California IN BRIEF : SANTA ANA : County to Sell Ranch Seized in Drug Raid

Despite objections from Sheriff Brad Gates and his supporters, Orange County supervisors voted to sell a 213-acre ranch seized in a 1985 drug raid rather than turn it into a regional drug enforcement training center. The $1.4-million ranch in east Orange County has been an object of a long tug-of-war among county officials, who now have decided they cannot afford to keep it. The ranch became a prominent symbol of the county’s war on drugs, and President Bush visited it in 1989 to highlight his national anti-drug campaign. The owner of the ranch, Daniel James Fowlie, has been accused of international drug smuggling.