Two men busted with three pounds of pot

MONROE-Two Oneonta men were arrested Monday after state police said they discovered three pounds of marijuana in their car during a traffic stop on Route 17 in the town of Monroe. State Police at Monroe said Troopers Thomas Chadwick and Gregory Maxwell stopped a 1992 Buick headed west on Route 17 for having an inadequate exhaust. While interviewing the driver, Uhan R. Pearson, 24, and his passenger, Earl W. Watson, 21, police said they detected an odor of marihuana coming from the inside of the vehicle. A search revealed the defendants had secreted approximately three pounds of marihuana in the Buick. Pearson and Watson, both of Oneonta, were arraigned before Town of Chester Justice Peter J. Maselia on a charge of second-degree criminal possession of marijuana and several vehicle and traffic violations and sent to the Orange County Jail in lie of $7,500 pending action by the Orange County Grand Jury.