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Single stage $9, Dual stage s99 Pick up & Delivery Available ___________________________________________________ - w w w .o a k v ille b e a v e r.c o m N O R T H THE OAKVILLE BEAVER A M E R I C A 'S M O S T A W A R D E D C O M M U N I T Y N E W S P A P E R Vol. 39 No. 143 W ED N ESD A Y. N O V E M B E R 27. 2 0 0 2 i . > Cents < plus GST) A Metroland Publication Green Sweep 3 continues pot house crackdown By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STA FF Police association wants more patrol cops HRPA callsfor workload study By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STA FF "Green Sweep 3" might sound like a movie sequel but to Halton Regional Police it's another installment in the ongoing battle against prolific -- and potentially dangerous -- m arijuana growing operations. Last week officers raided three homes, two in bakville and one in Burlington. Together with a Grosvenor Street house shut down on Nov. 6, police seized 2,368 marijuana plants worth $2.4 million, plus $50,000 of growing equipment. According to Deputy Chief Gary Crowell, such illegal operations "plague communities" and present "a serious threat to public safety." "These operations are not one-shot deals ... but are well-planned, organized criminal activity," said Crowell, adding that one grow house can yield four crops annually and earn $1.2 million or more a year. Aside from the cultivation of illegal drugs, theft of electricity and the dan gers presented to peace officers and firefighters, grow houses provide a reminder of how far* some people will go for money -- a point underscored by the Nov. 21 bust at 2376 Redfem Drive in Burlington. It was there, explained Sgt. Val Hay, that officers found 50 marijuana plants and growing equipment, plus dangerous wiring, high carbon monoxide levels and super-heated, 1,000-watt bulbs that can explode if touched. This was also the environment in which three children lived along with the two adult occu pants arrested by police. The children are staying with friends until their par ents are out o f custody. Charged in connection with that operation were Sang Chuong Lu, 36, and Quynh Giao Thi Le, 32. At 2024 Grosvenor St., raided earli er this month, police and Oakville Hydro workers disabled a hydroelectric bypass and found 280 marijuana plants worth $280,000, plus $35,000 of hydro ponics equipment. Charged in this case were Minh Tien Nguyen, 33, and Thuy Van Luu, 34. On Nov. 20. police seized 303 plants at 2010 Westmount Dr. Forensic work done by the Identification Bureau found fingerprints that Sgt. Hay said will lead to warrants being issued for one sus pect's arrest. On Nov. 21, police executed a war rant at 2519 Wynten Way in Oakville where they seized 2,015 plants in what officers describe as a "very sophisticat ed" operation. Again, Identification (See `Grow' page A4) Photos by Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver WAKE UP SANTA: Six-year-old Claire Crossman, five-year-old Dana Pope (top) were just two of the many eager youngsters (above right) on hand at Oakville Place Saturday morning to wake up Santa Claus. After w aking up the jolly old elf, the children enjoyed entertainment provided by Sheridan College Theatre students and breakfast with Santa Claus. The Halton Regional Police Association (HRPA) is calling for a workload and staffing analysis for front-line officers to finally address chronic shortages on the street. "There is an urgent need for the Chief and the (Halton Regional Police Services) Board to increase staffing as soon as possible," said HRPA president Dave Atkinson. Last week the Halton Regional Police Services Board passed the $ 6 1.7-million 2003 police budget - an 8.95 "We're extremely per cent increase over last disappointed that the year - as presented by Police Chief's budget request Chief Ean Algar. does not represent any The budget must now go to Regional Council, but as it request that deals with stands now, it will cost the the hiring of additional average household 5.6 per staff to compensate for all cent more than last year, or $322 in total, for policing. of the workload increases This is based on a $5.1-mil that have occurred over lion cost increase over 2002, the years." $4.9-million of which is slat · Halton Regional Police ed for personnel - including 13 uniformed officers and Association President seven civilians. Dave Atkinson "We're extremely disap pointed that the Chief's budget request does not represent any request that deals with the hiring of additional staff to compen sate for all of the workload increases that have occurred over the years," said Atkinson. Factors influencing the mounting workload, Atkinson con tinued, range from a host of mandatory and prescriptive legis lation outside of the service's control to growth, onerous evi dence collection requirements and adequacy standards. "These are just a few issues that have caused extreme increases in workload and to fulfill the obligations of these, the front lines of policing have been continually depleted to sup plement these increases," said Atkinson, who is concerned about officer safety and burnout. The most recent statistics show that Halton officers respond to 95,000 calls for service a year, 18,000 of which are criminal offenses. Officers must also provide court protection and pris oner transport plus deal with hundreds of calls at Milton's Maplehurst Correctional Facility. The impacts of this include increased stress, longer response times and rampant overtime. "(Officers) are tired and tired of it," says HRPA administra tor Paul La Course, who added that issue is far from new. "Staffing has been a topic at association AGMs since 1998 and we have voiced our concerns with management since 1999." The budget is "conservative at best" at addressing front(See `Sixty' page A4) Tapping into charitable goodwill Z E N O N v o lu n t e e r s p r o v id e c le a n w a t e r f o r V ie tn a m e s e v illa g e By Howard Mozel OAK VIII F. BEAVER STAFF Editorials.............. ........A 6 Focus ..................... ....... B1 ArtScene................ ....... B6 Sports.................... ........C l Classifieds...................... C5 Best Wheels.......... ........C8 Hello O akville..... Full Delivery: Michael's of Canada Partial Defiverv: 1)1 O nSiteM a g a zin e ,H o m eD e p o t, B ea mofC a n a d a ,G u a rd ia nD ru g s, S ta p lesB u sin essD e p o t,B ea mofC a n a d a . M a rk' sW o rkW a re h o u se , P a rtyP a c k a g e rs,A p p leb yM a ll W h iteR o se,S ea rsC a n a d a , T h eB a y ,B la cksC a m era Canadian Publications Mail Product Agreement *435-201 Water For Humanity, ZENON Environmental Inc.'s volunteer-driven donation of a drinking water treatment plant to a Vietnamese community, was truly an exercise in caring and commit ment. That was obvious Thursday as the 60 ZENON employees, who volunteered on their off hours for a year, and the suppli ers, who gave parts and materials, gath ered to see the final fruits of their labour: a device that will purify 70,000 gallons of water a day for the Quang Dien District of the People's Republic of Vietnam -- a community desperately in need of clean, potable water. "It's a really good thing that we're all working together ... on something great to make the world a better place," said ZENON president and CEO Dr. Andrew Benedek. "Our employees can take heart in helping people who would not ordi narily get help." ZENON employees founded Water for Humanity in 1999 as a way of show ing their commitment to support the world's need for clean, safe water in regions that cannot supply water for themselves. The first project was the donation of a drinking water system to the Bear Island Reserve, a First Nations community in Temagami, Ontario that had been experiencing significant prob lems with parasite contamination in its source water. The effort benefited more than 200 residents of more than 60 homes on the reserve. The Quang Dien District in the Hue City area of Vietnam Has been identified by the World Health Organization as having significant health issues - such as eye disease, diarrhea and dysentery attributed to poor water quality. According to project manager Jim Imrie, the isolated village - home to about 2,000 people - relies on a shallow, 15-foot water well, which is often infil trated by contaminated surface water. (See `Project' page A5) Peter C. McCusker · Oakville Beaver Zenon Project Manager Jim Imrie samples some water from the purification plant volunteer employees built for a village in Vietnam. LOCKWOOD C H R Y S L E R 17 years in the same location. CHRYSLER · -JEEP* DODGE F IN /E S T A R » O C E R T IF IE D I N V £ S T M E N T S 175 Wyecroft Road. Oakville 905.845.6653 w w w . lock woodch rysler.com R E T IR E M E N T P L A N M N G S P E C IA L IS T S Free C o m s u u a tio m 8 4 2 -2 1 0 0