RESIDENTS RALLY BEHIND ANTI-DRUG VIGILANTES

Crack House Torched On New Brunswick Island

It was a spontaneous act of vigilante justice, but many residents of this
tiny island say it was a long time coming.

It has been five weeks since

a suspected crack house was burned to the ground by a mob that three RCMP
officers were unable to control. Now, five men charged in the incident have
been released on bail, and residents have started a red-ribbon campaign to
show their support.

They're tying the markers to their homes and cars, and posting signs with
slogans like "Free Our Boys" in convenience stores and on lampposts. Even
the mayor has a red ribbon.

"I sport one on my own car, it shows that we are thinking of these people,"
said Grand Manan Mayor Dennis Greene of the ribbons that now litter the island.

"We are normally law abiding citizens, I guess it showed our frustrations,"
he said, adding that while Grand Mananers don't condone breaking the law,
they are relieved with the outcome. "People are happy with the end result -
one less crack house on the island."

Drug addiction has plagued the fishing community of 2,600 for years.

When crack cocaine and prescription painkillers, such as Dilaudid and
OxyContin, became mainstream on the island, residents' frustration reached
a boiling point. The pills, sometimes referred to as "hillbilly heroin,"
are often prescribed to cancer patients and are considered the strongest
painkillers available on the market. The street price of a pill ranges from
$20 to $45.

Senior citizens sell leftovers from their prescriptions, according to Kelly
Wilson of the local John Howard Society chapter.

"Seniors and people on a fixed income are selling what they don't need of
the drug," she says, calling OxyContin and Dilaudid powerful and highly
addictive.

Last month's riot started when a group of men, mostly fishermen, confronted
the alleged drug dealer and demanded he and his associates leave the island.

Both sides are reported to have fired gunshots, and the street brawl lasted
until dawn. One resident, who will face charges of obstructing a federal
highway in the Grand Manan courthouse in October, reportedly used her
vehicle to block off the street, preventing firefighters from putting out
the blaze.

Three of the island's four full-time RCMP officers were on duty early on
the morning of July 22, but were powerless to control the mob. RCMP Cpl.
Kevin Jackson admitted the situation got so out of control that "our
responding officers had minimal effect on civil disobedience."

To date, five men have been charged in connection with the incident. Carter
Foster, 24, Matthew Lambert, 27, Michael Small, 26, Gregory Guthrie, 26,
and Lloyd Bainbridge, 31, were held in custody for several weeks before
being released on bail last Friday.

Foster is charged with unlawful storage of firearms and dangerous use of a
weapon. Bainbridge and Small are charged with arson, and Small is also
charged with dangerous use of a weapon. Lambert is charged with dangerous
use of a rifle and flare gun. Guthrie is charged with dangerous use of a
firearm.

Ronald Ross, the man whose house was burned down, is charged with dangerous
use of a firearm.

He was released from custody Monday on the condition he stay off Grand
Manan and have no contact with any of the island's residents.

Support for the five suspects reached a fever pitch after the RCMP brought
more than 70 police officers to the island in the weeks following the riot.

The massive show of police force was in response to rumours of a second
riot outside the home of another alleged drug dealer on the island.
According to Jackson, police received a threat of "unknown reliability that
there was a planned unlawful assembly to go ahead (on Aug. 1)."

There was no second riot, though small groups of residents gathered outside
several convenience stores on the island that night.

In the wake of the arrests a fund was established to help with the legal
expenses of the men charged. More than $20,000 has been raised to date.

"There is a lot of support," said Grand Manan resident Sharon Greenlaw,
spokesperson for the Grand Manan Concerned Citizens Legal Defence Fund.
"We're definitely behind them."

Greenlaw says the fund has received calls from across the Maritimes, and
from the United States, asking about where to donate money. People in other
communities in mainland New Brunswick also approached her about donning red
ribbons in a gesture of solidarity.

"People in West Saint John and St. Stephen are ready to put up red ribbons,
there is a lot of support from all over," she said. "It's not just a Grand
Manan problem, it's a rural problem."

But not everyone on the island supports the vigilantes. Community Programs
Coordinator Karey Ingalls works with youth to prevent drug use. She says
celebrating the men charged in connection with the riot isn't constructive.

"They are not even looking at the big picture, that their children have
broken the law," she said of the local support for the five young men
charged in connection with the riot. "There has to be some sort of
ownership to the (drug) problem here, and stop blaming other people."

Ingalls would like to see a family resource centre built where residents
could take effective parenting courses, and islanders educated about
substance abuse prevention.

The attorney for the five accused residents is also hoping the public
demonstrations of support will die down.

"This is something which belongs in the courts and not on the streets,"
said David Lutz, who asked that supporters refrain from attending last
Friday's bail hearing in St. Stephen.

"I requested that the only people that came from the island were potential
witnesses in the bail hearing," he said.

In all, only about a dozen women from Grand Manan made the 21/2 hour trip
to the courthouse. In the end, none of the women, mostly family members,
was asked to testify.

The five men will be back in court Oct. 2, when a date will be set for the
trial.