HOUSE COMES OUT CLEAN

A full-scale search of a south-side Thunder Bay home by police and
hazardous materials specialists has turned up nothing that appears to
make it an illegal drug lab.

But the investigation is continuing and police aren't ready to say the
Prince Arthur Boulevard home isn't a hazard.

"The actual final conclusion won't be known for some time," Thunder
Bay Police spokesman Chris Adams said Thursday. "It's probably safe to
say the danger level has dropped quite a bit."

The incident began just before 1 p.m. Tuesday when Dennis Kotyk
returned to his family home after an appointment. According to
reports, he encountered an intruder on the stairway, who proceeded to
strike him with a pipe or piece of metal before fleeing.

An injured Kotyk, 65, staggered to a neighbour's house and called for
help.

While he was taken to hospital, officers began a search of his
two-storey house. In the basement, an officer came across bottles of
lye and hydrochloric acid, which led to the suspicion the house could
be a meth lab. Gene Kotyk said it was only later that he was informed
these are ingredients used to make speed, an ampethamine. His brother,
he said, was using the chemicals for a more benign purpose: specialty
soap. A friend who has helped Kotyk could only laugh when it was
suggested he was suspected of using the chemicals to manufacture
street drugs. "Let's put it this way: I make soap and you can't make
soap without lye," he said when contacted by The Chronicle-Journal.
"It's a total misunderstanding, and poor Dennis got a beating, too."

Gene Kotyk said his younger brother was released from hospital
Thursday afternoon, but he may need followup surgery. He suffered
fractures of his cheekbones, a gash on his upper lip, a bruised
forehead and concussion.

"His eyes look like hockey pucks right now," Gene Kotyk said in a
lighthearted moment.

"He's pretty woozy and in quite a bit of pain."

Gene Kotyk said when he went to his brother's house he was turned back
by police.

The block of Prince Arthur Boulevard between Ogden and Finlayson
Streets was closed to traffic much of Thursday. Along with police
cruisers, there were several fire trucks and a hazardous materials
van, as well as a large van marked as the OPP's Clandestine Laboratory
Investigative Response Team.

The Emergency Measures Organization's mobile command unit was also in
use.

A few doors from Kotyk's house is St. Jude School. A Catholic school
board official said there was "a modified lockdown" to keep the kids
indoors and away from investigators.

A mother waiting for her 10-year-old son was concerned, saying she
didn't know what was happening. However, she was pleased to see such a
variety of agencies called out to a potential emergency. "They're
doing their jobs and being cautious. That's good," Debbie McFarlane
said.

After the teams - including men wearing protective suits - wrapped up
their work, Adams reiterated that it had been the most sensible option
to secure the property and conduct a detailed search for chemicals and
drug-making equipment.

"(Based on) the sum of the information available at the time, it was
still the right determination," he said. "The provincial team that was
up concurred it was the right thing to do to treat it as such."

Adams said chemicals have been taken for testing, and officials with
the fire department and city bylaw enforcement office were at the house.

Gene Kotyk was expecting to go to there Thursday to fix a broken door.
But while he was astounded by the turn of events, he wasn't ready to
criticize the police and call the search excessive or an
overreaction.

"It seems they were more concerned about the drug aspect rather than
Dennis's well-being," he said. "On the other hand, I talked to a fair
number of (police officers) and I can understand their approach. They
have to err on the side of caution."

As for a suspect in the assault, police have not made any arrests.