'I'M SICK, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO TELL YOU,' MAYOR SAYS

MAYERTHORPE - Residents of this west central Alberta town were in
shock over the slaying of four Mounties at the hands of a lifetime
resident.

"I'm sick. I don't know what to tell you," said Mayor Albert
Schalm.

"It shocks me that this could even happen."

In a small town people have a different relationship with police,
Schalm said. Indeed, residents spoke about seeing them at town
banquets, playing hockey or even in the local bar.

People in this town of 1,570 huddled around radios in the hardware
store and by their pickup trucks as the tragedy unfolded. At the end
of the day the flag in front of the local Legion was lowered to half-mast.

James Roszko, 46, who is believed to be the assailant and was found
dead in a Quonset hut along with the four dead police officers, was
well known in the town and had a reputation as being violent and
mentally unstable.

"The cops have known him for a long time," said Pat Burns, a local
carpenter. "The justice system doesn't have the balls to do what needs
to be done."

Although he had had his differences with some RCMP officers in the
past, Burns said they unfairly take the brunt in incidents like this.

Burns also said Roszko had befriended his stepson years ago even
though Roszko was much older. When Roszko gave the boy a new jacket,
Burns said he sent it back with a note telling him to stay away from
his stepson.

Several people in town spoke of longstanding rumours that Roszko had
weapons hidden on his property.

He was described as a loner. Several people told the same story about
an enumerator being warned to stay off his property before the last
provincial election. When she did drive onto the property her tires
were blown out when she drove over planks studded with spikes.

Tina Haben, who lives about one kilometre from Roszko's property, knew
he had previous problems with the police and had seen police on his
property before.

It was not the first violent event in the area; less than two years
ago there was a home invasion at a trailer park. However Haben, who
immigrated from Germany with her husband 13 years ago, said she would
again feel safe when the incident is all over.

"It's a bad thing -- I didn't think that things like this would happen
in my neighbourhood," said Haben, a realtor.

An uncle of Roszko, who wouldn't give his name, said he hadn't seen
him for years but he knew that he had been in trouble with the law and
that "the police were riding him constantly." But he said most people
in the family had little to do with him and most of his brothers and
sisters have grown up to be respectable citizens.

Residents weren't aware of the grow operation but they weren't
surprised. Schalm said that drugs have become a problem in small-town
Alberta, just like everywhere else, when the amount of disposable
income rises.

Bob Walker, a former fire chief, said it's not surprising that bad
incidents like this could happen in a small town.

"You like to think you have a nice town and everybody is happy, but
that is not quite the way it is when you've got the human factor."

Whitecourt Mayor Trevor Thain called it a sad day.

"It's hard to put stuff like this into words, especially when one of
your own is involved. My heart goes out to the family and to the
families of the other officers who were killed.

"The detachment is a great bunch of people and I'm sure I can't even
begin to imagine how they feel right now."

Thain said the Whitecourt detachment has about 15 officers while the
Mayerthorpe detachment only has about three or four members. Those
numbers don't include a highway patrol unit which is administered
through the Whitecourt detachment.