A LIKELY STORY

A huge pot-growing operation is busted in a tiny B.C. town. Good news?
Not to the chamber of commerce. Seems like a lot of folks were making
a pretty good living off the land

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 shutdown 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.

Properties left vacant as work dried up were suddenly 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 growing 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 press release from the solicitor-general's office proudly
announced that a rural property in Likely has become the largest
marijuana-growing operation ever subject to civil forfeiture action.

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

The land and buildings were valued in 2008 at more than
$250,000.

"There were plants everywhere ... Virtually every corner of the
residence and certainly the outbuildings were being used," said Douglass.

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.

Douglass said the growing operation is one of several in Likely --
many of which have since been busted, with more civil forfeitures possible.

In March, two men -- 37-year-old Sambath Om and 42-year-old Kim Noun,
both of Surrey -- were ordered to serve one year in jail in connection
with the 2006 bust.

Charges are pending against several other individuals -- all of whom,
police say, belong to the same Vancouver-based organization.

On Tuesday, Solicitor-General John van Dongen hailed the court's
decision to grant forfeiture of the property as a victory for
law-abiding citizens.

No one wants growing operations and the associated crime in their
community, van Dongen said, adding, "I'm hopeful that the public will
see that we are working hard, through a variety of legal challenges,
to control criminal activity better than we have in the past."

Police, too, were pleased with the court's ruling -- the first
successful property forfeiture in northern B.C.

"By us shutting down the property, it eliminates that potential for
those drugs to be on the streets. There is one less place to grow
marijuana," said Douglass.

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.

"They were not violent, even to us," said Douglass.

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 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-jokingly: "We have to, now that the number-one crop is gone."