POTHEADS DON'T BOTHER NEIGHBOUR

Teens who use Mariposa Park on the West Bench as a place to smoke dope are
getting a bad rap, according to one neighbourhood resident.

Jesse Tomlinson, 19, lives one house up from the park on Vedette Drive and
is familiar with the traffic.

He said plans to spruce up the site simply to scare off drug users are a
waste of taxpayers' money, which would be better spent on activities for teens.

He decried comments by parks commission member Don Young that the park is
full of druggies who are causing havoc in the neighbourhood.

"That's not true at all. Maybe two vehicles of kids go to the park every
day. They are going to smoke pot. They aren't there to vandalize,"
Tomlinson said.

"It doesn't stop anyone else from going down there. People are allowing
themselves to be scared off by kids just sitting there."

The problem isn't with the kids, he said, but with the fact Penticton is "a
pretty dull town."

For example, he pointed to BMX bike jumps in the park which were recently
dismantled without any consultation.

"I see this as everyone else against teenagers. It's an old war," he said.

Parks commission chair Chris Irvine said users of the jumps were told
repeatedly a year before the demolition they wouldn't be maintained as
promised.

"It was getting thick weeds and we were afraid they would get caught in the
wheels," she said. "One person did fall and got hurt cycling in the rain."

Irvine agreed the young people smoking marijuana in their cars in the
parking lot are not harassing other park users. They have not been linked
to vandalism in the area earlier this summer, but she said their presence
remains a deterrent to others.

"Being a mother, I don't like my kids going down there," she said. "They
might think I condone what they're doing.

"The kids going down there are very polite. I ask them to leave and they do
leave. But they're doing something illegal, and it's not what the park is for."

Irvine says word is already getting around the park is a good place to
smoke up.

Teens are welcome to come play hackey sack and use the tennis and
basketball court, but not when they're stoned. Irvine wants to work with
the teens and welcomes them to get involved in park planning.

"I'd love for them to come out to the Nov. 15 (7 p.m. at Bench Elementary
School) meeting and have their say about that," she said. "It's an
opportunity for people to give feedback as to where people would like to
see the money spent."