POT-GROWING CHARGES NEARER TO RESOLUTION

KITCHENER -- Nineteen months after charges were laid against members of a
Kitchener family in connection with indoor marijuana grows, the case may be
getting closer to a resolution, a Kitchener court has been told.

"If there is not a resolution, the Crown will force them to go to trial,"
Hal Mattson, one of several lawyers representing the Tran family, said
yesterday after court. The case has been adjourned to Jan. 24 for either
guilty pleas, or to set a date for trial.

The case against the Tran family -- including the parents, their six
children and a son-in-law -- has been dragging through the court system
since Waterloo regional police arrested and charged family members
following June 2001 raids on 17 properties in which 2,000 marijuana plants
worth between $1.3 million and $1.9 million were seized.

The delays caused Mattson to say earlier this fall that family members
could walk away from the charges if they are not dealt with quickly by the
courts.

But since then, Mattson said, drug prosecutor David Rowcliffe has worked
hard to reach a resolution in the case, which would result in some family
members pleading guilty to some charges to avoid a lengthy trial.

Mattson said the latest proposal from Rowcliffe, dated Dec. 18, would see
some family members going to jail and the family losing some of the
properties that were seized by police.

"I think he is being reasonable," Mattson said.

He said he will be recommending that his client, Ba Tran, the 56-year- old
patriarch of the family, accept the deal.

"For people to give up money or a house, it is a big decision for them," he
said.