DRUG RAIDS HAVE FOLKS IN TURMOIL

Grandma Moyan crossed Hein Road on Friday, minutes after a neighbour
arrived home in a taxi to give him a piece of her mind.

Frank, the neighbour, had spent the night in jail with 11 other
people arrested on the notorious Rutland street. He's considered a
kingpin of the neighbourhood drug trade, and Moyan, 80, was fed up.

"I said, 'Don't do this here. You're making a big scene. Be quiet,'"
she said later. "Sometimes I get so upset about this. You don't need
police here all the time." RCMP raided two homes in the same

Hein Road fourplex Thursday night. Officers had already entered one
of the homes - 450 Hein Rd. - on Tuesday night and arrested eight
people. Investigators say they found crack cocaine, firearms, knives,
a crossbow, watches and other stolen goods. Only the main resident -
a 40-year-old woman - faces charges as a result of the raid.

Members of the RCMP's downtown enforcement unit were back with more
search warrants Thursday night. They arrested four people in the
townhouse, three of whom were visiting. Police raided the other home
three hours later, taking away five suspects. Seized from the homes
were more crack cocaine and marijuana, a whip, knives and a set of
nunchucks - a restricted weapon. Officers also found stolen bikes,
stereo equipment and other goods.

Tina, a retired teacher who bought a townhouse on the street six
months ago, has had enough. She's trying to sell it.

"I've had over 50 calls," she said Friday. "I tell them where it is
and that (the street) is being cleaned up. That's all she wrote. They
don't want to pursue it at all because it's the infamous Hein Road.

"I can't handle it anymore. They're dealing right out of the trunks of cars."

A 48-year-old resident named Cam is also fed up. Neighbours say he
lost his temper Thursday morning and went on a tear, damaging a red
Jeep and raging against drug dealers who are ruining the street's
property values.

"People keep walking in my door," he said after spending the night in
the RCMP lockup. "I just moved here. This is my home. Don't knock on
my door at all hours of the night. I'm not a drug dealer.

"They want to borrow money. I blew up. That's my property."

Cam and two other men were arrested in a vehicle during the Thursday
night raids. He faces charges of mischief and assault. A 41-year-old
Winfield man was wanted on two warrants; the third man faces
drug-related charges.

By noon Thursday, 10 of the 12 people arrested had been released. The
Winfield suspect and a 31-year-old Kelowna man nabbed at 450 Hein Rd.
for an earlier trafficking offence are still being held. Charges are
pending against some of the others.

"They put us all in a cell - the drunk tank. There's not a single
person we didn't know," Cam said.

Moyan's first name is Alice but everyone calls her Grandma. She says
she got a Rottweiler to stop drug runners from "running all over" her yard.

"I feel sorry for these people. They're trying to live straight," she
said. "I hope they straighten out. It's a nice little street as long
as everyone calms down."

RCMP are hosting a town hall meeting to discuss the drug problem in
Rutland at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Kelowna Christian Centre, 905 Badke Rd.

Const. Julie Rattee said cleaning up the area will be a lengthy process.

"Police can't resolve the drug problem themselves. But we'll do what
we can," she said.