SIDEWALK CORPSE SAD, NOT UNUSUAL

Public Drug Death Is Sign Of Community's Ongoing Battle With Drugs, Say Police

The body of a 26-year-old woman with "obvious signs of drug use" was
found near a south-end Nanaimo phone booth on Monday.

Police do not suspect foul play in the woman's death, which was
reported by a passerby around 7:45 a.m., in the 700-block of Haliburton Street.

Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O'Brien said on Monday the
territory is "a very active area" known for its drug use and nuisance
properties. "Unfortunately, it's not an uncommon occurrence," said
O'Brien of drug overdoses. "That's the sad reality."

Police in Nanaimo are called to drug overdoses several times a week,
said O'Brien.

And drug addicts are discovered dead in alleyways, on the streets and
in rooming houses in Nanaimo once or twice a month.

Though police have yet to identify the woman, word of her death was
already circulating the streets on Monday morning.

For long-time Haliburton Street residents Doug and Tanya Hiltz, it's
the latest development in a neighbourhood they have been working to
rebuild for years.

"I knew it was coming," said Tanya Hiltz. "There's a lot of bad
(things) going on."

While they are not surprised a woman died of a suspected overdose on
their street, "it's unusual for (drug addicts) to be so far up (on
Haliburton)," said Doug Hiltz.

He patrols the street regularly, shooing addicts away, reporting
incidents to police and picking up discarded needles. He's already
collected about 200 needles in a week.

Yet with the majority of known crackhouses concentrated in the
100-block of Haliburton, a death in the 700-block "is unusual," said Doug.

For each drug house shut down, another three open, he said.

The Hiltzes want to create a community watch program in their neighbourhood.

"We want to build this community strong," said Tanya Hiltz. "This
could have been prevented."

Interested area residents can reach the couple at cherokee6@shaw.ca.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact
Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at
1-800-222-8477.