Civil disobedience in northern California (and I don't mean the Bay Area)

Michael Montgomery reported on NPR a few days ago from Humboldt County under the headline, "Pot Radio: Traffic, Weather and Drug Bust Tips." Here's the lede:

For decades, marijuana growers in Northern California have received reports of pending police raids from a local community radio station and citizens wary of the drug war.

* * *

"According to a citizen's observation, at 8:45 a.m., three helicopters were seen heading from Laytonville to Bell Spring Road."

Reports like this one alert the station's listeners — which include both legal and illegal pot growers — to the movements of police and drug agents, on the ground and in the air. Ending the segment, the host said, "To report sightings such as these, you can call the civil liberties monitoring project" at a local phone number.

The radio station is KMUD, and the program director offers this explanation:

We're not broadcasting their whole operations. ... We're just giving the public an awareness that there are 10 trucks heading down a very narrow road with one-lane portions of it, with tight turns. Again, our reports are quite benign.

Now, however, police say the practice must stop, and they cite increased marijuana production and an influx of armed drug traffickers.

Read other posts on marijuana production in northern California here and here.