By Robert Mackenzie
Published July 18 2017
The Haliburton Highlands OPP are looking for two suspects after an attempted robbery at the Lucky Dollar in Gooderham on the morning of July 11.
In an interview store owner Stanley Cheong told the Echo the suspects grabbed him but got spooked and ran out of the store after another customer came in.
“It just felt really weird at the time” Cheong said. “It just was weird I wasn’t really afraid or anything…I don’t know how to explain it really.”
An OPP press release says that two male suspects fled the scene in a black 1984 Buick Grand National and were last seen driving westbound on County Road 503. The OPP is in the midst of an investigation into the incident.
While he hopes they are caught and dealt appropriate punishment Cheong doesn’t hold any resentment towards his two attackers. “I don’t feel any malice towards these guys or any kind of retribution” he said. “I felt angry at first but…I don’t know their story and I just wish the cops catch them and just do what they’re supposed to do.”
Cheong has been the owner of the Lucky Dollar for four years now after his parents ran the store for the previous 35 years. After growing up in the community and graduating from HHSS Cheong attended Laurentian University in Sudbury and Fleming College in Peterborough. When he struggled to find a job after school he eventually returned to the community to take over his family’s store.
After hearing of the incident Cheong says that the community has been supportive checking in on him and his family and even offering to take up collections for any losses he might have incurred.
“It’s a very close-knit community and the people are nice” he said. “Most of the time except for this incident you know your neighbours and it’s nice to see familiar faces.”
Now that the dust has settled Cheong says he doesn’t plan on making any changes to the store. “We’re still going to be open for business. We might be a bit more vigilant about what’s going on and be a little more wary but otherwise we’re going to just carry on” he said.
With files from Darren Lum