TRIAL ADJOURNMENT UPSETS MAYORAL HOPEFUL

Centre Wellington candidate faces drug charge

Centre Wellington mayoral candidate Michael Klotz is not happy that his drug
trafficking trial has been adjourned until six days before the Nov. 10
municipal election.

"I wanted it dealt with today," Klotz said Wednesday after part of the
evidence was presented in a trial at Guelph's provincial courthouse.

His lawyer, Leigh Fishleigh, is taking the position that the October 2002
search of Klotz's Fergus apartment and the seizure of 46 one-gram baggies of
marijuana plus debt lists and other drug paraphernalia was illegal and that
his client's rights were violated under the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms. Part of the Crown's case was presented Wednesday but when the
trial could not be completed it was put over to Nov. 4.

"Everyone in Centre Wellington has been waiting for this," said an annoyed
Klotz who was accompanied to court by his wife and nine-month-old son.

The 23-year-old, who ran for mayor in Guelph in 2000, now lives on St.
Andrew's Street in Fergus.

Const. Steven Hudson testified Wednesday that he and another OPP officer and
two auxiliary officers arrived at the Klotz apartment last Oct. 18 to follow
up on a report of a break and enter. He recalled Klotz throwing a brown
paper bag under a bed as he entered the living room.

Hudson showed the court a large blue ceramic water pipe in the shape of a
bug-eyed alien, with large teeth and ears, riding in a black and yellow
souped-up car. He said when he noticed the object in a closet and detected a
marijuana smell in the apartment he asked Klotz about the bag, suspecting he
was trying to conceal something.

The officer told federal prosecutor David Doney that Klotz admitted smoking
a joint earlier that evening and pulled a plastic bag out from under the bed
containing 10 to 15 grams of marijuana, but not the paper bag.

Hudson then arrested him for possession of marijuana and retrieved the paper
bag that contained packages of unused "dime bags" -- small bags sometimes
used by drug dealers to package marijuana. There were 452 of the bags.

Hudson testified he also found the 46 one-gram dime bags of marijuana and
$225 cash in a camera bag that was also under the bed, and as a result
handcuffed Klotz and charged him with possession of marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking. He said Klotz told him "It's mine, for personal use
only" and declined to call a lawyer. Klotz was taken to the police station
where he signed a form consenting to an additional search.

Officers returned to the apartment and found six one-gram baggies of
marijuana, a three-gram bag, some marijuana stems, 24 baggies containing
marijuana residue and $60. As well, they found a cellphone, a pager with no
battery, two pipes, a small pad of paper with notations about weights and
prices and a small telephone book with names, telephone numbers and debt
information.

Under cross examination, Hudson acknowledged he did not inform Klotz of his
right to refuse to allow the officer to look under his bed, that he did not
have a search warrant and that the living room where Klotz hurriedly moved
the paper bag was at the far end of the apartment. It was well away from the
window in a bedroom close to the front door that was filled with ferrets and
that the officer had asked to see because it was the point of entry for the
break and enter.

Hudson also told Fishleigh that part of his investigation was delayed that
night because he was bitten by one of the ferrets and had to go to the
hospital.

Fishleigh questioned the officer about the handwriting in the notepad and
telephone book, noting that several different writing implements were used.
After court, he acknowledged his line of questioning was to point out the
possibility that someone may have tampered with the notations.

Justice Bruce Fraser scheduled a continuation of the trial for Nov. 4.