Charlotte Helston

VERNON - You won’t be able to use a credit card at downtown parking metres, but it turns out few people wanted to anyways. During a three month trial in which two types of credit card capable metres were tested, only 1.68 per cent of transactions were paid for with plastic. The new metres carry...

VERNON - Two young children were struck by vehicles last week in separate instances near Vernon elementary schools. “We had a bit of a trend last week that was a little unnerving and a little concerning for the police,” RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said Monday. On Nov. 21 around 8:40 a.m. a six-year-old boy was...

VERNON - A splash of red and black outside Vernon Jubilee Hospital next week will symbolize the bleeding of the health care system and the loss of nursing jobs. Ashley Bradwell, the local B.C. Nurses Union steward, explains the rally was spurred by the implementation of a new care delivery model on Vancouver Island. It’s...

VERNON - It’s not the size of the city that makes a science centre, it’s the people in it. From a humble beginning as a portable planetarium in the 1980s, the Okanagan Science Centre is now featured as one of the best centres across the country. Its hometown of Vernon is also the smallest community...

VERNON - Whether you’re carving the slopes at Silver Star or cruising between booths at a craft fair, Vernon has plenty in store this weekend. Environment Canada is predicting a mix of sun and cloud both Saturday and Sunday, with highs between -2 and -3 C and lows of -8 C. It’s a bit cooler...

VERNON - There’s concern that communities are shrinking as properties bordering Vernon are annexed into the city. Some North Okanagan politicians voiced concerns at a Regional District of the North Okanagan meeting Wednesday night as directors eyed a motion on the annexation of 13 properties. It’s up to the City of Vernon to accept or...

VERNON - The 29th annual Dream Auction wowed all involved. The event, put on by the Kalamalka Rotary club, raised over $180,000 which will be used to give dozens of local projects a financial boost.  “Wow, our expectations were greatly exceeded.  I can’t believe the support,” chair Taylor Dedora said. Over 450 rotarians and guests...

SPALLUMCHEEN -  As Canada shifts from small residential grow-operations to commercial scale marijuana farms, one rural agricultural community is trying to determine its place under the new system. The Township of Spallumcheen is hoping to relegate licensed marijuana facilities to industrial lands only when the country’s new regulations come into effect in April of 2014....

VERNON - Enduring the long lines of Walmart isn’t your only option for Christmas shopping this year. There’s another way. It goes by many names: DIY, up-cycled, crafted, homemade. Your Christmas shopping might involve the purchase of a glue gun and some raffia, but chances are you have the rest of your materials sitting in...

VERNON - Did you notice the temperature drop? So did local men and women’s shelters. Kelly Fehr, director of shelter services with the John Howard Society, says they’re averaging five people a night in their extreme weather shelter program, which provides overflow  accommodation for up to ten people. The program is offered from Nov. 1...

VERNON - Those aren’t trains—but they are paving the way for the return of locomotives to the North Okanagan. Canadian National is upgrading 97 miles of track between Kamloops and Lumby before resuming operations. CN took over the line after Kelowna Pacific Railway declared bankruptcy and abruptly halted its rail service in July. Machines could...

VERNON - A Vernon lawyer who fed information to a violent and notorious gang known as The Greeks will spend more time behind bars than he was initially sentenced to. The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Monday to accept the Crown’s appeal and increase William Mastop’s jail term to two and a half years, up...

VERNON - A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for the arrest of a Vernon man connected to a gambling a drug operation in southern Alberta. Thomas John Ross, 46, of Vernon allegedly supplied large quantities of marijuana to the ‘Bookie Brothers’ Rodney and Kevin Garinger, 45 and 43, both from Alberta. Seventeen gambling and drug...

VERNON - If you ever complained about something your teacher did, and thought the school didn’t do anything about it, it could be they simply didn’t tell you. Professional misconduct in the classroom has made more than one headline in the North Okanagan lately. In Vernon, a teacher agreed to quit the profession after being investigated...

VERNON - The mayor of Vernon may not be ready to cast his vote for or against amalgamation, but he’s definitely interested in learning more about it. Based on the 2,930 signatures garnered in a petition asking local and provincial governments to develop a plan to unify Greater Vernon’s four jurisdictions, mayor Rob Sawatzky is...

VERNON - Frieda is your average dog owner’s worst nightmare. The five month old German Shepherd constantly tests her handler’s resolve by lunging at whatever interests her; a person, another dog, a scent. In police dog school, she’s a star pupil. “She’s got a lot of energy which is one of the traits that they...

VERNON - The point of a visitor centre is to put information at the tips of tourists’ fingertips, but a local politician fears the city is moving away from that goal with a cost-cutting decision to centralize services in what he says is the wrong location. The city recently decided to combine Vernon’s two existing...

“ALL BECAUSE HE FAILED TO STOP AT A STOP SIGN” VERNON - Loading up his car with 47 pounds of marijuana was his first mistake. Blowing a stop sign was his second. Saturday morning a police officer noticed a car roll through a railway stop sign at 37 Ave. and 31 St. A 28-year-old Lumby...

VERNON - Crooks broke into a couple corner stores over the long weekend, apparently finishing what they’d started several days prior. On Sunday around 4 a.m., Hunter’s Store was broken into. Lakeview Market was next. Crooks had kicked-in the doors of both stores Nov. 5, but failed to gain entry. The focus of the smash...

VERNON - A man who stole over $1,000 worth of Walmart merchandise and gave a Vernon couple quite a scare has been taken into police custody. Around 6:30 p.m. Nov. 7, police responded to a report of an assault outside Walmart in Vernon. The 28-year-old suspect, who according to police has no fixed address, had...