NEIGHBOURS RALLY TO QUELL DRUG HOUSE CONCERNS

Charlene Marshall recalls being on the phone with a 911 dispatcher as
a drug-crazed stranger hammered on her front door.

The dirty intruder, smelling of alcohol, with white powder on his
face and an open fly, was subdued by Marshall's friends in the foyer.
They managed to convince the man that he'd mistaken Marshall's north
Red Deer home for an alleged drug den next door.

After experiencing several such incidents, Marshall has had enough.

The Kerry Wood Estates condominium resident called a neighbourhood
meeting on Tuesday night to discuss what citizens can do to prevail
against an alleged drug house that for three years has intruded on
their sleep and peace of mind.

"I don't feel the police are doing enough and I'm frustrated," said
Marshall, who believes many of her neighbours are too, judging by the
interest in attending the meeting at Grace Fellowship Church.

Red Deer City RCMP Supt. Brian Simpson was invited to explain what
legal hurdles stand in the way of police shutting down drug houses.

Police are very familiar with the problem in Kerry Wood Estates, said
Marshall. She has watched RCMP officers round up 20 or 30 people from
the next door condo, only to see the same people return to it "in a
steady stream" within hours.

The neighbour's condo is graffiti-decorated, has smashed windows and
a derelict yard.

"I would have invited them (to the meeting) too, but I was afraid of
what would happen. This could turn into a lynch mob," said Marshall.

What started out as a nuisance, as people began arriving "24/7," said
Marshall, has become a safety concern.

The self-employed dressmaker has heard arguments erupt at the house.
The latest obscenity-laced screaming match was over $5,000, said
Marshall, who woke up to a large death threat scrawled on an exterior
wall of the condo.

She fears one of the confused visitors could retaliate against her or
her family by mistake.

"I have three children and we don't sleep at night," said Marshall,
whose 11-year-old daughter is nervous about passing drug users on her
way to her own front door.

The few times the family's indoor cats have escaped out the front
door, she said they have returned with their stomachs shaved and with
puncture marks.

Marshall has openly taken photographs and written down licence plate
numbers. "My family's been afraid I'm going to end up at the bottom
of the river," she said.

But so far, nothing has worked.

"I don't have the answers."

But she hopes her neighbours will come up with a few new ideas.

Marshall hoped the meeting would at least lead to a greater feeling
of solidarity and security among neighbours. Possible options include
hiring a 24-hour commissionaire to keep an eye on things.

Simpson could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.