When a violent loner killed four RCMP agents last March, after a call to repossess a truck on his property, the story immediately went sideways. The discovery of pot plants at James Roszko's residence gave the tragedy a ready-made, reefer madness angle. Suddenly a news item about rural property crime and an unhinged cop-killer was spun as grow-op bust gone bad. After weeks of ballyhoo about deadly bud, any media shill with a talent for the bleeding obvious could have offered a different take: had marijuana growing been decriminalized in Canada, the four police officers could well have avoided a lethal confrontation with the disturbed Rozko. [continues 664 words]
An Amaranth man, wanted in connection with a makeshift marijuana grow op found in a County Road 11 home March 14, faces immediate arrest upon his return to Ontario, say Dufferin OPP. "We won't say where he is at the moment ... all we'll say is that he has agreed to turn himself over to police," says Sgt. Dean Skelding. Officers became aware of the grow op after receiving a tip through Crime Stoppers. Skelding said police met no resistance when they arrived at the home Monday morning. Two people living in the home cooperated fully with police. [continues 420 words]
The sentence by Judge Jeanne Burch regarding the marijuana grow operation is an excellent example of why judges should not be appointed for life. This judge has thrown out good cases with solid evidence time after time by merely disregarding the facts as noted in many impaired driving charges heard in Morinville. Is there a body in place to track her court record? Her logic in this grow-op case is flawed. It was noted the accused has been growing marijuana since 2003. It is now 2005. The amount seized in St. Albert was more than that found at Rochfort Bridge in the quonset house of Mr. Roszko. What astounds me is the judge's logic that the accused did what he did out of desperation and it was a stupid decision. Following this logic, anyone who is desperate for money and commits a serious offence -- steals from their employer, robs a bank, does a car jacking, robs an elderly person -- should only get a community sentence. For any judge to suggest that someone gets involved in a drug grow operation out of desperation and not greed is a crime itself. [continues 182 words]
This letter is regarding Dave Rosen's March 10 editorial cartoon, which can be summed up in one word: inexcusable. How dare he exploit the senseless tragedy that cost four RCMP officers their lives by suggesting that they would have been saved if marijuana were legal? James Roszko was a convicted criminal who had a very long and bitter history with the RCMP and was well known in his area as a ticking time bomb. To send four rookie officers out to guard a crime scene on the property of a violent criminal with issues against the police was simply courting disaster. But, of course, if pot were available for purchase at any corner store, none of this would have happened, right? [continues 221 words]
Re: Thomas Glen's letter about the "harmless drug." How many times have car thieves tried to run over an officer while trying to outrun the law? Should we disallow cars as they are stolen and used as weapons? Pot, in my memory, has never been used to kill someone. Does this mean love should be outlawed? I see a lot more deaths due to love than pot. I'll bet Glen is a religious man. Does he know who gave pot to the world? Some guy named God, who we all accept as having his head in the clouds. Don't blame pot, blame James Roszko. Josh Dempsey (Roszko was a bomb waiting to explode.) [end]
Prohibition was a failure, and it's a failure once again. Were it not for the stupid prohibition of marijuana, four good RCMP officers would not have died. About 80 years ago, Alberta had a prohibition on alcohol. But it didn't work. Albertans had moonshine stills and home brew everywhere. The majority wanted to drink and did so illegally, until the government smartened up and made liquor legal once again. Today, the Alberta and federal governments make billions of dollars on liquor taxes. That's a far more intelligent idea than prohibition. [continues 317 words]
A Rifle-Loving, Cop-Hating Killer Shoots Four R.C.M.P. Officers. Canada Mourns, And A Debate On Drug And Gun Laws Intensifies Nearly everyone in Mayerthorpe, Alta., a close-knit farming community of 1,600 people, agreed Jim Roszko was trouble. At 46, he owned a rap sheet with entries that ranged from sex offenses to unlawful imprisonment. He also had a fondness for guns and guard dogs, and a mean streak that frightened even family members. "He once put me in handcuffs. It was a goof-around thing, but I was scared," remembers a cousin, Lewis Lewchuck. Roszko's father Bill says he was a "wicked devil." [continues 940 words]
A crazed man opens fire on Mounties on his rural property in northern Alberta, killing four police officers before turning the gun on himself, and all of a sudden Canada needs to get tougher on marijuana grow operations? Make no mistake: The tragedy in Alberta is about a mentally unstable man with a known hatred of police, armed with a high-powered weapon and a thirst for destruction. It is not about marijuana grow operations. It probably doesn't matter if there were marijuana plants growing on his property, or tulips and roses. It just happens that, in this instance, it is the illegality of marijuana that sent Mounties to the property in the first place. In this instance, the law deeming marijuana as contraband prompted police to investigate and enforce - and led to their deaths. [continues 226 words]
A crazed man opens fire on Mounties on his rural property in northern Alberta, killing four police officers before turning the gun on himself, and all of a sudden Canada needs to get tougher on marijuana grow operations? Make no mistake: The tragedy in Alberta is about a mentally unstable man with a known hatred of police, armed with a high-powered weapon and a thirst for destruction. It is not about marijuana grow operations. It probably doesn't matter if there were marijuana plants growing on his property, or tulips and roses. It just happens that, in this instance, it is the illegality of marijuana that sent Mounties to the property in the first place. In this instance, the law deeming marijuana as contraband prompted police to investigate and enforce - and led to their deaths. [continues 268 words]
Last week, RCMP Constables Anthony Gordon, Lionide Johnston, Brock Myrol and Peter Schiemann were all gunned down at a marijuana grow operation near the hamlet of Rochfort Bridge in Alberta. These men were all killed in the line of duty. We should praise them for their bravery and their dedication. We should mourn their loss. We should not however be using their deaths to pursue a particular political agenda. Unfortunately, some of us seem to be doing exactly that. Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan held a press conference shortly after the events and announced she would consider legislating tougher penalties for marijuana grow operations. Fellow Liberal MP Dan McTeague went further and called for a mandatory minimum sentence of four years imprisonment for marijuana growers. [continues 529 words]
Disgusting. It's the first word that came to mind and really the only word to describe this level of opportunism. With the shots that killed four RCMP officers in Alberta Thursday still ringing in the air, the B.C. Marijuana Party and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association are attempting to use the tragedy for their own gain. Early Friday afternoon the fax machines sprung to life as the Marijuana Party put out a press release under the title "Prohibition Claims More Casualties". The civil liberties folks soon followed suit urging an end to criminal prohibition of marijuana. [continues 225 words]
The murder of four RCMP members in northwest Alberta last week has had a powerful impact on members of Golden's local police force. "The RCMP is a big family and when you have tragedy like this -with one member let alone four - it is a big shock to the entire organization," says Staff Sgt. Marko Shehovac. "It's like Golden losing half its detachment in one event." The Mounties were gunned down last Thursday while attempting to bust a marijuana grow operation at a farm in Rochfort Bridge, Alta. "When something like this happens most members tend to think more of our spouses, and our friends and our families and how they feel about it," says Sgt. Shehovac. [continues 125 words]
Former Corrections Officer Speaks At Mount Allison Thursday A former corrections officer, who will advocate the legalization of drugs when she speaks at Mount Allison University Thursday night, says last week's slayings of four RCMP officers in northern Alberta is clouding the debate over the issue. "It's sad that (federal Public Safety Minister) Anne McLellan and the RCMP are using this tragedy to push for tougher laws. We think that's absolutely wrong," says Alison Myrden, who will speak on behalf of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The group, made up of current and former law professionals, believes the war on drugs has only increased society's problems. [continues 549 words]
A Times editorial by Keith McNeill We join the rest of the community in expressing our shock, sorrow, sympathy and support for the four young RCMP officers recently killed in Alberta, their families and their fellow members of the force. Police work can be a dangerous way to make a living. Certainly there are other jobs that statistically are more risky (hand-falling comes to mind), but there are few occupations in which the dangers can be so personal, sudden and unpredictable. [continues 293 words]
Forster White Rock's Staff Sgt. Wants Citizens To Lobby For Tougher Penalties Heads bowed and eyes down, they brushed tears from their cheeks while standing semi-circle around a makeshift shrine at White Rock's RCMP detachment. On a table underneath the Maple Leaf hanging limp at half staff, faces of four fallen officers stared stoically into the solemn crowd, made up of fellow Mounties in Red Serge and auxiliary police officers, firefighters and customs officers, city officials and a few citizens. [continues 346 words]
They Pounce On Fact There Was No Grow-Op At Farm The pro-pot advocates are out in full force. My first call on Tuesday morning took me to task for an editorial published Sunday, which noted that the Alberta farm where four RCMP officers were slain was used to grow marijuana. As we all know now (and did not several days ago), there was a total of 20 plants growing at the farm. Obviously, the marijuana had little or nothing to do with the shooting. [continues 401 words]
There is little else that can be said of the shooting of four RCMP officers near Mayerthorpe this past week. Lloydminster Meridian Booster -- There is little else that can be said of the shooting of four RCMP officers near Mayerthorpe this past week. RCMP officers Anthony Gordon, Brock Myrol, Lionide Johnston and Peter Schiemann were gunned down by a psycho bent on taking the lives of these four men. And for what? We'll maybe never know as this coward took his own life rather than face the inevitable time in prison for this horrendous act. [continues 257 words]
Editor: The tragedy of March 3 shocked the nation. What is more shocking is the sudden uproar against marijuana grow ops in Canada. The real cause of the problem -- the danger to the RCMP -- stems from the prohibition of marijuana itself. Marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol and tobacco combined. The only dangers associated with marijuana come from prohibition. It is safe to consume, and there are over four million Canadians who choose to do so. To stiffen the penalties for growers, rather than legalizing and regulating it to be sold in a safe, controlled marketplace is a crime against society. Marijuana growing is a $7-billion industry in B.C. alone. If the black market is making those enormous profits from something as harmless as marijuana, why do we continue to put people in jail for it at a cost of $35,000 a year per person? Why not use the tax dollars to be made from this? There is no record in the history of mankind of someone dying from marijuana use. The same cannot be said for alcohol and tobacco. It is time to legalize it so the entire nation can prosper. Then madmen like James Roszko will not be responsible for growing the marijuana we consume, thus preventing the RCMP from encountering dangerous grow ops. Lethbridge [end]
Stephen Bornais Presents The Smart, Angry, And Insightful Opinions Of Daily News Readers. We all rush to judge, hardly ever waiting for all the facts before making up our minds. And so it was with the tragic events last week in Alberta, where cryptic police messages about a marijuana grow-up created a national rage against dope and its many users. The 40-year-old accountant smoking a joint in his basement den after the kids have gone to bed was pronounced complicit in the murders, as his money paid for the killer's gun and his bullets. [continues 300 words]
