The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, April 1, 1968 :: University of Virginia Library

While in Charlottesville, they
broke up a large ring of marijuana
pushers that had stymied
every attempt made by the Charlottesville
Police to crack it.

The narcotics agents were responsible
for the arrest of three
men, Allen Martin, 62, a doorman
at a local fraternity; Smitty
("The Head") Jones, 74, a retired
truck farmer living on welfare;
and Howard F. Johnson,
a world famous neurosurgeon at
the University medical school.

Supply Center Closed

In addition, the agents shut
down what they believe to be a
major supply center for the entire
Eastern United States, a small farm
west of Crozet. There the agents
discovered four marijuana plants
cleverly hidden about the farm.
The agents pulled these plants out
by the roots and burned them.

One of the three men arrested
by the agents, Dr. Johnson,
swears he used to teach at the medical
school but a spokesman for
the Medical School claimed that
neither he nor anyone else had
ever heard of the man. Some of
Dr. Johnson's medical students
still remember him.

One of them, Gray Mitchell,
was arrested in Mechanicsville by
local police two days after the
Charlottesville trio were trapped.
He was stepping off a streetcar
carrying ten shopping bags full of
groceries. In his shirt pocket there
were some marijuana cigarettes.

Claims Responsibility

Kevin Kilo, the chief of the narcotics
team in Charlottesville,
claimed that his group gave the
Mechanicsville municipal police the
tip-off that enabled them to nab
Mr. Mitchell.

All of these arrests occurred over
a month ago. The three men arrested
in Charlottesville were
caught when they snatched an
envelope that was at the base of
Mr. Jefferson's statue in the Rotunda.
The envelope contained 7
ounces of marijuana.

Mr. Kilo explained that his
group was heading for Richmond
because the three men arrested
had the names of four more men
in that city who were believed to
be part of the ring.

Naive Kid

Dr. Johnson, when asked if the
use of the Seven Society's mailbox
implied that secret society
was involved in such a scandalous
business replied: "Don't be naive
kid. How do you think the Seven
raise all of that money they give
to the University?"

To that statement he added,
"It's a real shame we got busted.
We had a real sweet deal going
for us with all of that secrecy
trash. And don't you think for one
minute that we gave all of the
money we made to the University.
We cut a real nice profit out of it
too."

Mr. Kilo told The Cavalier
Daily yesterday that his group had
seized and destroyed 26 ounces of
marijuana during their short visit
here. He said "That's more pot
than we got in Virginia Beach.
But of course there we made more
arrests."

'New Theory'

He went on to explain the
"new theory" behind the current
trend of rooting out the drug
problem where it is most critical:
on the college campuses.

"We feel that it is at the colleges
of America where the real
base of the problem is," Mr. Kilo
explained. "It starts with a student
taking marijuana and leads,
invariably, to worse drugs.

"The hippies, the heroin addicts,
and the Mafia are all beyond
salvaging and we cannot hope to
bring them back as responsible
citizens. We leave them alone.

"But the college student is the
future of America. If we can save
him from taking that first step of
taking marijuana, then we can
save America."

Small Group

There was a small group of
people gathered in front of the
Albemarle Hotel, where the agents
had been staying, to see the men
off and to wish them well. One
elderly woman was weeping unashamedly
as the agents came out
the front door of the hotel.

One of the agents, Mr. Cecil
Speed, stopped and asked the
woman what the matter was. She
replied "I don't think I'll be
able to sleep at nights with you
men gone."

The agent handed her his handkerchief,
saying, "Don't worry
ma'am, we'll be back when things
get hot again. But I think that it
will be a long time before the
drug problem rears its ugly head
around here again."

Affectionate Lady

The lady gave him a deep look
of affection and smiled. Other
people in the small crowd waved
and shouted friendly jests to the
departing narcotics agents. One
young man held a sign that read
quite simply, "Thank You."

One could feel the genuine emotion
that ran through the crowd
as the agent's deep blue Cadillac
station wagon started slowly down
Main Street, picking up speed and
scattering poppy seeds as it went.