour of Sderot taken by Mayor Bloomberg.
Perhaps Joe, the unlicensed plumber and unaccredited war correspondent, just might get to the bottom of things. Don't hold your breath.

(Hat tip to Checkpoint Jerusalem for this startling news.)

Sean Penn takes aim at 'lamebrain' paper

Actor Sean Penn's days of corresponding for the San Francisco Chronicle may be over: according to the Associated Press, the feisty movie star now calls the publication an "increasingly lamebrain paper."

Penn offered the critique in a letter published Tuesday, written in response to a tongue-in-cheek article that focused on celebrity interest in Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
(Penn had met Hugo Chavez on location in Venezuela.) The humor column had listed a number of potential matchups between celebrities and dictators or other authoritarian figures.

Penn objected to the characterization, saying Chavez is a democratically elected leader.

Chronicle Editor Phil Bronstein took the criticism in stride, calling Penn, "a great actor and a great director."


"People get riled up about a lot of things, particularly in this day and age; they get to express themselves. We were more than happy to print his letter," Bronstein said.

A call to Penn's publicist was not immediately returned.

Penn's past writings for the paper included a five-part series in 2005 about his experiences in Iran.


With brainstorms like this, the SF paper could have been a tad brighter :

Here are some other strongmen to choose from: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah; Iran Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali KhamEnei; China paramount leader Hu Jintao; Burma head of state Than Shwe.Contribute your own ideas for celebrity-dictator matchups