SUSPECTED DRUG ACTIVITY QUESTIONED

Recognizing there's a drug problem in Salmon Arm is easier than taking
the next step in dealing with it.

"They say vigilante isn't good -- well it isn't," said Duane Dewart.
But when the Vernon man learned his son Michael was being taken
advantage of by a bad crowd in Salmon Arm, Dewart found the response
by local authorities lacking.

"I've given them the names of these drug dealers, I've given them the
phone numbers of the drug dealers, and they do absolutely nothing,"
said Dewart of his experience with local RCMP. "I am still trying to
get hold of the one in charge of this bank fraud because it cost me
$644. There are these two girls that used his card and made false
deposits into the bank =85In all they've got probably about $2,500
worth of stuff."

At 21, Michael was involved in an accident that resulted in a brain
injury. He is now 26 and a resident of the Ida Vista Housing Co-op on
Shuswap Street SW.

Retracing his sons footsteps in his own investigation, Dewart said
he's uncovered a string of drug activity that runs from the public
phone booth near the Husky gas station at the corner of Shuswap and
the Trans-Canada Highway, to the Rotary Gardens senior living complex
across the street from Ida Vista.

"This has been going on there for years apparently," said Dewart,
referring to the drug-related activities he alleges are occurring in
Rotary Gardens.

"When I got wind of it, I headed there, I picked Michael up and we
went right to Rotary (Gardens). I pounded on the door, this guy comes
to the door denying it all. I brought Michael to the door and all of a
sudden the story had changed. I was looking for the two girls. I found
one of them."

An argument ensued, according to Dewart, so he called the police. An
officer came and took the woman into custody.

"He arrested her on the spot and charged her with forgery, bank fraud
and possession for the purpose of trafficking," said Dewart. "I
thought some of them were to do with Michael. It turned out these were
warrants that they had for her, yet she was just running the streets
of Salmon Arm until I come there and kick in the door."

Rotary Gardens' residents Evelyn Shields and Jeannette Peterson are
also surprised by their seeming inability to get something done about
their neighbour. Shields submitted a petition to Rotary Gardens'
landlord, August Litke, signed by her immediate neighbours, expressing
concerns about the suspect tenant and the desire to see something
done. But to date little has changed.

"It's uncomfortable because you don't know what they're going to do,"
said Shields. "Eventually are they going to break in and take
something that they can raise money for? If he gets moved out of here,
what might the repercussions be?"

Shields and Peterson suggested there is also a connection between the
suspect tenant and another unit on the Rotary Gardens property

"He's got one place here, got all the girls and the men staying in
that one bedroom," said Peterson. "They sleep on the floor with those
little mattresses. How they sleep I don't know. Then there's one up on
the third level. Mainly the girls stay up there."

"So it's a messy thing," added Shields. "And I guess we all want to
know why the police just can't come and say `Here, you're out of here.'"

However, Shields and Peterson also said that as of late they've seen
increased RCMP patrols of the area, and as a result, the number of
people visiting the suspect suite has declined.

The situation involving Dewart's son is being investigated, said Sgt.
Eric Castle. As for the alleged goings-on at Rotary Gardens, Castle
explained that a police response is dictated by available resources.

"You have to realize that you get things like this Rotary Gardens, but
we have probably 40 other complaints of a similar nature, so it's a
matter of trying to pick them off one at a time, or going with the
ones we have the strongest evidence for," said Castle. "We're
currently working on a number of them, but you only have so many
people to either investigate it or conduct surveillance, and all that
other kind of stuff, which is always required in order to surface
enough evidence.

"In Mr. Dewart's case ... it's a tragic situation. He's not well, and
people may be taking advantage of him. But unfortunately =85 it's not
something we can really deal with as we're not a social agency. The
father has to either look into having some kind of caregiver situation
or have someone watch over him if he's not capable of making correct
decisions involving his welfare."

Litke, who manages Rotary Gardens for the Shuswap Housing Society, is
in a similar situation as the RCMP. Despite the petition submitted by
Shields, he explained evidence is needed to effectively deal with any
illegal activity suspected of tenants.

"I don't have any proof of that happening at this point. So I really
can't comment on it," said Litke.

The Shuswap Housing Society, in turn, is run under the auspices of the
Salmon Arm Rotary Club. Its president, Rick Roberts, explained the
service club is unhappy with the situation, and that something is
being done to remedy it.

"We're trying to deal with the situation here, and we've got some
things in process that we think will solve it," said Roberts. "We've
got some things that are on the way right now that we can't talk about
because there's a level of confidentiality."

Because of Dewart's complaints that the phone next to Husky was being
used for drug activities, Husky has asked Telus to remove it. Telus
spokesperson Shawn Hall said it would be taken out of service Aug.
1.

While he said he intends to move his son to Vernon soon, Dewart is
still determined to expose Salmon Arm's drug problem, with or without
help from the police.

"I'll deal with it, because the police just do not deal with it," said
Dewart. "To me this is wrong, but something has to be done. If the
police don't do it, what are you going to do? Just stand by and watch
your kids get burnt and hooked?"