RESIDENTS WON'T BACK DOWN

Gangsters' Hold On Hobbema Will Be Undone By Bravery

"What did people expect?" Pam says. "Did they think that the gangs
would just throw up their hands and leave?"

Pam lives in the Samson reserve townsite, which is the epicentre of
the drug and gang activity in Hobbema, 90 km south of Edmonton. At
one point, her home was surrounded by five crack houses.

Most of Pam's relatives have packed up and moved away, some even
refusing to visit her because they were too afraid of the neighbourhood.

But Pam, her husband and children stayed.

This is their home and they were not going to be chased out by
criminals. It should be noted that while they're stalwart, they're
not foolish -- Pam asked that her last name be kept secret.

It was that kind of steely resolve that permeated the atmosphere in
Samson, the largest of the four reserves that make up Hobbema, back in April.

That was when 23-month-old Asia Saddleback caught a stray bullet from
a drive-by shooting.

The tot miraculously survived, and the horrifying incident galvanized
the community of 12,000 against the couple hundred gangsters who were
running amok in their midst.

Samson Chief Marvin Yellowbird declared a state of emergency, imposed
a curfew on everyone under the age of 18 and formed a citizens task
force to come up with solutions to the gang problem.

Members of the Hobbema RCMP -- probably the only small-town police
force in the country to have its own gang squad -- began working
extra hours to chase down all the tips on gang activity they were
suddenly receiving.

Derelict, graffiti-scarred houses that made perfect places for
crackheads and their dealers to do business were torn down, while
gang "tags" were painted over as quickly as they were sprayed on.

In short, the heat was on. So it should come as no surprise that
violence has erupted again.

There are 13 gangs competing for the lucrative drug trade in Hobbema,
and they're not about to fold up their tents and leave town without a fight.

These merchants of misery are simply making too much money off the
epidemic of addiction in Hobbema to just turn tail and run.

Since the crackdown, three people have been killed, bringing the
year's total to five, and police are bracing for more gun violence in
retaliation.

The latest victim was a 20-year-old mother shot Aug. 16 when her
parents' house was sprayed with bullets.

Delena Lefthand Dixon reportedly had no direct connection to gangs,
but members of her family do.

"That's an important detail," Pam points out. "Most of the people who
are getting hurt have some kind of link to the gangs.

"She was in a house that had ties. My family has nothing to do with
that lifestyle. We don't do drugs and we certainly don't sell them,
so we're pretty much left alone."

So, Pam says, the community's gang problem is really a drug problem.

"The drug users are more of a problem than gangs," she says. "We need
to deal with the drug problem in the community. If we can do that,
the gangs won't see any point in being here, because they won't be
making money off of us."

But in the meantime, the community must not despair. Like the Taliban
in Afghanistan, the gangs' puppetmasters know they must break the
people's will in order to hang onto their power.

The only hold they have on Hobbema is through fear and intimidation.
The people's resolve will be tested. Their bravery will be
challenged. In all likelihood, more people will be hurt. But they
can't back down.

"Oh we're not backing down," Pam says. "It's not going to happen
overnight. We know that."