RESIDENTS ACCUSE POLICE OF RUINING TOWN'S REPUTATION

Allan Sterling, Who Had No Drugs Or Guns, Says He Was Zip-Tied And
Arrested By Officers

SEYMOUR ARM - When Allan Sterling heard a car outside his house at
first light, he thought it was his buddy coming to collect firewood.

Instead, it was six of the approximately 150 officers who descended on
this small community Tuesday morning to execute search warrants, raid
marijuana-growing operations and arrest 16 adult males.

Sterling was one of them.

He said even though he had no marijuana plants or weapons, he was
placed face down on the floor with his hands "zip-tied" behind his
back and shown a warrant for his arrest. He said he was interrogated
for three hours, taken by van to Kamloops, jailed until 3 a.m., and
told to appear in Kamloops provincial court Dec. 8.

Drinking beer Wednesday by Shuswap Lake, Sterling and other residents
accused police of arresting and releasing 16 "innocent" locals who
didn't resist, dividing a community with few jobs, and destroying the
town's reputation as a tourist haven for houseboaters and hunters.

"It's going to cause major separation between local people," said
Sterling, 48, who rents out boating equipment.

But police, who earlier estimated that about half of the community of
70 is involved in growing marijuana, say they've made Seymour Arm safe
for locals who had complained of harassment.

Supt. Marianne Ryan said a combined forces team seized 50 weapons and
20,000 cannabis plants and growing equipment, which they are hauling
out of town in a least seven rental trucks.

Ryan said the police action is a message to all remote areas of B.C.
that "no one is immune to our combined law enforcement.

"The crime is moving out. It is getting pushed out [of the Lower
Mainland]," she said. "But we haven't stopped at the Lower Mainland
boundaries."

"This community has been infiltrated by organized crime," she said.
"They've taken advantage of the geography and remoteness of the area.

"They may think they're flying under the radar. All we have to do is
lower the radar."

Though the continuing investigation has found no links to bike gangs,
she said the growers, including one whose secluded home yielded 5,000
plants indoors and four weapons, would have to be connected with "a
well-established distribution network."

However several locals, including long-time residents, told a
different story.

They say the community is indeed "organized" -- its members volunteer
to build each other's log houses and A-frames and a new dock. They say
everybody has a gun to protect against cougars and bears on their doorstep.

"If you're in the wilderness, a firearm is a tool, not a weapon," said
John Rivette, 73, a retired geologist who first came to Seymour Arm in
1956. "Most people have them and register them."

He said the growers are "usually fathers and sons, a family-type
thing. They've been good community members, they don't want to attract
attention.

"There's never been theft or vandalism here. No violence or criminal
element."

But he said police have "done the right thing because it is illegal
and it could get big and ugly. But it's not big and ugly now."

Daniels Floating Store owner Alfie Daniels, 78, who was born in
Seymour Arm, said the growers helped the local economy by spending
money and hiring builders, carpenters, electricians and plumbers.

"They gave us more business, they were here buying stuff, buying food.
I know if they were shut down we'd lose money here at the store. I was
on good terms with them. I never had any worries."

He said his nephew Rick Daniels, who suffers from muscular dystrophy
and can't use his arms, was also questioned by police along with
Rick's father, who suffers from high blood pressure.

But the police ended up staying overnight at their home, he
said.

Police would not provide details of complaints they said they received
from locals. Many residents refused to talk on the record, saying they
were afraid.

One group of tourists arriving on a houseboat after the raid was
oblivious to the town's new-found fame.

Said Maurice Robinson from Lynton, Alta.: "I thought it was the
houseboat capital of the world."