'VIGILANTE JUSTICE' PONDERED TO FIGHT DRUGS

Parents In Hope Fed Up With Response To What Many Think Is A
Crisis

VANCOUVER - Parents of dopedout high school students in Hope say
they'll use "vigilante justice" to combat drug dealers.

"We're going to videotape drug dealers across the street from (Hope
Secondary School)," parent Jeff Holgate said yesterday.

"It's vigilante justice, but parents are powerless. B.C. judges and
politicians need to get on board. I have no faith in our justice system.

"The cops are doing everything they can, arresting guys day after day.
The dealers think it's a joke."

Parents in the community of 6,200 located 160 kilometres east of
Vancouver say they're planning more than in-yourface tactics with dealers.

Terry Vickerman said he knows of plans to post lists of offenders on
street poles all over town. The lists will include those convicted of
trafficking, defence lawyers and names of judges who have "let
defendants off on technicalities."

Vickerman said one "obnoxious" defence lawyer was not pleased to hear
about the plan.

"He told me I'd be putting his client at risk. I told him hundreds of
kids are being lost and families torn apart. Somebody has to do something."

Holgate said his son took up marijuana last year in Grade 9. The
signs, he said, were slow to become apparent: failing grades, late
nights and moodiness.

Mother Missy Holgate puts her son's fall from grace down to hanging
out with the wrong crowd.

"He was busted in between classes. His eyes were glazed and he stank.
The $5 joint was bought out of a student's locker," she said.

Missy wants police dogs sniffing out dope in the school and stiff
sentences for dealers.

"As long as the legal penalties aren't there, we're hooped," she said.
"I'm scared. I don't want to lose my son because some jerk is giving
him drugs."

Vickerman said his 18-year-old daughter suffered a stroke after being
"forced" to take highly concentrated cocaine.

"She was told if this ever happened again, she'd be dead or a
quadriplegic," said Vickerman. "The problem includes crystal meth,
too."

Chuck Lawson, principal at the 460student Hope Secondary, said drug
use has "spiked" this year after a five-year decline.

"It can be disappointing. Different waves of students come into the
school," he said.

The school's strategy involves drug assessments and restorative
justice, emphasizing dialogue with victims and wrongdoers. Spot checks
are made on lockers. Dealers are expelled.