STRATHCONA COUNCILLORS WANT BONG BAN

Council Motion Seeks To Bar Drug Paraphernalia Sales Near Schools,
Put Products Out Of Sight

Finding pipes and bongs at one Sherwood Park convenience store may be
more difficult if Strathcona County Council accepts a motion from two
councillors next Tuesday.

Molly's Minimart stocks a variety of items in the glass case beneath
its cash register which may have to move if proposed amendments to a
land-use bylaw from councillors Peter Wlodarczak and Jason Gariepy pass.

"If an owner is responsible and is willing to take steps to be
discreet about how they do business, and they don't market their
products directly to kids and teenagers, then the community is
willing to accept that type of activity," Gariepy said.

Approved amendments would force the sale of drug paraphernalia to
areas more than 200 metres away from residential property lines,
schools, public parks, recreational facilities and churches.

Also, advertising would not be allowed on county land, and
merchandise in shops could not be seen by the general public.

For Dale and Molly Willis, who have owned Molly's Minimart in front
of Father Kenneth Kearns Catholic School since April of last year,
that will change how they do business, though they will not have to move.

"They're going to be grandfathered into many aspects of the motion,"
Gariepy said. "They aren't going to be forced to relocate, but they
will be expected to no longer display those items publicly."

The couple think the changes are unnecessary and detrimental to their
business. "If someone can sit in an office downtown and decide what I
can sell, even if it's all legal, what's next?" Dale asked.

"What if he doesn't like Red Bull? Will he stop us from selling that?"

The issue began last summer when Gariepy, who frequented the store,
noticed the display.

"I had this tightness in my stomach, thinking this was a store that
was frequented by the high school and the nearby elementary school,
and it wasn't right to be selling these products in this way."

The couple maintain they do not break any law, do not sell to minors,
and always ask for identification unless the buyer is obviously
middle-aged or older.

"Probably 75 per cent of the people buying these things are above the
age of 30," Dale said.

After Gariepy stopped shopping there, he wrote a column for the
Sherwood Park News in February, outlining his dismay with unnamed
local retailers and provincial legislation that addressed tobacco
advertisement but not the display of pipes and bongs.

Dale said business dropped off since then and has brought him
attention from some angry residents.

"There was one lady who came in here to go up one side of me and down
the other," he said.

But other residents are siding with the couple. "The previous owners
of this place sold knives, machetes, brass knuckles, and nobody
raised a fuss," said John O'Sullivan, a longtime resident of Sherwood
Park who shops at the store.

"If all they have to do is worry about pipes, then they can fix the
cracks in my sidewalk rather than worry about something like this."

Gariepy remains firm in his vision for Sherwood Park.

"We're not Whyte Avenue, and we're not going to have a bunch of pipe
and bong stores popping up, that's not what the community stands
for," he said. "We are a family-oriented community."

Dale thinks it is the family that can help kids decide how to view
the merchandise. "If parents instil values they believe in, these
things will have absolutely no impact on their outlook."