Pubdate: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 1999 The Province Contact: 200 Granville Street, Ste. #1, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N3 Canada Fax: (604) 605-2323 Website: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/ Author: Emma Poole, Staff Reporter The Province RESIDENTS RILED BY PUSHERS More than 500 people packed a gymnasium at Burnaby's Maywood elementary school last night to voice disgust at a growing drug problem in their neighbourhood. The angry residents said the nearby Metrotown SkyTrain station has become a haven for Honduran drug pushers. "Somebody has to change the laws," said an elderly woman who refused to be identified. "If someone is standing in front of me selling drugs, and the police say there's nothing they can do about it, then there's something really, really wrong. "I've been approached three times in the last week. They come up and say, 'Coke? Coke?' " Coun. Doug Evans, chairman of Burnaby's community policing committee, admitted there's a huge problem outside the station. He said drug dealers "are poisoning the young people in our neighbourhood." Staff-Sgt. Elton Deans of Burnaby RCMP said that at any one time there were from 45 to 100 sellers operating in the vicinity of the station. He said police had arrested 17 suspects in the past two days in an ongoing investigation. "We have to have them charged and convicted of crimes to have them (the Hondurans) deported," said Deans. Rob Johnston of Immigration Canada said the department is in the process of training 14 officers to combat "foreign criminals," many of whom use Metrotown to peddle crack cocaine. Many of the residents told the town-hall meeting they are too afraid to use SkyTrain because of the dealers. Ray Brouillette, of Buena Vista apartments, said he was "forever having to chase dealers away. "We've had people call us [to rent apartments] and as soon as we tell them the building is by Metrotown they want nothing to do with us." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D