Charlotte Helston

LUMBY - Efforts are underway to resurrect a Citizens On Patrol in Lumby and Cherryville, but it won’t happen without community support. Lumby Cpl. Henry Proce says only one person has come forward since early December when police began seeking volunteers for the program. It’s been at least seven years since the area had a...

VERNON - A Vernon man’s appeal on dangerous driving and stolen property charges has been thrown out, despite his claims that a trial judge handled the matter unjustly. Robert Andel, 58, was found guilty of stealing a Dodge Ram truck and driving it into a house on January 31, 2010. In his appeal, Andel says...

VERNON - Most Vernon and area pharmacies have been cleaned out of flu vaccines and are turning people away. As the H1N1 virus spread from Alberta to B.C. over the past couple weeks, pharmacies were inundated with customers seeking immunization. With the death of an Okanagan woman who contracted H1N1, demand has only increased. Supply...

VERNON - Crime reduction initiatives have started to pay off in the North Okanagan, say police. Spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the RCMP shaved its calls for service to 27,655 in 2013, down from 28,100 in 2012. While only a slight decrease (about one less call per day) Molendyk says they’re moving in the right direction....

VERNON - Police are investigating a break-and-enter at a local motor sports store.  Just before 5 a.m. January 3, police received a call that an alarm had gone off at Four Season Motor Sports on 25 Avenue. A pick-up truck—believed to have been stolen— was used to pull the doors off the business. A 2012...

VERNON - A puzzling scene involving a group of men and a tight-lipped victim has police probing further into the incident. Late Sunday, around 10:25 p.m., police received a call that a group of men had entered a home in the 3700 block of Commonage Crescent with a gun. “The caller told police that people...

VERNON - A man on the run with over $100 worth of stolen meat has landed himself a court appearance. Around 4:25 p.m. January 4, the loss prevention officer at the Safeway on 30 Avenue arrested a 36-year-old man with no fixed address for shoplifting meat valued at about $80. The officer notified police and...

VERNON - It’s shaping up to be one of the quieter winter weekends in the Vernon area. Following a fresh coating of snow Friday morning, Saturday and Sunday will see highs of zero with a mix of sun and cloud. Aside from Caravan Farm Theatre’s play Little Brother, Little Sister, cheap night skiing at Silver...

VERNON - Up, down and around the same—it’s a mottled picture for property values across the North Okanagan. B.C. Assessment will be handing out property assessments for over 71,000 properties in the North Okanagan over the next few days, and deputy assessor Tracy Wall says even with the ups and downs, the main trend is...

VERNON - Conservation officers have trapped and put down a cougar in Coldstream. Sgt. Josh Lockwood with the North Okanagan conservation service says the cougar was put down at 6 a.m. after getting caught in a leg-hold trap. Yesterday, conservation officers set five such traps in a ravine where the cougar had been hunting.  Since...

VERNON - A number of high profile court cases unfolded in the Vernon courthouse this year. Some ended with cries of joy, others with handcuffs.  In July, former Vernon teacher and vice-principal Deborah Ashton was acquitted of perjury charges in relation to an earlier sexual assault trial involving one of her students. All told, Ashton had...

VERNON - Smell that? Marijuana reform is in the air. Health Canada is making big changes to the medical marijuana system in the spring of 2014. Hot on its tail is Sensible B.C., a group seeking big changes on a nearby frontier. Both movements have stirred things up locally. Health Canada may think it has...

ENDERBY -  B.C. Hydro is reporting a large power outage in the Mabel Lake Road area. Spokesperson Jennifer Walker-Larsen says a tree went down around 1:30 p.m., severing power from 679 customers. Repair crews are on their way, and Walker-Larsen expects power to be back on around 4:30 p.m. “At this time of year often...

VERNON - Vernon Search and Rescue’s first call of duty for 2014 went off without a hitch. Search manager Leigh Pearson says they received a report of two snowmobilers stranded in the Silver Star Mountain snowmobile area at 4:30 p.m. January 1. The pair had crashed their rented snowmobile into a snow bridge—a layer of...

VERNON - Slippery roads caused a driver to swerve into a fire hydrant outside Okanagan Spring Brewery this morning. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the driver lost control coming down the hill at 28th Avenue around 6:30 a.m. and struck a hydrant outside the brewery, causing it to spew water along the road. The driver...

VERNON - It’s been a busy year in politics for the Vernon area. Between a provincial election, a successful bid for a new sports facility, and talk of municipal reform, there’s not only lots to look back on, but much to be unveiled in 2014. In May, incumbent MLA Eric Foster earned himself another four...

VERNON - Angela Yablonski hasn’t taken a dip in Kalamalka Lake in years—she’d rather float above the surface at home in her swimming pool. Yet somehow, she’s found herself not only organizing a Polar Bear Swim, but taking the plunge as well. Yablonski, who owns Curves in Vernon, never thought her next swim in Kal...

VERNON - Okanagan businesses were derailed by the abrupt closure of the Kelowna Pacific Railway in July, and it looks like more uncertainty is to come in 2014. KPR, which employed some 40 people in Vernon and moved around 16,000 rail cars annually, had been losing money for some time due to a reduced market...

VERNON - More than one person was looking out for a Vernon man who drunkenly stumbled into an icy creek. On Dec. 23 around 2:10 p.m. the man was seen by ambulance personnel in the 3300 block of Centennial Drive. He was staggering and visibly intoxicated. RCMP suspect he may have consumed other alcohol-containing substances...