GRIEVING FATHER'S ANGUISH

A grieving father, whose drug addicted son froze to death in a back alley,
says his only child may have lived if Red Deer had a detox centre.

"If my son had help he probably would be alive now. He couldn't get any
help in this city," said Bill Gray, a 67-year-old retired iron worker.

Gray's 24-year-old son Shaun died last winter in a downtown back alley, a
year after his wife Betty passed away from cancer.

Gray said he is convinced Shaun, a talented artist who was living on the
margins in a room at the Buffalo Hotel, gave up on life after repeated
unsuccessful attempts to get into detox facilities across the province.

"He tried and tried and tried to get into detox centres and he couldn't,"
said Gray, who is frustrated with the city's currents problems in finding a
location for the long proposed detox centre.

"I think he just laid down and went to sleep."

The father said he made the decision to kick his son out of the house about
a year before he died.

"You can't live with an addict at home. It's impossible," said Gray.

He refuses to read the autopsy report on his son but acknowleges Shaun was
probably high, possibly on crystal meth which he had been addicted to for
several years.

Shaun's addiction problems was compounded by his bipolar condition. To help
himself cope, the young artist became involved with the Red Deer chapter of
the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta.

Neil Congo, the local society's executive director, described Shaun as a
"tremendous artist", who had his "demons."

Congo agreed with Gray that the City of Red Deer must immediately solve the
problem of finding a suitable location for a detox centre.

"We've got kids sleeping in parks and in back alleys. That's absolutely
unacceptable that community-minded people would let this happen," said Congo.

Gray believes Red Deer has the worst drug problem of any city in Alberta,
and unless proactive measure are taken, it will only get worse and more
young people like his son will die on the streets.

"Right now we can get on top of it but in another three years we won't be
able to," said Gray.

"The people of Red Deer have to get on their council and get a detox
centre. We are letting these kids freeze on the streets.

It is not right." Two weeks ago the city's development appeal board
rejected the most recent location for a detox centre.