DRUG FEARS BEHIND MAN'S BURNING

Accused's Son Had Overdosed; She Believed Local Dealer Was Supplying The Drugs

A Glace Bay man was set on fire because people in the neighborhood believed
he was selling drugs to young children, police sources say.

Terrence Fiore is in serious condition at the QEII Health Sciences Centre
in Halifax.

A police source said the 46-year-old was being investigated for selling
crack cocaine when he was doused with gasoline and set ablaze May 23.

Caroline Beth McNeil, 34, and her sister Cheryl Arlene McNeil, 35, have
both been charged with attempted murder, break and enter, and arson in the
attack.

Caroline McNeil's 15-year-old son Robert has overdosed on drugs three
times, most recently in March, his paternal grandmother, Colleen Frison,
said in an interview yesterday.

"He was in the hospital for three days in a coma," said Frison, her words
interrupted by tears.

"He's lucky he's a big boy."

Police arrested Caroline McNeil Tuesday as she was getting ready to take
her only son to a detoxification clinic in Halifax, said Colleen Frison.

The sister was arrested separately.

Friends are taking care of the boy. His father, Robert Frison, is in
Halifax visiting Caroline McNeil, his common-law wife.

She and her sister are undergoing psychiatric assessment at the Nova Scotia
Hospital.

Caroline McNeil suffers from colitis and Cheryl has epilepsy, the
grandmother said.

Drugs are a common problem in the Glace Bay area.

"Robert wasn't the only kid," Colleen Frison said. "I guess other kids
around the school were getting them, too."

Cheryl McNeil has a nine-year-old son.

Caroline McNeil had been to Cape Breton regional police with complaints
about a drug dealer she believed was supplying her son's habit, Frison said.

"The mother reported him I don't know how many times to the police, and
they didn't do anything about it," she said.

"If it was your kid, what would you do?"

The attack on Fiore occurred at about 3 p.m. last Saturday at 3 Arthur St.,
in the Sterling district of Glace Bay.

It was the second violent crime on the block in three weeks. A man was
beaten to death April 24.

Checked-by: Richard Lake