POLICE HOPE KEYS WILL HELP LOCK UP POT CASE

BARRIE-Keys alleged to have been found on some of the nine men charged
in January in connection with a huge marijuana grow operation in the
former Molson brewery may help police unlock the case.

"Charts showing which doors the keys open inside the building are part
of the evidence that has been disclosed to the defence," said lawyer
Randall Barrs, who represents the nine accused.

Barrs has always maintained that the police case is weak because his
clients were not found inside the building where police seized 30,000
marijuana plants from a vast hydroponic growing operation. Police also
found a dormitory inside the huge building where it's believed the
people tending the marijuana plants lived.

Barrs and federal Crown Attorney Karen Jokinen met with Justice Gary
Palmer yesterday for a private pre-trial hearing. Scott Walker, 34,
Zoran Stojanovic, 49, and Rayne Sauve, 36, of St. Catharines, Thomas
Gates, 33, of Corunna, Ont., Robert Bleich, 29, of Stayner, Craig
Walker, 24, and Edward MacAdam, 43, of Niagara Falls and Scott Dillon,
23, and Michael DiCicco, 60, of Toronto, are all charged with
production and possession of marijuana.

They were ordered to return to court in Barrie on Sept. 22.