Pubdate: Mon, 17 May 2004
Source: Parklander, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2004 Hinton Parklander
Contact:  http://www.hintonparklander.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/782
Author: Tyler Waugh

SUNSET RESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ABOUT METH

Hinton Parklander -- Hinton town council and RCMP Staff Sgt. Harold Milroy 
received some unexpected guests at the May 11 standing committee meeting.

Seven residents of the Sunset trailer park made an empassioned plea to 
council and the RCMP for something to be done about the methamphetamine 
problem in neighbouring trailers, saying that drug-related crime has 
reached `ridiculous' levels.

"I have had to have people stay at my home when I've gone away," said Mike 
Jodoin, who acted as main spokesperson for the residents. "I know I don't 
live in the best neighbourhood but I should be afforded a little more 
personal freedom than that."

Residents said they were tired of having `crackhouses' next door, adding 
that they watch between 50-60 people walk in and out of suspicious trailers 
on some days. Others spoke of seeing people brandishing swords and rifles, 
money exchanges, and the suspicious transport and transfer of goods.

For his part, Milroy was sympathetic to the plight of Sunset residents.

"We are well award of the address and the issues you have. The unfortunate 
reality is that we work within a prescribed legal framework," he said. "You 
also live in a province with the third-worst per capita (policing) ratio in 
the country. Resources are limited and policing is an expensive business."

Jodoin and other residents, in turn, sympathized with the plight of the 
local RCMP detachment and the limitations under which it operates. However, 
the Sunset residents insisted on knowing what steps they could take to 
affect change.

What followed was a fairly meaningful, if unscheduled, dialogue between 
residents, RCMP and council about what could be done, legally, to improve 
the situation in that neighbourhood.

Coun. Glenn Taylor summed up the conversation with three main points.

He said council should: petition the province to bring justices of the 
peace back to Hinton from a central location in Edmonton; continue to 
support restrictions on the sale of meth ingredients in large quantities; 
and look closer at policing levels in Hinton.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart