BROWN REMEMBERED AS INSPIRING

Nearly a month has passed since Lou Brown's son, Sam, died in a
Spokane jail. Samuel Jackson Lindsay-Brown was arrested by U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration agents after flying a helicopter loaded
with about 150 kilograms of marijuana from Malakwa to a remote area
south of the U.S.-Canada border and north of Spokane.

"He was a powerful force in the community and inspired a lot of kids,
but in the end he got tied up with the wrong people," said Lou of his
son.

"Somebody basically asked him to run stuff across the border, put him
on a mission ... it was a sting, he'd walked right into it."

While Sam hadn't completed his helicopter licence, his father said he
was close to completing his certification in Vancouver.

"He'd done three-quarters of his helicopter licence," said Lou, noting
he too is licensed to fly. "He was a natural - he had super balance -
I've never seen anyone fly like that."

"We heard that he was in jail one minute and the next, he died," said
a soft-spoken Lou, who indicated he has trouble understanding how his
son ended up dead while in a 'suicide-proof' jail cell. "They (the
jailers) are supposed to be responsible for your life."

As for the investigation, Lou shied away from referring to his son's
death as a conspiracy, but did say that what happened to Sam in his
last hours remains inconclusive.

"[The investigation] is very inconclusive ... it's inconclusive at
this point on how he died," said Lou, who indicated that there are
still other investigations which are ongoing.

"Their autopsy is pretty suspect," said Lou in a later interview.
"Everybody is speculating that it has more twists and turns than
anybody knows about."

While the RCMP remain largely quiet on the subject, much speculation
has surrounded Sam's involvement with Colin Martin, who originally
reported the helicopter stolen. The RCMP have confirmed that Martin,
who is employed by Gorge Timber Corp., the company which owned the
Bell 206 helicopter, does have a criminal record involving marijuana
trafficking.

A decade-old transcript from the CBC's The Fifth Estate describes a
then 28-year-old Martin as a marijuana supplier involved in
cross-border smuggling. Reports from Sicamous indicate an increased
helicopter presence in the area, and the RCMP have confirmed they are
conducting an investigations into the Malakwa helicopter theft.

Yet, Lou said he doesn't want his son's legacy to be defined by his
last, fateful decisions. Instead, Lou, along with scores of mountain
bikers and extreme sports enthusiasts, are remembering 'Sammy' for his
'inspiring' athletic abilities and personality.

"He was crazy about bikes, wheels, anything that turned. He learned to
ride a bike before his older sister ... He could spoke his own wheels
by the time he was 10," said Lou. "Sammy was always into mountain
biking. he would get hair-brained schemes and do 25-foot drops and all
kinds of crazy stuff. He kept his old man up at night."

Sam gained a fair amount of fame among mountain bikers for his
aggressive riding and trail-building, and for a large wooden 'hamster
wheel' dubbed the Disconstructed Wheel in which he would ride his
bike-a wheel featured in the mountain biking film New World Disorder
3. Of the wheel, Lou says, "It was his grad present-I welded that up."

Sam, his father said, "was well loved and lived on the edge. he
inspired a lot of people."