B.C. TOWN'S CASH CROP UP IN SMOKE, ALONG WITH ECONOMY

It hasn't always been easy attracting new folks to the tiny northern
community of Likely, B.C.

The little gold rush town of about 250 residents -- located about 100
kilometres east of Williams Lake -- has seen more than its fair share
of economic hard times in recent years with the collapse of the
forest industry and a temporary shut down in gold and copper mining.

"A few years ago, you couldn't sell a house in Likely for $80,000,"
said Rob Hood, a longtime Likely resident and president of the local
chamber of commerce.

Then along came the pot growers and things started looking up in Likely.

Properties left vacant as work dried up were suddenly all bought up,
and many locals found themselves employed putting in elaborate water
systems and erecting huge, windowless, barn-like structures on the land.

Few questions were asked -- even when locked gates were installed
across driveways, making it abundantly clear the town's new occupants
weren't interested in anybody dropping in for coffee unannounced.

"Everybody was happy," said Hood.

Maybe not everybody.

According to police, it was from some very unhappy citizens of Likely
that they first learned of the grow operations.

"It was definitely a mixed bag," Const. Craig Douglass of the RCMP
North District said of public reaction. "Some liked this group being
there . . . and some were concerned enough to phone police."

This week, a news release from the B.C. Solicitor General's office
announced that a rural property in Likely has become the largest
marijuana grow-operation ever subject to civil forfeiture action.

The forfeiture -- which means the land and buildings seized are
turned over to the province -- comes almost two years after RCMP
busted a massive marijuana operation on the 2.5-acre property on
Cedar Creek Road, Likely's most upscale neighbourhood.

More than 5,560 marijuana plants were seized during the November 2006
police raid. Douglass said the sheer size of the operation was enough
to produce a marijuana cigarette for everyone in the province every year.

But Hood, like many others in Likely, isn't so sure all the legal
fuss was necessary. He called the growers "nice, polite guys," who
didn't cause any trouble -- an assessment police didn't refute. Now,
since the various raids, many properties around town are, once again,
sitting vacant and unkempt.

Hood said the town is working hard to diversify from its once
resource-based economy to one focused more on tourism. Likely
certainly has a lot going for it: It's on the original gold rush
trail, has the only genuine Chinese ghost town in the country and is
home to some of the best sports fishing and kayaking in the world,
according to Hood.

"We're trying to develop all that stuff," he said, adding, only
half-joking, "we have to now that the No. 1 crop is gone."