Boxing Day blowout

Resisting arrest the day after Christmas earned a local man a hefty fine, but he has avoided jail time because his actions were passive.

Matthew Parrott opened the door to police on December 26 of last year after the RCMP had responded to a noise complaint. The officers saw marijuana and psilocybin (magic mushrooms) on a table and after Parrott allowed them entry into the house, they questioned him about the illegal substances. The court was told that while Parrott admitted that the marijuana was for his use, the psilocybin had been purchased to give to friends.

The officers then attempted to take Parrott into custody, but he repeatedly refused requests to put his hands behind his back. Eventually handcuffed and taken to the police station, he became much more cooperative.

“When they say Boxing Day, they don’t mean it in the way you were doing it,” said Judge Donald Norheim after Parrott pleaded guilty to three separate charges relating to the incident.

He was fined $500 for resisting the police, $500 for the possession of psilocybin and $115 for the marijuana.

“Drunken lark”

Two 18-year-olds pled guilty to mischief and possession of stolen property after a short-lived crime spree December 28. The pair were granted a conditional discharge after convincing Judge Norheim that they weren’t in the habit of breaking windows or committing acts of petty theft.

Two young men are apprentice linemen for Fortis and were in Jasper for a snowboarding holiday. After becoming severely intoxicated, they proceeded to steal items from unlocked cars on Patricia Street and broke two windows, one in a vehicle and one structural pane that was the property of Parks Canada.

“It was a drunken lark,” said duty counsel Donovan Malloy. “They recognize that this was extremely, and I stress extremely, stupid behaviour.”

“It does seem out of character,” said Judge Norheim. “It sounds like this was encouraged by a high level of intoxication.” Norheim acknowledged that in all likelihood, the two had jeopardized their careers with Fortis.

The terms of the one year probation include complete abstinence from alcohol and drugs, a ban against entering licenced premises and being prohibited from entering Jasper. The youths will also have to pay restitution for the two broken windows and each must complete 40 hours of community service.

“I want you to understand that the community frowns on this kind of criminal activty,” Norheim said.

Back to BC

A man who threatened to stab another person at a Jasper staff accomodation building has been given a suspended sentence and an opportunity to turn his life around in British Columbia.

Kevin McAdam pled guilty to mischief, uttering threats and the possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in Provincial Court last Thursday. McAdam had been arrested on December 30 after RCMP responded to a call from the staff accomodation unit. McAdam had been drinking and had wanted to enter into a physical altercation with another man on three separate occasions. During the course of his third and final attempt to begin a fight, McAdam told the other individual involved that he would stab him. By the time the police arrived, the knife that McAdam admitted to have been carrying was not on his person and was not recovered. The mischief charge stemmed from property damage that occurred at some point during the melee.

McAdam had a prior record but had not committed any criminal offence since 2003, the court was told.

“This was really out of character for me,” said McAdam. “It was totally fuelled by alcohol.”    

McAdam, originally from B.C.’s Lower Mainland, said that he had come to Jasper for a fresh start.

“I came up to Jasper to turn over a new leaf, and it had been going really well.”

Judge Norheim provided McAdam the opportunity to return to B.C. after hearing that the man’s grandparents in Chilliwack had offered him a job and a place to live. The judge did place McAdam on strict probation for the next 18 months, however, with terms including alcohol counselling as directed, abstinence from alcohol and non-prescription drugs and a complete ban on weapon possession.

Norheim declared that it would be ineffective to levy any fines against McAdam, given that he had lost his job and had been living at the hostel in return for doing chores and odd jobs.

The judge issued a five year weapons prohibition above and beyond the terms of probation, and also slapped McAdam with a lifetime ban on restricted weapons. Norheim would have liked to include knives of certain kinds and descriptions in this life-long restriction, but was informed that he could not.

“It’s amazing to me,” he said of this omission in the Criminal Code. “We have far more serious crimes committed with knives rather than guns.”

Fine to drive

A recent arrival in Jasper has been fined $850 and will be unable to drive for a year after pleading guilty to operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. Angela Bernard, a 22-year-old from Nova Scotia, working as a housekeeper at a local hotel, was stopped by police in the early morning hours of December 19 after they noticed a Toyota proceeding very slowly down Connaught Drive. Bernard was found to have a blood alcohol level more than twice the limit of 0.08.

In an unrelated matter, an Edmonton man was fined $700 for marijuana possession after apparently operating a motor vehicle while smoking the illegal substance.

Paul Iozzo, a 36-year-old webmaster from the provincial capital, was stopped by police for speeding. Officers smelled marijuana and Iozoo confirmed that it was his and he had been using.

Judge Norheim informed Iozzo that in most cases, he treats unlawful possession of marijuana in the same way as unlawful possession of alcohol, but due to the fact that driving was involved, the fine assessed was considerably stiffer.