Im very jealous and wished i can participate in these parties. Funny to hear this womans reaction 
Brenda Edmands points across the wooded ravine toward the neighbourhood sex club. She's nervous about talking to a reporter. She hides her face from a photographer. But she's tired of getting brushed aside by Delta officials - so she decided to go public.
"How I first came on to the problem, I was doing yard work one Sunday morning, and I heard what I thought was a rape," she says. "I remember standing at the back of the ravine and my heart was pounding and I had tears in my eyes, and I thought 'Oh my God, what am I going to do?'"
That was the summer of 2009. Edmands didn't know what house the disturbing noise came from, so she walked away without doing anything, feeling sick to her stomach. After talk-ing to neighbours and doing some Internet research, she concluded the troubling incident was actually "sex and moaning and screaming" that emanated from a private late-night swinger party at a single-family residence across the ravine on River Road. The suspicion was confirmed later that summer, Edmands says, when she was kept up all night by a woman's sporadic howls of ecstasy.
Edmands says a website called "Club Allure" advertised sex parties at the Delta home for couples, single ladies and "sponsored" men, with annual and event-based fees.
Edmands concluded the home was operating a sex business, so she fired off an email to Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, who seemed to agree.
"I am astounded by the website and wonder what type of people could actually advertise this type of event," Jackson wrote Edmands in an email dated August 11, 2010. Jackson ordered an investigation by Delta police and bylaws, and again emailed Edmands, saying: "I am asking the staff for a more up to date and thorough report to Council on this situation . . . surely we do not allow this 'business' in our neighbourhoods?"
NO ONE IS CONCERNED
But the investigation fizzled out. A file on Delta's "Club Allure" was opened in August 2010 and closed in January 2011, because only Edmands was con cerned about noise, according to Hugh Davies, Delta's manager of property use and compliance. In an interview, Davies said swingers clubs are common in the Lower Mainland, and that the owners of the home investigated also run the "Club Eden" swingers club in New Westminster. Davies reasoned that the River Road residence, located on an industrial road across from the 102-year-old Trinity Lutheran Church, is "off the beaten track."
"Club Allure is in Delta [and] what you have is consenting adults that are together like a swingers club," Davies said. "The people across the ravine, save one complainant, were not concerned about the noise. It's not like a thousand cars are arriving. You have a couple cars arriving."
In terms of the business licence, Davies said, "you have to prove they are running a business for profit. It's pretty difficult to prove . . . unless you infiltrate the club and have a look to see how the books and such work."
Contrary to Davies' claim that few people and cars attend the River Road swingers club, Edmands says this spring she "crawled through the berry bushes" in the ravine bordering the party at about 2 a.m. and counted about 37 cars parked outside.
"My heart just fell because I looked at the deck where all the people were partying, and it was just vibrating," Edmands says. "They get loud and arrogant. They come outside and they laugh, doing fashion shows, hooting and screaming. It's disturbing because I've got these kids around."
Delta police Sgt. Sharlene Brooks said one officer canvassed a "significant number" of neighbours in the area, but the majority "had no issue with noise."
A Province investigation in the neighbourhood indicated the opposite.
'TIKI TORCH PARTIES'
A common joke on Norum Road refers to the unintended warning signal from tiki torches that can be seen flickering across the ravine twice a month, year-round. When the torches are lit you close your windows and put in your ear plugs, says 51-yearold Herb Whitehead.
"There is different points of view from all the people in the neighbourhood," Whitehead says. "I can laugh. I'm single. If I wanted to go to a porn movie or something I don't have to - I can open the windows or sit out on my porch. It's quite entertaining."
"But if I had a family I'd feel different," he adds. "All the kids in the neighbourhood laugh. I guess you could say their adolescence is tainted."
Mike Moleski said the "Tiki Torch Party" joke is getting old.
"Some nights you sleep through it and sometimes you don't because it's so loud," he says. "With some of the moaning going on, it's obvious that it is sexual activity."
Moleski said he's disappointed Delta officials claim Edmands is the only one who made noise complaints.
"I know I did," he says. "At the start everyone laughed it off, but now it's escalated. Some neighbours say 'close your windows and tolerate it,' but I don't think we should have to."
At one home on Norum Road, an older couple who asked not to be named said they have heard distressing noises.
"I heard a woman screaming and thought she was in trouble," the woman said. "I thought, should I call 911?"
One teen girl said she has to go sleep in her parents' room whenever the parties are rocking.
"It sounds like, cause the sound travels across the ravine, it kind of sounds like they're coming up to my window or something," the girl said. "It freaked me out one night, but I get used to it."
Another neighbour, Dana Wilk, said she can't hear explicit sex noises within the general house party noises, but she believes the swingers club doesn't belong where it is.
"The police - no one wants to do anything about it," Wilk said. "It's a nice neighbourhood, it's very family oriented. I know some people have talked about selling their homes."
On the other hand, Edmands' neighbour Bruce Robertson said swinging sex isn't the issue.
"Yes, we know what goes on there, but do we have concrete proof, have we seen it ourselves? No. There is no bylaw or jurisdiction against what they are doing," he said.
IS THIS LEGAL?
The legality of pay-to-enter sex parties goes back to a groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling in December 2005.
In a 7-2 decision that overturned the conviction of Montreal's Jean-Paul Labaye, who was charged with operating a "common bawdy-house," the high court gave swingers clubs a green light to operate across Canada.
John Lowman, a professor at Simon Fraser University's School of Criminology and an authority on prostitution, said running a swingers club for "commercial interest is no different than somebody making money off telephones or anything else."
"As long as there is no prostitution, what Labaye did is clarify that a swingers club did not violate the criminal code," Lowman said. "The original test was if the community as a whole would not tolerate the activity, it would be indecent. Labaye changed that in a very important way, because what it said is there would have to be demonstrable harm."
Even though a number of Norum Road households allege they can hear indecent activity coming from the neighbouring club, that is a bylaw noise issue, not demonstrable community harm, in Lowman's opinion.
THE CLUB OWNERS
The couple who own the property investigated by Delta authorities, 11041 River Road, are Linda Walters and Jason Walters. Corporate registry documents show Linda Walters is listed as secretary, and Jason Walters is listed as president of The Metro Events Inc., with an office located in 11041 River Road. The company, which was previously known as Club Eden Entertainment Inc., was incorporated in August 2006. Jason Walters was asked for an interview for this story but referred all questions to Linda Walters.
In a series of interviews with The Province Linda Walters claimed the noise complaints against her River Road home are "manufactured" and complaints were not corroborated "despite numerous on-site visits."
"This is clearly not a noise complaint issue, this is a moral issue," Walters said, outside her home. The large home looks like a Spanish style-villa, and through large glass windows on the front door a sign that advises no cellphones are allowed on premises could be seen.
Walters said she believes the 2005 Supreme Court ruling means it is "100 per cent" legal to run swingers events in a residential area. She said if her neighbours would approach her directly with legitimate noise complaints, she would add bushes to her backyard to muffle the sounds they allege emanate from the home's back deck and hot tub during parties.
Walters was asked if the home swinger parties are financially beneficial.
"I do this more for the social cause perspective," she said. "What we do at the house is a not-for-profit aspect."
Walters said she owns Club Eden which is run as "a virtual club" featuring an "online community" that promotes private events in a variety of locations "throughout the Lower Mainland and beyond."
One anonymous account of a March 2011 "Club Allure" party in Delta, on a website that rates Lower Mainland swingers clubs, said: "Man, was it packed! I love this club for the simple fact that it is a big old fashion house party with a naughty twist . . . Upstairs I found 3 private rooms, 1 semi private room and the very large open play room . . . those rooms were busy all night long."
In an email message to The Province, Walters said it is not accurate to link "Club Allure" to the River Road home.
"I no longer own Club Allure and Allure does not operate out of my house . . . my private residence is not a club."
"It's my personal residence. As a private resident, I have the right to host private parties at my leisure providing that I am not breaking any laws. I do host private, completely legal parties from time to time that are adult in nature and are by invitation only."
Linda Walters was asked to provide information on specific fees connected to the events promoted on the Club Eden website, but did not provide figures.
A November 2007 Georgia Straight article says "the two-year-old Club Eden, a warehouse-sized club . . . charges $50 for a couples membership, $90 per event, and another $100 to stay overnight."
PANDORA'S BOX
A lawyer who has provided services to a Lower Mainland municipality on a case involving a swingers club described an uneasy standoff on liquor usage, business licence and bylaw issues.
The lawyer did not want to be named, because the case hasn't been resolved.
"Between the police, the city and the province we have to come to a firm understanding of where we are [on swingers clubs]," the lawyer said.
"It's a very grey area, and until a judge tells us we don't know."
The lawyer said he has no knowledge of the situation in Delta, but suggested that generally speaking, it is questionable whether running swingers club events could be considered a "customary and incidental use" of property in a residential area.
"I mean, if you are having a birthday party, sure," he said.
"But when you are inviting a bunch of private people in to have a sex party?"
Back on Norum Road, some neighbours are so mystified by the lack of enforcement that they have started to speculate who attends the sex parties.
Herb Whitehead claims a retired Vancouver police officer who lives near the River Road house told him "it's not the average joe" that swings.
"I said, 'What's going on with this goofy club?' and he says, 'Yeah, that's quite a show - but what are you gonna do about it?'" Whitehead said.
"He says these clubs are all over Vancouver. It's kind of a Pandora's Box if you want to open it."
ANOTHER LOOK
Edmands said she's puzzled as to why Mayor Lois Jackson "was really excited to deal with her community, and then she just vanished."
"I won't even call [Delta authorities] anymore," Edmands says.
"I can't believe I'm being treated like the crazy, anti-sex lady."
Jackson was interviewed by The Province this week, and after receiving new information on complaints from Norum Road residents, she called an in-camera council meeting to discuss Delta's investigation of and position on the River Road property.
Jackson said she could not disclose meeting results because lawyers were involved, and she could only speak about options available to the city in general terms.
"[The file] has been referred to both our bylaws department and police department for follow-up and report back to council," Jackson said.
"It's a good question. Do people think that is a good thing to have in their community, and if not how do we oversee these? Is it through permits?"
scooper@theprovince.com
© Copyright (c) The Province
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Swingers+Rattle+neighbours/5276978/story.html#ixzz1VSvL3vLg
Brenda Edmands points across the wooded ravine toward the neighbourhood sex club. She's nervous about talking to a reporter. She hides her face from a photographer. But she's tired of getting brushed aside by Delta officials - so she decided to go public.
"How I first came on to the problem, I was doing yard work one Sunday morning, and I heard what I thought was a rape," she says. "I remember standing at the back of the ravine and my heart was pounding and I had tears in my eyes, and I thought 'Oh my God, what am I going to do?'"
That was the summer of 2009. Edmands didn't know what house the disturbing noise came from, so she walked away without doing anything, feeling sick to her stomach. After talk-ing to neighbours and doing some Internet research, she concluded the troubling incident was actually "sex and moaning and screaming" that emanated from a private late-night swinger party at a single-family residence across the ravine on River Road. The suspicion was confirmed later that summer, Edmands says, when she was kept up all night by a woman's sporadic howls of ecstasy.
Edmands says a website called "Club Allure" advertised sex parties at the Delta home for couples, single ladies and "sponsored" men, with annual and event-based fees.
Edmands concluded the home was operating a sex business, so she fired off an email to Delta Mayor Lois Jackson, who seemed to agree.
"I am astounded by the website and wonder what type of people could actually advertise this type of event," Jackson wrote Edmands in an email dated August 11, 2010. Jackson ordered an investigation by Delta police and bylaws, and again emailed Edmands, saying: "I am asking the staff for a more up to date and thorough report to Council on this situation . . . surely we do not allow this 'business' in our neighbourhoods?"
NO ONE IS CONCERNED
But the investigation fizzled out. A file on Delta's "Club Allure" was opened in August 2010 and closed in January 2011, because only Edmands was con cerned about noise, according to Hugh Davies, Delta's manager of property use and compliance. In an interview, Davies said swingers clubs are common in the Lower Mainland, and that the owners of the home investigated also run the "Club Eden" swingers club in New Westminster. Davies reasoned that the River Road residence, located on an industrial road across from the 102-year-old Trinity Lutheran Church, is "off the beaten track."
"Club Allure is in Delta [and] what you have is consenting adults that are together like a swingers club," Davies said. "The people across the ravine, save one complainant, were not concerned about the noise. It's not like a thousand cars are arriving. You have a couple cars arriving."
In terms of the business licence, Davies said, "you have to prove they are running a business for profit. It's pretty difficult to prove . . . unless you infiltrate the club and have a look to see how the books and such work."
Contrary to Davies' claim that few people and cars attend the River Road swingers club, Edmands says this spring she "crawled through the berry bushes" in the ravine bordering the party at about 2 a.m. and counted about 37 cars parked outside.
"My heart just fell because I looked at the deck where all the people were partying, and it was just vibrating," Edmands says. "They get loud and arrogant. They come outside and they laugh, doing fashion shows, hooting and screaming. It's disturbing because I've got these kids around."
Delta police Sgt. Sharlene Brooks said one officer canvassed a "significant number" of neighbours in the area, but the majority "had no issue with noise."
A Province investigation in the neighbourhood indicated the opposite.
'TIKI TORCH PARTIES'
A common joke on Norum Road refers to the unintended warning signal from tiki torches that can be seen flickering across the ravine twice a month, year-round. When the torches are lit you close your windows and put in your ear plugs, says 51-yearold Herb Whitehead.
"There is different points of view from all the people in the neighbourhood," Whitehead says. "I can laugh. I'm single. If I wanted to go to a porn movie or something I don't have to - I can open the windows or sit out on my porch. It's quite entertaining."
"But if I had a family I'd feel different," he adds. "All the kids in the neighbourhood laugh. I guess you could say their adolescence is tainted."
Mike Moleski said the "Tiki Torch Party" joke is getting old.
"Some nights you sleep through it and sometimes you don't because it's so loud," he says. "With some of the moaning going on, it's obvious that it is sexual activity."
Moleski said he's disappointed Delta officials claim Edmands is the only one who made noise complaints.
"I know I did," he says. "At the start everyone laughed it off, but now it's escalated. Some neighbours say 'close your windows and tolerate it,' but I don't think we should have to."
At one home on Norum Road, an older couple who asked not to be named said they have heard distressing noises.
"I heard a woman screaming and thought she was in trouble," the woman said. "I thought, should I call 911?"
One teen girl said she has to go sleep in her parents' room whenever the parties are rocking.
"It sounds like, cause the sound travels across the ravine, it kind of sounds like they're coming up to my window or something," the girl said. "It freaked me out one night, but I get used to it."
Another neighbour, Dana Wilk, said she can't hear explicit sex noises within the general house party noises, but she believes the swingers club doesn't belong where it is.
"The police - no one wants to do anything about it," Wilk said. "It's a nice neighbourhood, it's very family oriented. I know some people have talked about selling their homes."
On the other hand, Edmands' neighbour Bruce Robertson said swinging sex isn't the issue.
"Yes, we know what goes on there, but do we have concrete proof, have we seen it ourselves? No. There is no bylaw or jurisdiction against what they are doing," he said.
IS THIS LEGAL?
The legality of pay-to-enter sex parties goes back to a groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling in December 2005.
In a 7-2 decision that overturned the conviction of Montreal's Jean-Paul Labaye, who was charged with operating a "common bawdy-house," the high court gave swingers clubs a green light to operate across Canada.
John Lowman, a professor at Simon Fraser University's School of Criminology and an authority on prostitution, said running a swingers club for "commercial interest is no different than somebody making money off telephones or anything else."
"As long as there is no prostitution, what Labaye did is clarify that a swingers club did not violate the criminal code," Lowman said. "The original test was if the community as a whole would not tolerate the activity, it would be indecent. Labaye changed that in a very important way, because what it said is there would have to be demonstrable harm."
Even though a number of Norum Road households allege they can hear indecent activity coming from the neighbouring club, that is a bylaw noise issue, not demonstrable community harm, in Lowman's opinion.
THE CLUB OWNERS
The couple who own the property investigated by Delta authorities, 11041 River Road, are Linda Walters and Jason Walters. Corporate registry documents show Linda Walters is listed as secretary, and Jason Walters is listed as president of The Metro Events Inc., with an office located in 11041 River Road. The company, which was previously known as Club Eden Entertainment Inc., was incorporated in August 2006. Jason Walters was asked for an interview for this story but referred all questions to Linda Walters.
In a series of interviews with The Province Linda Walters claimed the noise complaints against her River Road home are "manufactured" and complaints were not corroborated "despite numerous on-site visits."
"This is clearly not a noise complaint issue, this is a moral issue," Walters said, outside her home. The large home looks like a Spanish style-villa, and through large glass windows on the front door a sign that advises no cellphones are allowed on premises could be seen.
Walters said she believes the 2005 Supreme Court ruling means it is "100 per cent" legal to run swingers events in a residential area. She said if her neighbours would approach her directly with legitimate noise complaints, she would add bushes to her backyard to muffle the sounds they allege emanate from the home's back deck and hot tub during parties.
Walters was asked if the home swinger parties are financially beneficial.
"I do this more for the social cause perspective," she said. "What we do at the house is a not-for-profit aspect."
Walters said she owns Club Eden which is run as "a virtual club" featuring an "online community" that promotes private events in a variety of locations "throughout the Lower Mainland and beyond."
One anonymous account of a March 2011 "Club Allure" party in Delta, on a website that rates Lower Mainland swingers clubs, said: "Man, was it packed! I love this club for the simple fact that it is a big old fashion house party with a naughty twist . . . Upstairs I found 3 private rooms, 1 semi private room and the very large open play room . . . those rooms were busy all night long."
In an email message to The Province, Walters said it is not accurate to link "Club Allure" to the River Road home.
"I no longer own Club Allure and Allure does not operate out of my house . . . my private residence is not a club."
"It's my personal residence. As a private resident, I have the right to host private parties at my leisure providing that I am not breaking any laws. I do host private, completely legal parties from time to time that are adult in nature and are by invitation only."
Linda Walters was asked to provide information on specific fees connected to the events promoted on the Club Eden website, but did not provide figures.
A November 2007 Georgia Straight article says "the two-year-old Club Eden, a warehouse-sized club . . . charges $50 for a couples membership, $90 per event, and another $100 to stay overnight."
PANDORA'S BOX
A lawyer who has provided services to a Lower Mainland municipality on a case involving a swingers club described an uneasy standoff on liquor usage, business licence and bylaw issues.
The lawyer did not want to be named, because the case hasn't been resolved.
"Between the police, the city and the province we have to come to a firm understanding of where we are [on swingers clubs]," the lawyer said.
"It's a very grey area, and until a judge tells us we don't know."
The lawyer said he has no knowledge of the situation in Delta, but suggested that generally speaking, it is questionable whether running swingers club events could be considered a "customary and incidental use" of property in a residential area.
"I mean, if you are having a birthday party, sure," he said.
"But when you are inviting a bunch of private people in to have a sex party?"
Back on Norum Road, some neighbours are so mystified by the lack of enforcement that they have started to speculate who attends the sex parties.
Herb Whitehead claims a retired Vancouver police officer who lives near the River Road house told him "it's not the average joe" that swings.
"I said, 'What's going on with this goofy club?' and he says, 'Yeah, that's quite a show - but what are you gonna do about it?'" Whitehead said.
"He says these clubs are all over Vancouver. It's kind of a Pandora's Box if you want to open it."
ANOTHER LOOK
Edmands said she's puzzled as to why Mayor Lois Jackson "was really excited to deal with her community, and then she just vanished."
"I won't even call [Delta authorities] anymore," Edmands says.
"I can't believe I'm being treated like the crazy, anti-sex lady."
Jackson was interviewed by The Province this week, and after receiving new information on complaints from Norum Road residents, she called an in-camera council meeting to discuss Delta's investigation of and position on the River Road property.
Jackson said she could not disclose meeting results because lawyers were involved, and she could only speak about options available to the city in general terms.
"[The file] has been referred to both our bylaws department and police department for follow-up and report back to council," Jackson said.
"It's a good question. Do people think that is a good thing to have in their community, and if not how do we oversee these? Is it through permits?"
scooper@theprovince.com
© Copyright (c) The Province
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/Swingers+Rattle+neighbours/5276978/story.html#ixzz1VSvL3vLg
