PROTESTERS WANT TOUGHER SENTENCES

CALGARY -- As the families of four slain Alberta Mounties launch a
nationwide campaign for tougher prison terms and parole restrictions for
convicts, Prime Minister Paul Martin has agreed to meet with the group
later this month.

Keith Myrol, the father of murdered Const. Brock Myrol, said the families
are tentatively scheduled to sit down with Martin the week of Oct. 23.

As they await the meeting, Myrol is asking Canadians to turn on their porch
lights tonight as a message to the federal government to change the
sentencing system.

"Honestly, I was trying to come up with a way to involve all Canadians that
was easy and visible," Myrol said Sunday from his home in Red Deer, Alta.
"People needed a conduit to make their feelings known."

Constables Myrol, Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon and Leo Johnston, from
the area of Mayerthorpe, Alta., were gunned down at the farm of convicted
criminal James Roszko in March. Since then, the families of the murdered
men have been pushing for legislative reform to prevent a similar tragedy.

Myrol and the others have repeatedly asked Ottawa to acknowledge the
country has a problem with drug control -- specifically marijuana.

The four officers were shot by Roszko after being ambushed as they guarded
a marijuana grow-operation and some stolen auto parts found inside a
Quonset hut on his farm.

Myrol said he wants to challenge people in government to work together to
change the justice system.

"Be Canadians, not politicians. Build prisons, use maximum sentences, say
no to parole, pat your local police on the back," he said. "Stop slapping
wrists and start penalizing these violent animals for what they've done."

Myrol is asking anyone who wants change in the system to turn on their
porch lights tonight between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

He calls the "Maintain the right by turning on your light" campaign a
grassroots referendum for Canadians.

For people who can't be home to turn on a light, Myrol is asking them to
honk their car horns.

"Let's let this country know that we're done with criminals getting off
soft and we're done with repeat offenders," Myrol said. "Let's fix this
mess before another life is lost."