Sometimes out here in the West, a stranger comes to town and saves the city from whatever peril is threatening it. But sometimes a stranger comes to town disguised as a savior and turns out to be a grifter. From Crooked Media, this is Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto. Coming June 7th wherever you get your podcasts. For early, ad-free access to episodes, join ‘Friends of the Pod’—Crooked’s new subscription community—at crooked.com/friends.
When you drive into the small Mojave desert town of Atalanto, California, the first thing you see is a welcome sign with the city's motto.
Atalanto is a city with unlimited possibilities.
This is Jermaine Wright, an Adelanto city council member who ran for mayor back in 2014.
That was also the year that Jermaine met the man who would challenge the future of Adelanto and eventually change his life forever.
Jermaine was driving near his home when he noticed a guy with long hair and a scraggly beard on the side of the road.
And he was messing with one of Jermaine's campaign signs.
So he pulled over to investigate.
I'm like, who are you?
And he's like, oh, I'm Johnny Butt Willard.
And I'm like, okay.
And he just looked like to me, a old hippie.
The stranger said his name was Johnny Bug Woodard junior, and he was running for city council.
Yeah, I think I was fixing his sign, maybe, I'm not sure.
But we came up to each other.
He was on the campaign trail.
I'm on the campaign trail.
That's when Bug told Jermain about his big idea to save Adelanto from bankruptcy by legalizing commercial weed cultivation, something no city in Southern California had ever done before.
He goes, you ain't got a chance in hell now.
It's good luck I went.
Well, good luck to you, too, Jermaine.