Asphodel-Norwood Township officials are refusing comment regarding drug charges laid against the township fire chief. Paul Bitten was charged June 21 following a police raid of his Helen Street home by members of the Kawartha Combined Forces Dru Unit. A small amount of cocaine and marijuana, valued at an estimated $100, was seized along with throwing knives and a quantity of shotgun shells that police say were stored improperly. In addition, police also discovered two marijuana grow rooms in the house from which plants had been removed. [continues 361 words]
City police have finished crunching crime statistic numbers from 2005, noting there was a 22 per cent increase in robberies last year. In 2005, Peterborough-Lakefield police investigated 61 robberies compared to 50 in 2004. Of those incidents, 72 per cent occurred in the downtown core with money being the target of 82 per cent of the robberies. Police Chief Terry McLaren attributes the increase in robberies to drug abuse. "It's to obtain funds to supply their drug habit," says Chief McLaren, adding police have learned that from suspects. [continues 294 words]
According To Peterborough's Top Cop, It's Up To City Council To Strike A Committee To Fight Drugs. On Tuesday, the Peterborough-Lakefield Police Services Board received correspondence from city council about seeking out the resources needed to tackle the increasing drug problem in Peterborough. A motion to do so was put forward by Councillor Bill Juby last week. But Police Chief Terry McLaren says his interpretation of the matter is it's up to council to lead the way in forming a committee. [continues 163 words]
Jamie McMahon is embracing the challenge of helping people through the same problems that plagued his life. Starting this month, Mr. McMahon will deliver an addictions treatment and pre-employment training course for Aboriginal people. He's been down the same road before, once being arrested for the attempted robbery of a cab driver in 2002. He's been out of jail since May 2005 and has managed to turn his life around, staying clear of the temptations of drugs and alcohol. He's been taking courses through Whitepath Counselling Services in Peterborough to become a counsellor and is looking forward to delivering his first program. [continues 145 words]
Politicking at its finest was on display at Monday night's council meeting. Councillor Bill Juby offered a surprise motion for his colleagues to quickly digest and vote on. He wants the Peterborough Lakefield Police Services Board to strike a committee to look into what it would take to fight drug crime. Although an interesting idea, and one councillors had little choice but to endorse, it would appear Coun. Juby has started his campaigning for the November municipal election, even though he has yet to declare. [continues 458 words]
Just down the street from Stephen Harper's Calgary home was an epidemic that's plaguing communities across Canada. Two marijuana grow houses were busted in the federal Conservative Party leader's neighbourhood. Eventually, that incident led Mr. Harper to Peterborough on Wednesday where he sat down with several community leaders whose groups they represent are directly affected by crime. The purpose of the meeting was to gauge what can be done to make Canadian streets safer. This was the 25th round-table meeting that's been held in communities across Canada. [continues 280 words]
One Peterborough County OPP officer was taken to hospital after a driver rammed his police vehicle, along with two others, on Wednesday afternoon. Details of the incident were sketchy at deadline. However, OPP Constable Brad Filman confirmed that Const. Brockley was taken to hospital with minor neck injuries following the incident. Two other OPP officers were also injured. One officer was from Haliburton County OPP but no information about the other officer was available at deadline. Const. Filman confirmed the officers are members of the Kawartha Combined Forces Drug Unit and were investigating a drug offence near Gooderham in Haliburton County. [continues 84 words]
Two members of Hell's Angels, and one ex-member, were arrested Thursday following a number of police raids in the Peterborough area which police say have broken a massive drug network stretching all the way to London, Ontario. More than 100 OPP and Peterborough-Lakefield police officers met at the Evinrude Centre at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to organize simultaneous drug raids throughout Peterborough city and county as well as at other locations in Ontario. In the end, 25 people, 20 from the local area, were arrested and charged with numerous drug trafficking offences. [continues 198 words]
Having patience with Canadian pot laws is becoming an all too common virtue for Peterborough police Chief Terry McLaren. The federal Liberal government is once again taking a crack at decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot. This argument has been ongoing for more than a year. "If they are going to decriminalize it, decriminalize it," says Chief McLaren. "It'd be nice to have a decision one way or another so we can get on with it." Last year the local force stopped charging people with possessing less than 30 grams of pot. That decision was based on the courts, which decided it wasn't an offence to possess anything less than that amount. [continues 425 words]
Casting Words "The basic thing nobody asks is why do people take drugs of any sort? Why do we have these accessories to normal living to live? I mean, is there something wrong with society that's making us so pressurized that we cannot live without guarding ourselves against it?" - -- Jim Morrison It's like an ocean wave hitting a jagged shore and taking every bit of fun off to sea. That's how teens today must feel every time they hear the yes's and no's of drug and alcohol use. It's a message that's falling on deaf ears because its repetitive gibberish does no good. Rather, it make kids curious about the taboos of drinking and drugs. [continues 522 words]
Peterborough city police and Peterborough County OPP won't be turning a blind eye to minor pot possession charges any longer following a recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision. Since early July, police haven't been charging people found in possession of small amounts of marijuana. Sergeant Rob Hotston says they stopped doing so because of a court ruling that determined possession charges are unconstitutional. "There was no point laying charges if the courts were not going to pursue it," he adds. [continues 228 words]
Cheech and Chong would be happy men in Peterborough now that local police are loosening their hold on pot possession charges -- at least for the time being. Both Peterborough-Lakefield police and Peterborough County OPP refuse to charge people with possession if nailed with less than 30 grams of pot. Anything over that amount and possession for the purpose of trafficking charges will be laid. City police sergeant Rob Hotston says while it may seem police will look the other way when coming across a person's stash, that's the furthest thing from the truth. [continues 476 words]
Reports of a Toronto police officer, working undercover as a heroin addict at a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meeting in Peterborough, has made Brenda Waudby relive her daughter's murder all over again. Ms Waudby, the mother of 21-month-old Jenna Mellor, who was murdered in Peterborough in 1997, says the officer befriended her and subsequently violated the confidentiality of those at the NA meeting. "I went to the group under a court order and never expected police would plant someone there," she says. [continues 537 words]
This is the third and final article in a series exploring the Peterborough presence, and use, of the mind-altering drug Ecstasy, related through the experiences of users, abusers, drug counselors and police. With breathing apparatus strapped to their backs and no human flesh exposed thanks to white, bio-contained suits, health officials and chemists enter homes police dare not enter. Whenever cops discover an Ecstasy lab, usually in a filthy basement, they call in the experts to tear it down. The harmful chemicals used to create the mind-altering and often deadly pills are so unstable that the slightest mistake can be explosive. [continues 812 words]
This is the second in a series of stories exploring the Peterborough presence, and use, of the mind-altering drug Ecstasy, related through the experiences of users and abusers, drug counselors and police. In small high school offices throughout the Kawarthas, Kelley MacPherson-Mazda has seen and heard it all. As the addictions counselor with 4Cast in Peterborough, she deals daily with local teens trying to overcome drug and substance abuse. While she says a client has yet to admit to an Ecstasy problem, that, she stresses, doesn't mean there aren't serious concerns with the mind-altering drug. [continues 993 words]
This is the first in a series of stories exploring the Peterborough presence, and use, of the mind-altering drug Ecstasy, related through the experiences of users and abusers, drug counselors, and police. In this story, the names are fictitious but the experiences related are as they happened. William came to with needles stuck into his body and suction cups attached to his skin. Tubes had been shoved down his throat to the pit of his stomach in a bid to suck poison from his system. [continues 1134 words]
An innocent-looking bungalow east of Norwood was just one of three local homes where OPP uncovered Asian pot-growing rings Wednesday. Around noon, OPP officers pulled 335 plants from a home on Dummer-Asphodel Road, located off Hwy. 7 E., after arresting two people early in the morning. The home was "a business" with every room, except two, being used to grow marijuana. "The home was purchased recently by Asian individuals and the investigation began from there," said Detective Staff Sergeant Rick Barnum with the OPP's drug enforcement section. [continues 444 words]
