SEYMOUR ARM WOMAN NOT ASHAMED OF ARREST

Wilma Dirks has had a long day.

It began at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday when members of a Combined Forces Special
Enforcement Unit burst into her Seymour Arm home with a search warrant
saying she and her husband Chris were growing and selling marijuana.

"We do. We sell it for medicinal purposes," she said, standing beside the
Jeep Cherokee where her three children, Maria, 4, Gregory, 5, and
Katherine, 13 months, are sitting quietly.

"We're one of the smaller operations in town."

The police struck fast and in full "combat gear," she said. Both parents
were arrested and Chris was taken into custody.

"They were going to take me too and turn my children over to social
services but they realized my children were safe and happy so they let me
stay with them."

Chris appeared before a justice of the peace in Kamloops Wednesday morning.
Both parents have been charged with cultivating and trafficking marijuana
and unlawfully producing a controlled substance.

They are to appear in Kamloops provincial court on Dec. 8.

"We've been told that jail time is unlikely. My charges may be dropped so
my husband can be convicted. Things will probably end up as a fine and a
criminal record."

The Dirks moved to the isolated community in 1999 to find a safe, simple
way of life and a quiet environment to raise their children.

They began a waste removal business and started growing marijuana to
supplement their income and help people medically.

"We feel it is a medical product. It helps lots of people."

She has never seen organized crime at work in her town but believes the
stories may have resulted from some growers using stolen equipment to
manufacture and distribute their product.

"Maybe that's what people in this town regard as organized crime," she said.

"We've never used stolen equipment and showed the police receipts for
everything we've bought (to grow marijuana)."

Chris said money made from selling marijuana makes up much of the town's
income.

"Most of the community is retired people that are self supportive and rely
on that for their income. Half of them don't have an outhouse. They crap in
a pot."

Any violence he's heard of has not been related to growing marijuana.

"Nobody was getting hurt here. There was one home invasion related to
another issue. There was never anybody in this industry touched by another
person."

He did want to thank the police for treating people in a decent manner.

"They did treat people honestly and fairly. No one resisted and no one was
hurt."