Plant poisoning suspected

Jerry Beierman, a Grand Coulee resident known for raising record-sized veggies, thinks someone doused several of his plants with some kind of poison, he reported to police Saturday.

On Monday, Beierman said that three tomato plants, two bean plants and one cucumber plant were killed, along with an area of his lawn. He also said another plant had died, he thought from a separate incident.

Beierman said he was concerned that others might suffer the same type of vandalism, and he was afraid that someone might still eat vegetables from poisoned plants.

When the Grand Coulee resident saw his damaged plants, he gave some of the beans and green tomatoes to neighbors. But after it was determined by a local master gardener that the plants had likely been poisoned, Beierman called the neighbors and told them not to eat the vegetables.

“They said they hadn’t, and I was relieved,” Beierman said.

The plant soil was sent off for evaluation and Beierman awaits word on what the culprits used to kill his plants.