Pubdate: Tue, 06 May 2003
Source: Airdrie Echo (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003 Airdrie Echo
Contact:  http://www.airdrieecho.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1558
Author: Anne Beaty

WARRANTS ISSUED FOR POT HOUSES

The City of Airdrie is taking steps in the wake of recent busts at local 
homes housing marijuana grow operations.

Warrants have recently been executed on houses involved to ensure the 
integrity of the buildings, said Ed Funfer, Airdrie director of municipal 
enforcement.

"We want to make sure that they're safe," Funfer said, adding that in 
marijuana grow houses, electrical bypasses are often part of the operations 
and, as such, could have a negative effect on a structure's overall safety.

"Sometimes they compromise the plumbing ... as well," he said.

Because of the issues involved, most municipalities carry out such warrants 
after a grow operation has been shut down, Funfer added, and the city 
simply wants to make sure all is well before any of the houses go on the 
market or are resold.

In other police news, RCMP recently called in its canine unit and 
helicopter, as well as Calgary Fire Department water rescue personnel, to 
search for a Calgary man who had gone missing last week.

In the late afternoon of April 27, Airdrie RCMP received a report of a 
vehicle abandoned in a water dugout southeast of the city, Airdrie RCMP 
Cpl. Derek Bloxham said.

"Investigation revealed that the vehicle was associated to an individual 
reported missing in Calgary," Bloxham said. The 30-year-old man had last 
been seen by family that Friday afternoon, he added, so police believe he 
was in the area where the vehicle was found by Friday evening, prior to the 
major snowstorm which blanketed the area.

After two days of ground searches, RCMP called on the Calgary fire 
department to assist in the search and divers located the man's body in the 
water on the evening of April 29, Bloxham said.

"It was not a vehicle accident and it was not suspicious," he said, adding 
that police extend their thanks to the local oil company, Nexen, for its 
assistance in getting searchers into the area.
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MAP posted-by: Beth