Serious Drug Problems

On August 18, 2004 I was at McDonald's on Hwy 97 and Water Street to pick up
my 15-year-old child who works there. It was at 6 p.m. and as I pulled in,
there where three people standing out by the entrance eating there food,
obviously bought at the store.

After I had parked and had a better look at these people I noticed, as they
were indulging in there food, their female friend looked as though she had
been punched in the face and was raging on the fellows she was with. At
that time I noticed a few more people starting to congregate around the
entrance, in front of my vehicle.

As I was waiting for my child, who was to be coming out of the same entrance
that another female who was with the same group heating up a small white
substance in a bag or something with a lighter, and as she was doing this
all the other "bees flocked to the honey". As this was happening right in
front of my vehicle, I was getting a little concerned at that time as I
locked my doors, about my child having to walk through all this leaving from
work. I also noticed that they had security there but they seemed not to even worry about these participants in this ordeal.

When my child did manage to get through the crowd and safely enter my
vehicle, I was wondering, if one of them had all of a sudden starting "tripping out" or what ever and my child just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time and, god forbid, something happen like one of them decided they needed money for the next hit and thought that McDonald's has a load of cash on hand ..you get the idea. My child was informing me that these people hang out there all the time and come into the store and sometimes harass the workers at the till.

When I asked what is being done about this I was told that the managers
called the city and the police, whom cruise by every hour I was told, and
they where told that is all that can be done. I thought drugs where an
illegal substance, if I were to walk downtown with an open bottle or can of
beer would it not be confiscated and dealt with by authorities. Well why
can't the officers stop and confiscate the illegal substance and deal with
this?

In our city this is all to often the scene and I believe we should move it somewhere else and control it better than we are. A suggestion, move the soup kitchen to some other area of the city where these people can congregate and be away from tourists and the general public. So people who work in these areas can feel safe when they leave works premises.

Just a thought.

C.E.