THIS IS THE CHURCH, THIS IS THE STEEPLE... AND HEMP

It is one of the last places anyone would expect to find a secret stash of
marijuana plants.

The roof of Gospel Hall in St. Thomas, ON, had a persistent leak. At about
7 p.m. on Tuesday night, members of the church went up on the roof to fix
the leak and found a stash of the illegal plants.

"[While checking the leak] we discovered 29 large plastic garbage
containers in which were smaller pots, each of these containing a mature
marijuana plant," said Wade Steers, an elder at the Gospel Hall church. The
police were called soon after, Steers added.

"We have no idea who put the plants up there, it's just a stroke of
coincidence," Steers said. "It is very ironic, you would never expect to
find this on a church roof.

"From a holy point of view this is a desecration of a church," he remarked.

"[The plants] were about three feet tall," said Jeff Pallister, community
resource officer with the St. Thomas police.

"They were hidden from view. They were tucked on the southeast corner of
the roof behind a sign," Pallister explained.

When asked how long the plants may have been on the roof, Steers noted he
was on the roof four weeks earlier and saw nothing. "We had a roofer up
three weeks ago and I'm certain he would have told us if he'd seen
anything," Steers explained.

"There is a lesson in this for everyone. Any building with a concealed area
could be at risk," Steers said. "Only a criminal would think to do this."

Steers expressed disgust for the person who hid the marijuana plants on the
church roof. "It's like disturbing a grave in a cemetery," he said.