JOINT-SMOKING DRIVER ACQUITTED

Tears of joy and sorrow flowed in a city courtroom yesterday as a
dope-smoking motorist was acquitted in the traffic death of a Calgary
father of three.

Justice Peter McIntyre ruled the marijuana joint Patrick Houlgrave shared
with his then-girlfriend prior to losing control of his pickup didn't
impair his driving ability.

Moments after the verdict, Houlgrave, 23, limped from the courtroom, cane
in hand, with tears welling up in his eyes.

At the same time, Doug Harrison's parents, and widow Arlene Hunter, sat
crying over McIntyre's decision.

McIntyre ruled Houlgrave's driving on Dec. 27, 1997, suggested he was
neither impaired, nor driving dangerously.

Houlgrave lost control on a snowy stretch of the Trans-Canada Hwy., west of
Banff, swerving into Harrison's oncoming minivan.

The force of the collision flipped the van on its side, killing Harrison,
36, and injuring Hunter and their three children.

Houlgrave's girlfriend at the time, Melinda McFarlane, was also critically
injured.

Houlgrave, who declined comment shortly after the verdict, later told the
Sun the decision was the right one: "I feel terrible about the accident,
(but) I wasn't high."