Metal detector finds little treasure, but plenty of drug paraphernalia in Kelowna park

Dave Rodgers spends his time scanning the grass at Kelowna’s City Park with his metal detector — looking for metallic junk.

And he finds plenty of it, from bottle caps to coins and loads of drug paraphernalia.

“This looks like a pipe,” he said as he holds out his hand. “This is a little thing for cooking heroin. Tthat guy right there.”

And where there’s heroin, there are needles.

“I find heroin flaps and I did find one needle this morning.”

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Rodgers said he usually finds heroin flaps and needles at the base of large trees in the park. He finds so many that he now carries a needle box.

“I just started packing it about two months ago because of the number of needles I find in Kelowna,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers has been — as he calls it – ‘dirt fishing’ for seven years and says the needles started showing up in City Park a couple of years ago.

But he also finds some pretty cool stuff, including a gold crown.

So if you see Rodgers in Kelowna’s City Park with his metal detector, maybe stop by and say thanks for cleaning the place up. But as Rodgers puts it, he doesn’t do it for the glory; he does it because it’s his passion.

“I love this. I simply love it.”