DRUG PAST THREATENS AMERICAN DREAM

A seven-year old drug conviction is threatening to send a High River-born
man living in California back to a country he never knew.

Curtis Stauffer, 30, admits he had a penchant for fast living that got him
hooked on methamphetamines and earned him a 14-month jail sentence when he
turned to dealing to feed his habit in 1995.

What he can't believe is the conviction has come back to haunt him now and
he faces deportation under a law that mandates it for foreigners convicted
of serious crimes.

Stauffer says that since his release from jail four years ago, he has
turned his life around is living what many would consider the American
Dream: He's married with three young children, has a big house in
Sacramento and owns his own successful cabinet-making business that employs
14 people and made $1 million last year.

"The reality of it hasn't really sunk in," said Stauffer, who has lived in
the U.S. since he was eight years old.

"I'm in limbo now."

The problem, said his lawyer, is that Stauffer never became a citizen and
the issue never came up during his trail.

"Nobody advised him because he isn't a U.S. citizen, he could be deported,"
said Robert Wilson.

For his part, Stauffer admits it's something he should have taken care of
sooner.

But he also said his nationality was never called into question while
growing up in the U.S. northwest, where his father - a professional jockey
- - moved the family to find work.

Stauffer's wife, Melanie, is an American citizen, which also added to his
false sense of security.

That - and any notion he was done paying his debt to society - ended
abruptly the night of March 26, when several federal agents knocked on
Stauffer's door as he watched a basketball game with his 20-month-old
daughter, Codi, on his lap.

"I thought they'd give me a subpoena and leave, but they said, "No, you're
coming with us," he recalled.

The U.S. changed the law in 1997 to elevate several lesser offences to the
status of "aggravated felony" and make them grounds for deporting any
non-citizen convicted of one.

It's unclear why authorities caught up to Stauffer when they did, but an
Immigration and Naturalization Service spokeswoman said Stauffer's
conviction would have remained in the past if he had obtained his citizenship.

Stauffer spent 15 days in an Arizona prison for illegal immigrants before
being released pending a deportation hearing July 19.

"He has an excellent business and he's as straight as a string" said
Stauffer's retired father, Joe, who also lives in northern California.

"He's got everything going for him and it would be terrible if they took it
all away from him."

While the elder Stauffer has fond memories of playing pond hockey in Turner
Valley and racing horses at Stampede Park, Curtis's recollections amount to
little more than vague impressions gathered from childhood and a family
reunion a decade ago.

"It's beautiful.

"The people are nicer and I remember that if you ever went to the
supermarket, you didn't have to put a steering wheel lock on your car to
keep it from being stolen," said Stauffer Jr.