Reflections ►
The Raid
Ten Years Later & Taking Stock by Dolores Halbin , contributing writer
It is fate , I believe , that the name of the article written by KC Star reporter Don Bradley on March 29 , 2014 , was “ The Evolution ” of an issue . Ten years later , I am privileged to write about the evolution of cannabis for The EVOLUTION Magazine . To say what a long , strange trip it ’ s been is an understatement .
Our Last Good Day
The truth is , sometimes things end badly , and when they do , well , the getting Up is Up to us .
Our last best day was St . Patrick ’ s Day , 2014 , on a Monday ( photo above ). Schools decided to take a continuing education day so kids could attend the KC St . Patrick ’ s Day Parade .
We picked up our three grands for the weekend . Friday night , they built forts and played games of throwing stuffed animals off the ( pretend ) burning deck into a firefighter ’ s blanket and flipping them back to the burning deck . All in good fun .
44 March 2024
Saturday was picture perfect , so we joined our neighbor Dave at Peckerwood , taking turns shooting the bow and arrows high into the air and trying to hit the target on the big fat fencepost with the slingshot and paintballs . Dave ran the kids through gun safety drills . We ate , we drank , and we were merry .
That happy day was followed by another going through all my costume bags for green clothes to wear to the parade on Monday . We made it in time for a frontrow seat on the sidewalk . After the parade , typically , we ’ d go to my brother Jim ’ s for corned beef and cabbage , but the kids did not yet understand the deliciousness of this Irish feast , so we took them for Chinese food . My fortune cookie said , “ You will be getting a new set of clothes .” I laughed and said I guess I should go shopping !
At bedtime that night , I told my husband Gene I thought that was the best weekend we ever had with our grandkids . He agreed . “ And tomorrow is my harvest day !”
After nearly losing his garden in November from deadly Fusarium wilt and being at the mercy of friends and family for months to bring him cannabis for his glaucoma , tomorrow was finally his harvest day . He leaned over and kissed me on the head . He called me his luck of the Irish .
And that was our last good day .
Tuesday March 18 , 2014
I took the kids home early Tuesday morning and advised Gene to wait to take his insulin until I returned and we got food . Three grandkids for four days had picked the house clean . When I turned down our road at 11:30 a . m ., I realized life as we knew it was over .
I drove past our driveway , past the gigantic intimidating SUV of the Missouri Drug Task Force , past the sheriff . If they arrested Gene , I wanted to be available to bail him out . His health was too frail for jail , so I just kept driving until I ran out of gas .
My neighbor ’ s kid was home sick . I was supposed to be available if she needed me . I called her . “ Yes ,” she said in an awkward conversation . More cops were showing up , maybe nine cars .
They didn ’ t arrest Gene that day , saying he would most likely get a summons to appear in the mail . The raid had been mostly civilized because we knew the sheriff . I recently , much to the objection of both Gene and neighbor Dave , gave him and his wife , also an RN , a six-month-old Mastiff someone had dumped on the road . The couple raised the giant dogs . I wouldn ’ t say we were friends , but we were certainly friendly and knew each other .
March 19-April 1
A lot went down over the next two weeks . Butler is a small town full of police band radios . The day of our raid , the entire ER staff where I worked had listened . I was , gratefully , given the opportunity to resign versus being fired by the hospital and assured if not charged or convicted of a crime , I could come back .
The local paper played the story big on the front page . They fanned out Gene ’ s lovely garden like a family portrait — tall plants in the back , then the teenagers , babies up front , his lifelong gun collection fanned out in front of his garden . In addition to what was in the picture , they had walked out with my thirty-year career as an RN . It took a minute for