Letters to the Editor -
Dear Editor,
The photos submitted to the news agencies by RCMP in St. Anthony were completely misleading and at odds with all principles of good community policing.
The police clearly targeted an innocent and good man, disrupted the lives of his family and defamed his business. This is a clear case of police projected over sensationalism caused to support their botched and ridiculous tear/raid on an innocent local man. Lyndon Hodge is a solitary northern Newfoundland man, known all his life by members of his community. He has been living a near Spartan but hardworking life in the community. He is running a decent business with the support of his family in northern Newfoundland.
This morning after an already disturbing night and learning about the way the police targeted and invaded my brother's property on suspicion he had marijuana plants (he absolutely did not deny that he had plants and also explained to them why), his house and property were virtually torn apart by police and I learned he was forced to walk home from the station 20 kilometres at 11 p.m. in the rainy cold night. He was lucky to get home alive five hours later. This morning getting those photos out to media was the first thing the police dealt with.
The pictures shown speak for themselves and as you all agree clearly show a waste of our collective police resources spending on creating problems and making non criminals appear as criminals. A local stash of personal hemp seed growing to tiny plants, if they grow at all, to potentially service my brother's chronic back pain. My brother for many years has had severe chronic back pain. He is allowed to grow and personally use under Canadian law for this purpose. In addition, my grandfather's old musket and some ancient non-usable hunting guns. How do we stop this abuse? Why with this misdemeanor were Newfoundland police allowed to make public this garbage and misrepresentation of the truth?
For God's sake give him a break.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Hodge
Long Island City
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