LANCASTER STREET FIRST WITH GROW WATCH SIGN

Marijuana growers are about to discover where they shouldn't set up shop.

Chilliwack's first Grow Watch neighbourhood will be officially declared
Wednesday morning. With police and residents looking on, city workers will
install the program's white and green sign on Sardis' Lancaster Street to
inform potential pot farmers that their neighbours know how to find illegal
indoor gardens.

The innovative Grow Watch program was introduced May 31, followed by a
series of informational seminars. Already a Block Watch neighbourhood,
Lancaster's overachieving residents obtained a 100 per cent Grow Watch
participation rate-a full 20 per cent more than the program requires.

Const. Krista Vrolyk will be on hand when Wednesday's sign is erected. She's
not surprised it's going up in Sardis instead of downtown Chilliwack.

"We'll be putting up six or seven signs that day," she said.

"(Lancaster) was simply the first to complete the program."

Vrolyk is pleased with public response to the RCMP's new program, and
expects more neighbourhoods to sign on as the summer rolls along.

"More (applications) are coming in every day, which is good."

As she said during the program's unveiling, Grow Watch is another reminder
that there's never been a worse time to grow pot in Chilliwack.

"We are the leaders in the fight against grow-ops, which basically tells
criminals this is not a good place to do business - as a community we won't
stand for it."