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- PREPARED BY THE COALITION FOR HEMP AWARENESS
- Share This Information. It Is Important To Us All.
- CHAGS817-7
-
-
- AMERICAN KILLED FOR A FEW HEMP PLANTS
-
-
- Gary Shepherd's four year old son, Jake, was sprayed with Gary's blood
- as overzealous Kentucky government assassins murdered Gary during a
- confrontation about his small Cannabis Hemp patch at his Appalachian
- home August 8, 1993.
-
- Mary Jane Jones, Gary's companion and mother of their son, was shot in
- the head by a government bullet as she helplessly watched Kentucky Law
- Enforcement Officers kill the man she loves.
-
- Gary believed as a citizen of this earth he had the right to cultivate
- Cannabis Hemp for his personal consumption in his own home. Gary
- defended this right to his death.
-
- When he saw a helicopter hovering over his small patch of medicinal
- Cannabis plants which were not yet of the smokeable stage, he motioned
- for it to come down. It did, one officer got out and leaned on the
- fence and a close conversation took place which Gary stated to his
- companion included this dialogue:
-
- Officer: Are these your plants?
- Gary: Yes.
- Officer: We are going to cut them down.
- Gary: You will have to kill me first.
-
- The officer gestured and left with the helicopter. With this began the
- last 5 hours of Gary Shepherd's life. As more helicopters circled and
- more government vehicles surrounded his personal domain, Gary Shepherd
- spent the last five hours of his life UNARMED and in a rather casual way
- considering the circumstances.
-
- Living under siege is not uncommon for residents of the Eastern part of
- Kentucky whose life under our government has been compared to Bosnia.
- Gary went inside and showered, and then spent a great portion of his
- remaining hours with his son Jake. Gary taught Jake how to pound a nail
- in a board under the watchful eyes of the men who had come to kill him.
- Gary's companion, Mary Jane Jones, and their 4 year old son stood nearby
- sharing their last moments of their lives with their beloved Gary Shepherd.
- Described as a casual stand off, law enforcement officers maintained
- a five hour vigil on Gary Shepherd and manipulated him to position
- for his assassination.
-
- After hours of absolutely no attempted dialogue by Gary's killers
- (other than the continual harassments of ultra low flying helicopters),
- hours of no attempts at negotiation with Gary Shepherd (and refusal by
- the assassins to let Gary's family through to talk to him); a voice
- came over a bullhorn indicating the agents wanted to talk with Gary.
- Gary advised them to drive up by his gate and walked towards them -
- and for the first time that day he held a weapon. With his rifle
- casually in his hand - held by the barrel - Gary headed for the gate.
- Agents then ordered Gary and Mary to put their hands in the air -
- Mary raised hers - Gary raised his crippled left arm as high as
- he was able - raised the hand with the gun in it straight over his
- head - rifle pointed at the sky - Mary Jane saw the tobacco field
- next to her house turn to moving camouflage and realized they were
- going to "fill him full of holes" - a smoke bomb hit - the agents
- opened fire and blew Gary Shepherd away.
-
- The Government of the United States of America did not object to
- Kentucky volunteering as a major producer of Hemp for the war.
- The Government of the United States of America did not object to
- Gary Shepherd crippling his left arm in Vietnam. The Government
- of the United States of America crippled Gary Shepherd in a war
- and then murdered him for growing Hemp.
-
- The Kentucky police have put two officers involved in the shooting
- on paid vacation. Government agencies refer to this type of time
- off work as administrative leave. It is probable the guts of the
- trigger pulling souls who took Gary's life are hurting at this date
- over what they did...and it is probable their regrets will be eternal....
- is it possible the reality of the exchange of a human life over a
- patch of pot will open their eyes? If it doesn't....we must.
-
- ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
- Associated Press - 10 August 1993
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-
-
- KY. TROOPERS KILL MAN DEFENDING HIS POT PLANTS
-
- MOUNT VERNON,Ky.(AP) - A man who vowed to die before he would let police cut
- down his marijuana plants was shot to death after a daylong standoff,
- authorities said.
-
- The standoff with Gary Shepherd, 45, began Sunday after members of the
- Governor's Marijuana Task Force, conducting an aerial search, spotted 55 plants
- in the back yard of a home near Mount Vernon.
-
- Troopers landed a helicopter and told Shepherd they were going to cut down the
- plants, said Trooper Gilbert Acciardo, a state police spokesman. Shepherd went
- into his home and came out with a rifle, Acciardo said.
-
- A special-response team showed up and found Shepherd sitting in a lawn chair,
- holding the rifle.
-
- "He was pretty much sitting there, probably about six or seven hours," said
- Rockcastle County Deputy Sheriff Darrell Doan. "He didn't talk to us at all".
-
- Shepherd was shot several times in the head and chest as he raised his rifle
- toward the troopers, authorities said. But Mary Jane Jones, 42, who lived with
- Shepherd and their young son, said he never pointed the gun at anybody, and that
- state police made no serious effort to negotiate with him.
-
- A state police statement issued yesterday said Shepherd told police they would
- "have to kill me" to get at his marijuana.
-
- Jones said Shepherd had deep convictions about marijuana use and wanted to
- discuss those with the police. Jones was standing on the porch of their home
- during the shooting and was grazed by a bullet.
-
- State police Capt. Rodney Brewer said the two officers involved in the shooting
- have been put on administrative leave pending an investigation.
-
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