NATURE FLUSHES OUT ILLEGAL DRUGS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993                   TAG: 9303090180
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LON WAGNER
DATELINE: CHATHAM                                LENGTH: Short
NATURE FLUSHES OUT ILLEGAL DRUGS
The biggest still in Virginia history is not all that authorities found in the woods near Smith Mountain in early January.
While staking out the still for nearly two weeks, spending eight or nine hours at a time on a wooded hillside, sometimes nature called.
During one such "biological excretion," as Pittsylvania County investigator Jay Calhoun termed it, the officer heard a metal sound.
They moved aside some leaves, and found buried in the ground a metal trunk. They found two large plastic bags, with some "green plant material." Some of the green plant had buds on it.
"From his experience it certainly appeared to be marijuana," said Charles Strauss, assistant Pittsylvania County prosecutor. "You wouldn't stash parsley out in the woods." The agents found a couple of pounds of marijuana, and some scales that could be used to weigh it.
No charges have been filed in connection with the trunk's contents. Calhoun said investigators are waiting for fingerprint tests to be returned from a state lab.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB