DAYCARE SHUT AFTER RCMP FIND GUNS, MARIJUANA, CASH

Mounties Make Find In Raid On Home Of Alleged Drug
Dealer

Authorities have shut a Vernon daycare after a police raid turned up
guns, marijuana and cash.

"The place where this stuff was found . . . is immediately adjacent to
the daycare area," said Vernon RCMP Cpl. Henry Proce.

"It is a bit disconcerting to have parents dropping off two-or
three-year-old children at a place where a [suspected] drug trafficker
resides, and where also illegal activity is apparently ongoing -- the
storage of the firearms and the marijuana."

An estimated 30 to 40 families used the daycare, many of them on a
drop-in basis.

The closure followed an undercover operation against street drug
dealers by Vernon RCMP.

Police allege Dustin Monroe Holmes, 27, sold cocaine to undercover
officers on the street.

They got a warrant to search his home and raided it on Saturday.

"When they got there, they realized, 'Oh my God, it's a daycare,'"
said Proce.

Holmes was living upstairs, as was Amber Fanstone, who owns and
operates the French Roots Creative Childcare Centre downstairs, Proce
said.

The pair had a connection but weren't in a relationship, he
said.

In a furnace and laundry room downstairs, officers found three rifles
not securely stored, ammunition, drug paraphernalia and undisclosed
quantities of marijuana and cash, Proce said.

Police have no evidence that Fanstone knew about illegal activity in
the building.

Fanstone bought the building in the 4000-block 28th Street for
$130,000 in 2003 with a loan from Community Futures Development Corp.
of North Okanagan, provincial records show.

The Interior Health Authority temporarily suspended the daycare's
licence on Monday.

"If there are drugs or firearms there -- either known to her or not
known to her -- it's still an issue," said medical health officer Dr.
Rob Parker.

"It's the licensee's job on-site to ensure the health and safety of
the children. I wasn't assured that she could do that."

Reasons for the suspension include the presence of drugs and guns,
improper keeping of attendance records and failure to notify the
health authority about the man living in the building, who should have
had a criminal-record check, Parker said.

The authority is still investigating and could close the facility
permanently.

Or Fanstone could reopen.

"She would have to convince us that she could ensure the health and
safety of the children in care," Parker said. "I'm not sure if she'll
be able to do that or not."

In August, a health authority inspector wrote Fanstone up for
excessive clutter at the daycare, Parker said. An October follow-up
found she'd cleaned it up.

In 2002, Fanstone worked briefly for the House of Dwarfs Daycare
Centre, said owner/operator Sherry Kolenski, a daycare provider for
more than 20 years.

Kolenski said she let Fanstone go after just a few weeks because she
didn't fit in with the centre's child-care philosophy.

Kolenski said parents should be scrupulous in researching anyone who
works with their children.

"Your children are subjected to whoever she may have in her life, not
just the caregiver."

Debbie Baker, who runs A Mother's Touch licensed family daycare in
Vernon, said she couldn't imagine a daycare operator would knowingly
risk exposing children to weapons and drugs.

"This caregiver should have had their eyes open more to see what was
going on. You can't have weapons and drugs in with the daycare."

Holmes is charged with five counts of trafficking cocaine, two
firearms offences and marijuana possession.

Fanstone could not be reached.