SUPPORT YOUR SERGEANT

You might not see eye to eye with Valemount's Sergeant Georgie Kenzie.
She calls it like she sees it and, frankly, doesn't appear to care if
people agree with her view.

In last week's cover story, Kenzie threw down the gauntlet. She's not
cool with a big community party on public land as long as there are
people drinking to the point of intoxication and under-aged drinking.

Clearly she has hit a nerve.

Now some people are criticizing Kenzie for being too tough on underage
drinking and not doing anything about drugs.

I sit with Kenzie on the Valemount Area Substance Abuse Committee
(next meeting May 18, noon at the village office) and I am here to
tell you that she is committed to stamping out substance abuse across
the board.

There have been a host of drug busts under her watch, including the
massive grow-op bust at Cedarside and an array of visiting coke
dealers (not just cars passing by on the highway).

Expect more. This new sergeant is willing to work with information
from the community and she is chomping at the bit to put drug dealers
in the slammer.

There is little doubt in my mind that I will soon be writing a
front-page story on the arrest of Valemount's most notorious drug dealer.

If anyone has the balls to do it, it's Kenzie.

But just like meth and coke sold by low life dealers, alcohol is a
menace too. When Kenzie speaks of substance abuse, she is also talking
about alcohol. Let's face it. A lot of people have lost their
families, their health and even their lives to the drink.

So the sergeant wants to enforce the drinking age, shouldn't
she?

Teenagers don't need alcohol to have a good time, no matter what their
parents might think. Drinking and driving is a concern, but while the
grad party at the old dump speaks to that single issue it also teaches
kids about what is acceptable and expected.

You might feel that sixteen year olds have a right to drink one night
a year, but who says that at the old dump? Who stands at the cooler
and while handing out every beer says, don't come back and do this
next weekend?

Escape is easy.

Take a Tylenol 3, swill six beers, sniff gas, smoke weed, watch
satellite TV --or-- if you really want to make trouble (and I do),
live in the now. It's better than all that.

Kenzie's a fireball. She's smart, and she's got a major crime
background. She is just the cop the Valemount needs. You don't have to
agree with every ticket she writes or parade she rains on, but you
should realize she wants what we all want - a safe town with the best
for our kids.

Let's make sure she gets the support and the information she needs to
get the job done. She's in our corner.