This is sad news indeed. Roger is a kind hearted soul that always looks for the blessing in any adversity.
by Colin M. Stewart And John Burnett
Tribune-Herald Staff Writers
Published: Friday, July 9, 2010 10:23 AM HST
Marijuana advocate Christie, 12 others arrested; charges to be detailed today
<!--[include_if_component:movie-file:1:incs/story/movie.inc]-->Federal agents apprehended at least a dozen people on the Big Island in a series of raids that began early Thursday morning.
Among those taken into custody was outspoken marijuana advocate Roger Christie, the founding director of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry in downtown Hilo.
"We assisted federal agents in the arrest, and that's about all I can say," said Capt. Randall Medeiros, commander of the police Criminal Investigation Division. He directed further inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Honolulu.
<!--[include_if:content/visitors_guide:incs/visitorsguide-links.inc] [include_if:content/voters_guide:incs/votersguide-instorylinks.inc]-->Representatives of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Attorney's Office would not verify Christie's arrest Thursday, or answer any other questions concerning Thursday's activity. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Enoki e-mailed a statement late Thursday afternoon announcing a press conference at 2 p.m. today "regarding recently filed drug trafficking charges."
Christie, 61, was arrested at 6:25 a.m. Thursday at his Wainaku Terrace apartment, 360 Kauila St., in Hilo. The police booking log did not list charges, only that Christie was arrested by local police assisting other law enforcement agencies.
According to the police log, others arrested as of 11:55 a.m. include Christie's girlfriend, Sherryanne L. St. Cyr, 58, of Pahoa, who was arrested at Christie's apartment; John D. Bouey, 51, of Keaau; Perry Emilio Policicchio, 50, of Hilo; Michael B. Shapiro, 61, of Keaau; Jessica R. Walsh, 32, of Hilo; Richard Bruce Turpen, 58, of Mountain View; Victoria C. Fiore, 28, of Hilo; Aaron George Zeeman, 41, of Hilo; Suzanne Leonore Friend, 46, of Honokaa; Timothy M. Mann, 58, of Honokaa; Kuuleialoha Miilani Ancheta, 35, of Honokaa; and Donald James Gibson, 40, of Pahoa.
The Tribune-Herald could not confirm Thursday whether all of the arrests were drug-related. All of the federal arrestees were flown to Honolulu.
In March, Christie's THC Ministry headquarters on Hilo's Bayfront, as well as up to a dozen other residences, were raided iby a task force including the DEA, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Inspector, Immigration and Naturalization Service and local police, but no arrests were made nor charges lodged at that time. One person who said he was raided by the task force told the Tribune-Herald that agents confiscated 25 marijuana seedlings from his home.
<TABLE class=photobox style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 0px 0px" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=photocell>
Signs and display items are seen in windows of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, which law enforcement agents locked up following a Thursday morning raid on the Hilo Bayfront premises occupied by Roger Christie. - Photo By William Ing/Tribune-Herald
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Christie and St. Cyr are former board members of the Peaceful Sky Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group that drafted the initiative passed into law by Big Island voters last November making adult use of marijuana on private property the "lowest law-enforcement priority." The PSA's website no longer lists either as directors, although they were listed at the time of the March 10 raid.
A man overheard as he was being interviewed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent outside Christie's ministry on Bayfront said Christie had allowed him to stay in the building for the last two weeks after the man was released from jail.
The 34-year-old man, Nathan Clark, told the Tribune-Herald that he is a fellow marijuana activist and a good friend of Christie's.
"I'm a cannabis activist and he gave me a free place to stay while I'm in the process of finding another location," he said.
Clark said he was awakened around 6:30 a.m. and asked to leave the premises by the agents, but he said it did not appear that they were removing any evidence from the building.
Clark said he is currently on probation after serving a year in jail for running his own marijuana ministry, and said he was also raided in Iowa. He added that he feels he is doing nothing wrong.
"I was helping supply the sacrament and medicine on the Big Island," he said.
Clark said he believes that marijuana has been unfairly targeted by law enforcement, and he and Christie are fighting for the public's right to access "quality, medical-grade marijuana. ... I'm just trying to help responsible people feel better."
"These arrests are a civil rights violation," Clark said. "Cannabis is a sacrament in our religion ... and this is a First Amendment issue."
Christie is perhaps the most visible and outspoken marijuana activist in the state. In 1992, he and fellow activist Aaron Anderson were arrested for possessing marijuana seeds. Charges were later dismissed. He also filed a petition in Hilo Circuit Court in 2005 seeking unsuccessfully to impeach former Mayor Harry Kim and all county councilmembers except Bob Jacobson. A similar petition in 1999 was also dismissed.
According to Clark, agents had indictments for 14 people and had arrested 13 of them as of noon.
No one answered the door of Christie's condominium in the Wainaku Terrace Apartments Thursday morning, but a man staying in the building and a groundskeeper both said they had seen agents wearing bullet-proof vests outside his door. A 40-year-old man who wanted to remain anonymous said he was seeing his girlfriend off to work in the morning when he saw the agents.
"Some looked like DEA, and one of them had a tag on his jacket that said IRS," the man said.
He also said that he later saw the agents carrying "two clear plastic bags to the cars" in the parking lot.
The resident of Rochester, New York, said he was visiting his girlfriend, who is a traveling nurse working a 13-week stint at Hilo Medical Center, and he was concerned for her safety after seeing the arrest taking place.
"I was really surprised, at first," he said, "then I started to worry about what kind of building she's living in."
Melba Huihui said she used to serve as the resident manager for the condominium complex, and she remembered long lines of people forming in front of Christie's door.
"It's been quite some time. Maybe six or seven years ago. ... The line would be from the bottom to the top floor" of the three-story building, she said.
by Colin M. Stewart And John Burnett
Tribune-Herald Staff Writers
Published: Friday, July 9, 2010 10:23 AM HST
Marijuana advocate Christie, 12 others arrested; charges to be detailed today
<!--[include_if_component:movie-file:1:incs/story/movie.inc]-->Federal agents apprehended at least a dozen people on the Big Island in a series of raids that began early Thursday morning.
Among those taken into custody was outspoken marijuana advocate Roger Christie, the founding director of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry in downtown Hilo.
"We assisted federal agents in the arrest, and that's about all I can say," said Capt. Randall Medeiros, commander of the police Criminal Investigation Division. He directed further inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Honolulu.
<!--[include_if:content/visitors_guide:incs/visitorsguide-links.inc] [include_if:content/voters_guide:incs/votersguide-instorylinks.inc]-->Representatives of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Attorney's Office would not verify Christie's arrest Thursday, or answer any other questions concerning Thursday's activity. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliot Enoki e-mailed a statement late Thursday afternoon announcing a press conference at 2 p.m. today "regarding recently filed drug trafficking charges."
Christie, 61, was arrested at 6:25 a.m. Thursday at his Wainaku Terrace apartment, 360 Kauila St., in Hilo. The police booking log did not list charges, only that Christie was arrested by local police assisting other law enforcement agencies.
According to the police log, others arrested as of 11:55 a.m. include Christie's girlfriend, Sherryanne L. St. Cyr, 58, of Pahoa, who was arrested at Christie's apartment; John D. Bouey, 51, of Keaau; Perry Emilio Policicchio, 50, of Hilo; Michael B. Shapiro, 61, of Keaau; Jessica R. Walsh, 32, of Hilo; Richard Bruce Turpen, 58, of Mountain View; Victoria C. Fiore, 28, of Hilo; Aaron George Zeeman, 41, of Hilo; Suzanne Leonore Friend, 46, of Honokaa; Timothy M. Mann, 58, of Honokaa; Kuuleialoha Miilani Ancheta, 35, of Honokaa; and Donald James Gibson, 40, of Pahoa.
The Tribune-Herald could not confirm Thursday whether all of the arrests were drug-related. All of the federal arrestees were flown to Honolulu.
In March, Christie's THC Ministry headquarters on Hilo's Bayfront, as well as up to a dozen other residences, were raided iby a task force including the DEA, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Inspector, Immigration and Naturalization Service and local police, but no arrests were made nor charges lodged at that time. One person who said he was raided by the task force told the Tribune-Herald that agents confiscated 25 marijuana seedlings from his home.
<TABLE class=photobox style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 0px 0px" cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=photocell>
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=photocutline><!--| Buy Photo-->Signs and display items are seen in windows of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, which law enforcement agents locked up following a Thursday morning raid on the Hilo Bayfront premises occupied by Roger Christie. - Photo By William Ing/Tribune-Herald
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Christie and St. Cyr are former board members of the Peaceful Sky Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group that drafted the initiative passed into law by Big Island voters last November making adult use of marijuana on private property the "lowest law-enforcement priority." The PSA's website no longer lists either as directors, although they were listed at the time of the March 10 raid.
A man overheard as he was being interviewed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent outside Christie's ministry on Bayfront said Christie had allowed him to stay in the building for the last two weeks after the man was released from jail.
The 34-year-old man, Nathan Clark, told the Tribune-Herald that he is a fellow marijuana activist and a good friend of Christie's.
"I'm a cannabis activist and he gave me a free place to stay while I'm in the process of finding another location," he said.
Clark said he was awakened around 6:30 a.m. and asked to leave the premises by the agents, but he said it did not appear that they were removing any evidence from the building.
Clark said he is currently on probation after serving a year in jail for running his own marijuana ministry, and said he was also raided in Iowa. He added that he feels he is doing nothing wrong.
"I was helping supply the sacrament and medicine on the Big Island," he said.
Clark said he believes that marijuana has been unfairly targeted by law enforcement, and he and Christie are fighting for the public's right to access "quality, medical-grade marijuana. ... I'm just trying to help responsible people feel better."
"These arrests are a civil rights violation," Clark said. "Cannabis is a sacrament in our religion ... and this is a First Amendment issue."
Christie is perhaps the most visible and outspoken marijuana activist in the state. In 1992, he and fellow activist Aaron Anderson were arrested for possessing marijuana seeds. Charges were later dismissed. He also filed a petition in Hilo Circuit Court in 2005 seeking unsuccessfully to impeach former Mayor Harry Kim and all county councilmembers except Bob Jacobson. A similar petition in 1999 was also dismissed.
According to Clark, agents had indictments for 14 people and had arrested 13 of them as of noon.
No one answered the door of Christie's condominium in the Wainaku Terrace Apartments Thursday morning, but a man staying in the building and a groundskeeper both said they had seen agents wearing bullet-proof vests outside his door. A 40-year-old man who wanted to remain anonymous said he was seeing his girlfriend off to work in the morning when he saw the agents.
"Some looked like DEA, and one of them had a tag on his jacket that said IRS," the man said.
He also said that he later saw the agents carrying "two clear plastic bags to the cars" in the parking lot.
The resident of Rochester, New York, said he was visiting his girlfriend, who is a traveling nurse working a 13-week stint at Hilo Medical Center, and he was concerned for her safety after seeing the arrest taking place.
"I was really surprised, at first," he said, "then I started to worry about what kind of building she's living in."
Melba Huihui said she used to serve as the resident manager for the condominium complex, and she remembered long lines of people forming in front of Christie's door.
"It's been quite some time. Maybe six or seven years ago. ... The line would be from the bottom to the top floor" of the three-story building, she said.
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