Last Saturday night a 15-year-old Yellowknifer, who goes by the name of Smokey, and his 14-year-old friend dropped in at Herb's Christian Hangout around midnight. Smokey said he'd been stoned all day. His friend said he didn't smoke dope because his mother wanted him to stop. The youth told Yellowknifer they like Herb's because they can sit around and not have to buy anything.
Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 04/01) - A Yellowknife youth drop-in shelter is under police surveillance because it's used by some youth as a place to drink and smoke dope.
According to RCMP Staff Sgt. Terry Scott, police began monitoring Herb's Christian Hangout on March 31, acting on public concerns about the number of intoxicated youth frequenting the downtown facility.
"Our concern is that he's providing a place for youth to go and party," said Scott.
RCMP have so far talked to 21 youth who frequent the hangout, which sits on Franklin Avenue across from Country Corner. Some have been charged with underage drinking.
Herb Zimmerman, founder and lone operator of the shelter, said police can't deal with his radical approach to dealing with wayward youth in the city.
"It's better they drink and smoke here than out somewhere alone and in danger," said Zimmerman, 70. The RCMP doesn't see it that way.
Scott said police entered the hangout one night and found a 12-year-old youth sick and drunk.
"(The youth) could have choked on vomit," said Scott.
The police found marijuana, pipes and roaches in the building but laid no charges.
According to Scott, constant monitoring is all the police can legally do for now. Zimmerman has a business licence from the city to run the shelter and pays $1,500 a month for the lease. As long as Zimmerman doesn't provide the liquor and alcohol the police cannot shut the place down.
"We're there on a regular basis to see what's going on," said Scott.
Scott said police have teamed up with Health and Social Services to monitor the location. Often an officer and a child protection worker will enter the building.
"It's more a social issue than a police issue," said Scott.
The hangout sits on Franklin Avenue between the arcade and the old Quality Furniture store currently being renovated.
It's easy to miss. Aside from its paper sign with computer letters reading "Herb's Christian Hangout" and a piece of brown cardboard covering a hole in the door, it has little to set it off as a shelter.
The paint is peeling, the wooden steps are bruised with rot.
The inside is just as dishevelled. The walls are marked with initials professing love and in the fooze-ball room a pick ax has been driven into a gutted couch.
Zimmerman calls it "a place where kids can loiter."
The former missionary has Parkinson's disease. His hands shake and he moves like someone caught in a slow motion film.
One of the lenses in his glasses is gone and he always wears an Andy Capp hat.
He doesn't allow portable video games, Discmans or walkmans into his building.
He plays Christian hymn tapes in an old clock radio with a cassette deck.
He hopes the Christianity he scatters in pamphlets, makeshift crosses on the walls and one Bible floating around will eventually rub off.
Zimmerman said the constant police presence is driving youth away because many don't like the hassle.
"If I'm doing something illegal then they should charge me," said Zimmerman.
He said the core group that frequent his hangout belong to a class that have no other place to go in the city.
There is an estimated 40 to 70 youth homeless in Yellowknife.
Scott said he believes Zimmerman has good intentions but thinks he isn't prepared to handle the traffic that troops through his place because of his age and ailments.
"He should get someone to help monitor things," said Scott, suggesting he request aid from city churches.
"I don't feel the need for it," is Zimmerman's quick reply.
The idea for the hangout hit Zimmerman when he worked the night shift at the Salvation Army.
He'd go home at midnight and see youth running around with seemingly no place to go.
"I'm filling a need," he said.
