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Saskatoon trick-or-treaters get beer instead of candy


Canadian Press


Monday, November 08, 2004




SASKATOON (CP) - It's a far cry from chintzy half-sized Mars Bars and tiny misshapen Tootsie Rolls.

A trio of young trick-or-treaters was left a little dumbfounded Halloween night when a neighbourhood house began handing out cans of beer instead of candy.

Dave Kozicki said his nine-year-old son and two friends were nearing the end of their route at about 7 p.m. Sunday when a man, apparently drunk, tossed the unwanted treat into their bags and told them not to come back.

"Firstly you think it is kind of funny, but then I started thinking who knows what other stuff is going on and what else he is doing," Kozicki said. "I figured at the very least police should know about it."

Officers charged a 53-year-old man with distributing alcohol to minors - a ticketable offence. His name was not released.

The beer - three cans of Kokanee - was confiscated as part of the investigation, Kozicki said.

"I was kind of concerned because they were nine years old. It's not like they were 16," he said. "I suppose a 16-year-old might appreciate it, but my kid and his buddies just thought it was kind of odd."

The beer treats were not the only strange thing to happen in Saskatoon on Halloween night.

A 16-year-old girl was arrested after an idling ambulance was stolen in front of a home shortly before 1 a.m.

Troy Davies, a spokesman for the ambulance service in Saskatoon, said the attendants were inside responding to a call and, when they came out, they saw their vehicle driving away.

It was tracked down about 30 minutes later through the on-board global positioning system.

"It is pretty dangerous," Davies said. "If the patient we were picking up would have been in a life-threatening condition, which thankfully he wasn't, it could have caused a lot of delays in us getting our patient to the hospital on time."

In addition, there were seven reported street robberies for candy, two at knifepoint, police said. No one was hurt.

One man was charged with mischief after he allegedly forced himself into a home and tried to pick a fight with the residents because he was told they were out of candy.

Police said they believed the man was drunk.

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