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13-year-old overdoses in downtown Dairy Queen as B.C. town struggles to cope

Young staff confronted by trauma as Campbell River asked to address nearby Overdose Prevention site
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The horror of the addictions crisis in Campbell River hit employees of the city含羞草研究社檚 Dairy Queen restaurant particularly hard Wednesday, Oct. 25.

That含羞草研究社檚 when a 13-year-old child overdosed in the restaurant in front of the staff, many of them young people themselves. The incident was brought to public attention by Mayor Kermit Dahl.

含羞草研究社淚含羞草研究社檇 like to recognize that the somewhat new owner of the local Dairy Queen is here and let him know that this council is very supportive of the businesses in our downtown and doing what we can to help and recognize the tragic event that his assistant manager and young staff had to deal with last night of a young child overdosing in his restaurant,含羞草研究社 the mayor said at the Oct. 26 city council meeting. 含羞草研究社淚 can含羞草研究社檛 imagine what that would be like.含羞草研究社

The incident occurred around 9:40 p.m., just before the restaurant含羞草研究社檚 closing time. The individual was revived and the incident reported to the RCMP, DQ owner Rob Bigelow said.

Dahl含羞草研究社檚 statement came as another neighbour of Campbell River含羞草研究社檚 downtown Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) 含羞草研究社 and a neighbour of the Dairy Queen 含羞草研究社 asked the city designate the facility a nuisance property.

Ryan Sundquist, manager of the Campbell River Lordco Auto Parts is the fourth business making that request after years of dealing with disturbing and criminal behaviour arising from the clientele of the OPS. Bigelow also requested the OPS be designated a nuisance property in late September; sending a letter to council outlining the issues he and his staff are forced to deal with due to the proximity of the OPS.

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含羞草研究社淭he Dairy Queen has been subject to countless thefts, threats of violence, and a place to abuse drugs on a daily basis by the patrons of the OPS,含羞草研究社 Bigelow said in his letter. 含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檝e had to put a barrier up on front of our washrooms to make them only available to customers.含羞草研究社

Two years ago, Bigelow says, the DQ含羞草研究社檚 assistant manager, who was pregnant at the time, asked a crowd of people abusing drugs on the patio to move along. She was threatened by a person with an illegally-obtained taser. Last spring, there was an incident involving someone waving a stolen sawed-off shotgun around the restaurant含羞草研究社檚 side door.

Bigelow said his restaurant has long been a first job for many young people in Campbell River but now parents are refusing to let their kids work there.

Dahl said that he worked in a Dairy Queen when he was 含羞草研究社測oung guy含羞草研究社 in Alberta.

含羞草研究社淚 couldn含羞草研究社檛 imagine having been at potentially your very first job you含羞草研究社檝e ever taken and having to deal with someone who含羞草研究社檚 younger than you 含羞草研究社 overdosing in the restaurant,含羞草研究社 Dahl said. 含羞草研究社淭he psychological impact of that on kids; I don含羞草研究社檛 think that most people can imagine. Or most people even take the time to think about what that含羞草研究社檚 like; if it was your son or daughter, your grandson, your granddaughter that含羞草研究社檚 working in that situation.含羞草研究社

含羞草研究社淭he things that my team are exposed to on a daily basis include dealing with shoplifters, having people walk through our parking lot checking our cars to see if they are unlocked so they can break into them, finding tons of needles and human faeces in our parking lot is a regular occurrence, let alone the cost to Lordco for all of the vandalism we deal with on a regular basis,含羞草研究社 Sundquist含羞草研究社檚 letter says.

He adds later, 含羞草研究社淥n several occasions we have come in to find unresponsive people in our parking lot or on the front curb, which is very traumatic to anyone who thinks they just found someone dead on the ground.含羞草研究社

In September, city council requested a report from staff on the nuisance property designation. City manager Elle Brovold said she will bring an update on that report to the next city council meeting, which is Nov. 9.

Dahl expressed his assurances to Bigelow and other downtown businesses that council is 含羞草研究社減aying attention含羞草研究社 to their concerns.

含羞草研究社淲e hear what含羞草研究社檚 going on,含羞草研究社 the mayor said. 含羞草研究社淎nd we含羞草研究社檙e trying to do everything that we can to support the people suffering homelessness and addiction but also the businesses that are trying to operate within our downtown.含羞草研究社

READ MORE: Campbell River approves nearly half a million a year for downtown safety

| editor@campbellrivermirror.com
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Alistair Taylor

About the Author: Alistair Taylor

I have been editor of the Campbell River Mirror since 1989. Our team takes great pride in serving our community.
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