CANADIAN CRUSADER CONVICTED

Humanitarian Called A Victim Of Bad Luck

In a letter written from his cell in the St. Tammany Parish jail, Ed Shaw,
a noted humanitarian and retired teacher from Canada, lamented the slow
pace of justice and his inability to help his adopted countrymen recover
from a devastating hurricane in Belize.

"It doesn't make any sense that I am rotting in here instead of helping
them rebuild," the 75-year-old Shaw wrote in a March 2002 letter scrawled
with the ink tube from a ball-point pen. As a maximum-security prisoner,
Shaw was not allowed to have the pen's casing because it could be used as a
weapon.

"It's ridiculous to think of a frail old man who never hurt anyone trying
to stab someone with a pen," said David Pulver, a longtime friend from
Shaw's hometown of Kingston, Ontario. "But it's equally ridiculous to think
of him as a drug dealer."

Shaw was arrested along with three other men on drug-trafficking charges in
October 2001 after police seized more than $1 million worth of cocaine and
several guns from a vehicle near Covington.

Shaw, who has dedicated nearly a quarter century to philanthropic projects
in Belize and Mexico, became a cause celebre in parts of Canada. His arrest
was reported in newspapers across the country and was the subject of a
documentary on Canadian public television. Supporters raised more than
$10,000 for his defense and created a "Free Ed Shaw" Web site to publicize
his predicament.

"He is so selfless and determined to help others that people here have
grown to love him as an almost angelic figure," Pulver said. "We were all
absolutely stunned by his arrest, but no one believed for a second that he
was guilty."

But as of Monday, Shaw is officially a convicted drug dealer.

Facing 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted at a trial scheduled to begin
June 30, Shaw pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute
cocaine in exchange for a seven-year sentence. With credit for time served
and good behavior, he could be eligible for parole in spring 2005.

"At his age and with his declining health, 15 years would be the equivalent
of a life sentence," Pulver said. "He bit the bullet and made the best of a
bad bunch of alternatives."

Shaw's New Orleans attorney, John Reed, declined to comment. It was
undetermined where Shaw would serve the remainder of his sentence.

Trouble begins

Shaw was arrested Oct. 14, 2001, while traveling from Texas to Florida with
two Belize nationals and another Canadian man in two vehicles.

After stopping near Covington for the night, Shaw checked into a motel with
the Canadian, Ronald Lines, 59, while the other two men tried to fix their
1996 Ford Explorer, which was having transmission problems.

The men called a wrecker service and offered $1,000 cash to have the
vehicle towed to Tampa, Fla. With the country still reeling from the
terrorist attacks a month before, the tow-truck driver became suspicious
and reported the unusual request to authorities, according to police reports.

A State Police trooper detected the odor of burnt marijuana in the Explorer
and called in a drug-sniffing dog, which signaled that narcotics were
inside, said State Police Trooper Kevin Allen, a spokesman for Troop L
based near Mandeville.

Police obtained a search warrant and found a suitcase containing 18
individually wrapped bricks of cocaine weighing a total of 36 pounds, Allen
said. They also seized two assault rifles, two semiautomatic pistols and
more than 500 rounds of ammunition, he said.

Police arrested the two Belize men, Marlon Seawell, 31, and Clide
Peyrefitte, 30. Shaw and Lines were arrested at the motel after police
found unspecified evidence that they were traveling with Seawell and
Peyrefitte, Allen said.

All four were booked with possession with intent to distribute more than
400 grams of cocaine. Peyrefitte reached a plea agreement similar to Shaw's
in March and was sentenced to seven years. The other two men are being held
in the parish jail in Covington, awaiting trial.

Staying upbeat

Shaw's supporters said they believe he was simply in the wrong place at the
wrong time. They said he planned to visit friends in Florida and had
hitched a ride with the other men.

"Edward is a very trusting person," Pulver said. "At most, he is guilty of
naivete and foolishness for not knowing what was going on behind his back."

After taking early retirement in 1979 as a high school English and history
teacher, Shaw founded Partnerships in Latin America, a nonprofit
organization that provides loans and technical advice to the owners of
small businesses in Belize and Mexico.

Friends said Shaw moved to Belize and has poured more than $150,000 of his
retirement savings into the organization. The Kingston City Council
presented Shaw with an award in 1997 for his public service.

His arrest came less than a week after Hurricane Iris pounded Belize,
killing about 20 people and leaving 15,000 others homeless. In the
aftermath of his felony drug conviction, friends and relatives said they
are concerned Shaw might be prohibited from returning to Belize to continue
his humanitarian work.

Despite that possibility, they said Shaw has remained upbeat, and jail
staff said he has kept busy teaching inmates to read and write.

Kathryn Elliott, a cousin of Shaw's who lives in Ontario, said he hadn't
lost his sense of humor when she visited him in jail a few months ago.

"His only complaint was, 'I always wanted to see the New Orleans Mardi
Gras. Close, but no damn cigar,' " she said.