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A young Langford actress gets her break into show business with a Hallmark TV movie. News, Page A3
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Friday, April 27, 2012
Giving a home to lost youth Volunteer group chips away at establishing West Shore shelter
RCMP bust significant dial-a-dope operation
Edward Hill Charla Huber
News staff
News staff
In a small clearing of tree roots and hard-packed earth next to Langford Lake, Kris Romyn shows us his old home. Circled by brush and big Douglas firs, its a good spot to stay hidden from the trail, and protected from the wind. Seven years ago as an 18-year-old, he lived here in a tent, as one of the largely out-of-sight homeless youth on the West Shore. “I like to say I’ve had lakefront property,” Romyn jokes. “I had a tent, that isn’t common. A tent is a luxury condo when you are homeless.” Now 25, the Langford native is part of the West Shore Youth Housing Task Force, a grassroots group aiming to establish a shelter to get kids off the street. Romyn had lost his job and then his apartment, and spent about a year alternating camping at Langford Lake and in the forest in Royal Roads University. “Eventually people find you and report you, so you have to move on,” he says. “I’ve had my blanket and clothes and tent thrown in the lake.” Typically he hung around Westshore Town Centre and depended on buddies to provide him food. At points he slept in underground parking lots or couch surfed with friends. Eventually, the Pathway Project youth employment pro-
the basis for seeking grants to establish a youth shelter somewhere in Langford or Colwood. The task force will likely seek to create a youth shelter or drop-in centre near Westshore Town Centre and Belmont secondary, based on feedback from youth focus groups. “It needs to be close to the bus exchange and the mall, and close to Belmont to encourage kids to go to school,” says Ashley Frerichs, a 20-year-old on the task force who experienced couch surfing as a teen.
The West Shore RCMP street crime unit nabbed a 27-year-old Langford man last Friday for running a large dial-a-dope operation. The street crime unit had the man under surveillance based on a Crime Stoppers tip, and pulled over his car in View Royal at 1 p.m. after witnessing a drug transaction. Officers found baggies of heroin, crack and powdered cocaine in the vehicle, ready for distribution. RCMP seized the 2006 Subaru Legacy. “The more different substances you have, the more customers you will have,” said West Shore RCMP Sgt. Max Fossum. Around 10 p.m. after gaining a search warrant to the man’s home on Bellamy Road in Langford, RCMP found large numbers of baggies of heroin and crack and powdered cocaine. They also found a large amount of cash. “This would be a busy dial-a-dope operation. This is a big bust for the West Shore,” Fossum said. As of Tuesday, investigators have yet to catalogue or fingerprint all of the seized drugs. But police estimate they seized 20 grams of cocaine and about four grams of heroin in about 40 baggies from the Bellamy home. Drugs were divided into 0.2, 0.4, 0.5 and one gram packages. Fossum said this is a much larger operation than a “street level doper.”
PLEASE SEE: Housing project, Page A12
PLEASE SEE: Trafficking suspect, Page A7
Edward Hill/News staff
West Shore Youth Housing Task Force members Bill McElroy and Kris Romyn stand in a clearing on Langford Lake where Romyn once camped as a homeless teenager.
“We’ve really got to get something going so kids are safe, we’ve got to get something going quick.” –Kris Romyn West Shore Youth Housing Task Force gram in Langford helped set his life in order. Youth struggling with homelessness and unstable housing on the West Shore are largely invisible, but the issue of establishing a permanent shelter is
gaining traction. Romyn reckons he knows a dozen youth struggling to find regular shelter now, some who regularly sleep in underground parking lots in Langford. Experts estimate anywhere from 40 to 80 West Shore youth are without stable shelter at any given time. “I know about a dozen are on the street, hanging around,” Romyn says. “We’ve really got to get something going so kids are safe, we’ve got to get something going quick.” The youth housing task force, a group of volunteers and public service agencies, has completed two studies that provide
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