The State - News from Aug. 4, 1986

The wreckage of a missing pot-spotting airplane with two Siskiyou County sheriff’s deputies and a pilot aboard was found just north of the California border and there were no survivors. Crews dropped by helicopter to the site five to eight miles inside Oregon identified the plane as the Cessna 182 that had been missing since Thursday. Sue Swaton, spokeswoman for the search effort, said the bodies of pilot Noah Stennitt of Redding and Deputies Dale Rossetto, 30, and Larry Breceda, 29, were found at the site. They had left Montague Airport, seven miles west of Yreka, Calif., on a pot-seeking mission. Campaign Against Marijuana Planting officials had expressed concern that an irate marijuana farmer might have shot down the plane. But CAMP Director Jack Beecham said the aircraft generally fly at 2,000 feet or higher, making them difficult targets. Beecham said the program’s fourth annual series of ground raids on marijuana farms in 37 counties would beging as scheduled today. Last year’s raids resulted in 147 arrests and the seizure of $334 million worth of marijuana, Beecham said.