HOLY SMOKERS AWAIT THEIR DATE

Holy Smoke Culture Shop co-owners Paul DeFelice and Alan Middlemiss
will have to wait a little longer for their day in court.

Sporting his customary dreads and smile on his face, DeFelice
sauntered up to Nelson courthouse August 22 where he was met by his
lawyer Donald Skogstad and told his bail conditions would be varied by
the end of the week.

"Our lawyer and prosecution have already worked out something and
apparently we have to sign something in a couple of days and then
after that our only condition of bail is not to knowingly be in the
presence of marijuana," said DeFelice.

DeFelice was arrested July 15 and charged with two counts of
trafficking in a controlled substance on June 2. That same evening,
Nelson City Police (NCP) conducted a search of the Holy Smoke premises
and seized a pound and a half of cannabis, between $8,000 and $9,000
cash and documents related to the operation of the business.
Middlemiss turned himself in August 16 upon hearing there was a
warrant for his arrest and is charged with two counts of trafficking
in a controlled substance on July 13.

The raid and arrests are part of a wider NCP investigation involving
undercover municipal police officers from the coast.

"It was a two-phased eight-day operation involving four undercover
operators from Oak Bay, Victoria, Vancouver, and Abbotsford police
departments," said NCP Sgt. Steve Bank, adding that the operation
targeted alleged drug trafficking in Nelson generally but specifically
targeted licensed premises, street-traffickers, trafficking from
residences, dial-a-dope operations and the Holy Smoke Culture Shop.
"If they're undercover operators, obviously we have to bring somebody
in that's not going to be recognized."

DeFelice, however, questioned the police's actions in hiring the
officers.

"They were paid per diems. They were put up in hotel rooms. They were
flown here from the coast all at great expense. Since it's municipal
this is the Nelson taxpayers paying for this," said DeFelice.

Bank, who could not provide the names of the other individuals
arrested or establishments targeted, confirmed that the City of Nelson
is footing the bill for the operation but said he does not yet know
how much it cost. When asked if an exchange of police resources might
be involved, Bank said he would not disclose that information to the
public.

It's pretty expensive because of wages and such and to be honest, I
don't know what the bottom line [in terms of] costing is going to be
on this operation until we've dealt with the wages," said Bank, adding
that it made sense to bring in municipal police officers instead of
RCMP because NCP participates in a municipal police undercover
operators pool.

DeFelice and Middlemiss are scheduled to appear in court October 3 and
November 7 respectively.