BIG BROTHER ON PROWL

The Editor,

Re. "Got pot? You'll have bills, too" (page 1, The Tri-City News, April 30).

I read with interest your article about the new bylaws to combat pot
growers. While I am all in favor to keep organized crime out of our cities,
I wonder if the full impact of these bylaws is being recognized as the
erosion of our so-called charter rights that it is.

If I rent property, be it a car, or a home, I rent ownership of this
property and no one has the right to violate my rented property rights
until the rental is over.

One of the most important points of our charter of rights is that no one
can invade and search your home - be it rented or owned - without a warrant.

Then Big Brother set to work and ruled that a police officer can enter a
home if she/he has suspicions - not very hard to fabricate.

Next of course Big Brother saw the need for SPCA officers to be empowered
to enter your premises without a warrant to see that any animals there are
well treated.

Not to be left behind, city inspectors found that they also need the power
to enter and "inspect" homes without a warrant. Charter rights have become
charter mights.

Now we are in the final phase, where every homeowner has not only the right
but a duty to invade rented homes without a warrant. Of course, the city
doesn't say who inspects the homes of the homeowners.

Child molesters and child abusers can still hide their victims in the home,
still safe from inspection and searches, as long as they don't grow pot. It
says much about the priorities of our rulers.

If you are a renter, it appears that just about everybody has the right to
invade your privacy, your home. Big Brother is alive and well in Canada.

Herb Hanko

Coquitlam