STAND UP, IF YOU WANT TO

If you believe the Youth Criminal Justice Act needs more teeth and if
you want to see Lindsay's streets cleaned of drugs, you share a lot of
beliefs with Pastor Ken Gorham.

An alcoholic-turned speed freak-turned pastor, he is at loggerheads
with "people in high places who think we don't have a problem" with
street drugs.

After a series of columns about drugs in town ran in this newspaper,
Pastor Gorham and his wife fielded phone calls from parents, sick in
the knowledge their children were involved with and addicted to drugs.
Some of them hadn't seen their children in months.

The pastor and his wife found the situation sad. So they are fighting
sad with SAD -- Stand Against Drugs. The march leaves the Victoria
Park Armoury on Saturday, Oct. 2 at 1:30 p.m. The rally will be held
at 2:30 in the park.

The Gorhams planned the rally as a means for concerned citizens to
band together and send the message that drugs are not welcome in their
community, and that they support our police.

Being naive about the drug situation in this area is a positive,
says Pastor Gorham, it means you're not seeking out drugs. But if that
naivety becomes apathy, it soon becomes a very dangerous negative.

Contrary to the opinion of others, Pastor Gorham says organized crime
operates in town. And he's willing to stand up and say publicly that
organized crime is not welcome here. He values families and abhors
what drugs can, and will, do to them.

The Ministry of Justice needs to get tougher on drug dealers,
especially repeat offenders, Pastor Gorham says. He calls the Youth
Criminal Justice Act "ludicrous." What else, he says, do you call a
piece of legislation that tells parents they are accountable for their
teens even though they don't have the authority to make them come home?

Pastor Gorham promises the event will not be "churchified." He's a
pastor, but he's also a very concerned citizen who's had an up close
and personal look at this problem from the other side.

And for his proactive stance to save our kids from the hell he's
known, he deserves our support.