Man who reported marijuana farm upset by denial of reward

YAKIMA — A man who said he and another bow hunter barely escaped with their lives after stumbling onto a marijuana farm is upset about being denied a reward after he reported his find.

"To have guys chasing you with firearms, I mean, we should get something out of this deal," the hunter, Mike Gambrell, told the Yakima Herald-Republic. "The people running this program, they just don't want to give up the money. It's a joke."

Washington State Patrol officials said the reward offer using a telephone hot line, 800-388-GROW, was designed in the 1980s to draw tips from pot smokers and others in the drug culture rather than discoveries by law-abiding citizens.

"This isn't for people who learn after the fact they could get money for this," Capt. Mark Couey said. "We're thankful (Gambrell) called 911, that he wasn't hurt — and that he did his civic duty."

Gambrell, 39, a state maintenance technician, said he and Duane McFarland of Puyallup were hunting mule deer Sept. 3 in a steep canyon near Satus Pass about 25 miles northeast of Goldendale.

Nearing the bottom of the canyon, Gambrell said he met a man wearing camouflage who threw his hands in the air, took cover near a tree and drew a chrome-plated semiautomatic pistol. Thinking the man was a poacher, Gambrell hustled to catch up with McFarland on the canyon floor.

"That's when I realized I was surrounded by marijuana plants," he said. "I mean, the whole bottom of that canyon was like a corn field full of pot plants."

About halfway out of the canyon, Gambrell said, he and McFarland saw four men coming after them with rifles. With a head start of about 300 yards, the pair made it to safety in the woods and used a walkie-talkie to alert a friend, who called 911 on his cellular telephone.

State troopers and Klickitat County sheriff's deputies seized 1,079 marijuana plants but found no one to arrest.

Gambrell said he later learned of the hot line offering up to $5,000 for tips leading to the seizure of marijuana but was denied any money.

Couey said Gambrell failed to meet the requirements listed on the patrol's Web site — that to receive a reward, a tipster must call the 800 number before alerting any other law enforcement agency and then call back within two weeks.

"He's trying to win the Lotto," Couey said. "I feel for him, but this program is designed specifically to entice people who would not otherwise normally come forward."