Charlotte Helston

A man who broke into someone's shed was caught twice last night: first on camera, and second by police. Vernon RCMP were alerted to a break-and-enter in progress in the 2300 block of 32nd Street Thursday evening around 6:58 p.m. "Our officers responded quickly to the area. When they arrived they were advised the home...

Police are looking to the public for information after a suspect held-up the Super Save gas station on 27th Street Thursday night and got away. Vernon RCMP got the call around 8:43 p.m. last night that a suspect had robbed the store and fled the scene. "The employee working the evening shift noticed that someone...

By Charlotte Helston Some Greater Vernon politicians are concerned certain user groups are unfairly drowning in their water fees. The discussion of water rate equity came up at a Greater Vernon Advisory Committee meeting Thursday in the context of recently raised water fees and looming changes to the Master Water Plan. The district breaks water...

At 12:37 p.m. Thursday, the lights in 1,900 Coldstream homes blinked out. The local community relations manager for B.C. Hydro says the outage was caused by a truck that snagged a power line on Highway 6 near Coldstream Ranch. "It's a significant outage over a widespread area," Dag Sharman says. Throughout the afternoon, B.C. Hydro...

By Charlotte Helston Support for Vernon's proposed sports facility is charging in, but whether the project will cross the finish line won't be known until voters cast the last ballots Saturday night. The Regional District of North Okanagan is proposing a new facility be built beside Okanagan College, off highway 97. It would include a...

By Charlotte Helston A new name will be raised above Vernon's main arena,  formerly known as the Wesbild Centre. Kal Tire has committed to a four-year term with the Regional District of North Okanagan to pay $25,000 the first year and $40,000 each following year until the contract is up. The official signage switch is...

By Charlotte Helston A man who pleaded guilty to dealing drugs out of a motor home in Vernon says doing time is just what he needs to turn his life around. The judge who sentenced him to a year in jail hopes that's true. Christopher Robert Hubley faced numerous possession for the purpose of trafficking...

By Charlotte Helston Word of looting at a Vernon apartment building isn't being corroborated by reports to the RCMP of items stolen. When the Capri Gardens apartment complex on 35th Avenue filled with smoke and flames Sunday evening, 75 tenants were evacuated and put up in a hotel overnight. In the rush to exit the...

By Charlotte Helston The trial of a man facing multiple charges under Canada's Bankruptcy Act began today with the Crown requesting immediate adjournment. Keith Sands, who is representing himself in the trial, faces three counts of fraudulent property disposition during bankruptcy, two counts of failing to comply with duties, and one count of false entry...

By Charlotte Helston Joy riding through busy Polson Park last year put a man in jail for more than two months but we still don't know if he drove the car. All we know is that Terry James Knorr, 35, was in the car when it swerved into the park just after lunchtime in April,...

UPDATE: 4:19 p.m. April 2 By Charlotte Helston It's been one thing after another for the residents of a Vernon apartment building that caught fire Sunday night. While the building was empty of residents, a restoration worker says looters crept in and stole two laptops. Diane Prince of On Side Restoration says she was face...

UPDATE: 10:51 a.m. April 2 A 67-year-old woman from Salmon Arm listed in serious condition at hospital following a crash outside Vernon died of her injuries this morning. The 21-year-old truck driver remains in hospital. The investigation into the accident that happened Easter Sunday on Hwy 97 just north of Bailey Road continues. Names are...

By Charlotte Helston In the trial of two men co-accused of operating a Lumby grow-operation, one was found guilty as charged while the other earned only a stern warning from the judge. Joshua Knaflich and Michael Revell were charged with production of a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking and fraudulent consumption of...

Advance polling stations for the proposed Vernon sports facility were busy Wednesday, with a total turnout of around 1,225 ballots cast. The Schubert Centre saw 870 voters, the Coldstream municipal office 240, and the regional district office 115. The question voters are answering is whether or not they support borrowing up to $7.5 million over...

A program reminding drivers to slow down and abide the rules of the road is about to return. The RCMP's spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the Speed Watch Program will kick-off April 2nd "at a school near you." The program operates in support of ICBC and their Road Sense initiative. The program is coordinated by the...

By Charlotte Helston A local jewelery store has been hit hard in recent months first with a robbery at gunpoint and next with a theft of $2,300 worth of necklaces. Staff at Enderby Jewelers simply say, "It sucks." Debbie Dalke starting working at the Cliff Ave. store just before the first incident. "I hadn't heard...

By Charlotte Helston Cherryville residents won't have to wait for a clear day to park within view of Silver Star Mountain's cell tower to get high speed internet anymore. "Parking by the golf course where you can see it is one of the only places you can get internet," resident Bobbie Fox says. She's been...

By Charlotte Helston There's widespread agreement that Vernon Jubilee Hospital needs an upgrade, but Vernon politicians worry not enough is being done by a government approved project to combat overcrowding.  It was with some reservations at a Tuesday meeting the North Okanagan-Columbia-Shuswap Hospital District board voted to provide $5.5 million to finish VJH's Polson tower....

Bright blue skies and highs of 13 C had people and animals out sunning themselves today in Vernon and surrounding areas. And the mercury's only rising. Environment Canada is predicting temperatures to rise through the week and into the weekend. There's a little cloudiness expected on Wednesday and Thursday, but only sun for Easter weekend. ...

By Charlotte Helston Cars jammed up bumper-to-bumper on 27th and 32nd Streets, accidents, curses thrown at the City of Vernon for poor transportation planning—this is exactly what a city engineer wants to avoid thirty years down the road. Director of engineering and GIS Rob Dickinson presented information to city council on Monday for a transportation...

Crews will be torching wildlife areas around Lumby and Cherryville during the next few weeks to improve the health of ecosystems.  The controlled burning will be used to assist ecosystem restoration. Flames will be unleashed in several phases between March 28 and May 15. The fires will be conducted by Wildfire Management Branch crews and...

By Charlotte Helston Vernon's fire chief says a new service model that involves outlying communities is great not just for the community, but for individual firefighters as well. Keith Green says there's still resistance in some circles to the integration of Okanagan Landing volunteers with Vernon's downtown services, but he believes the past two months...

By Charlotte Helston Downtown revitalization started today with cutting the street's trees, something that came as a bit of a surprise to Vernon city council. Coun. Patrick Nicol wanted answers from the city's infrastructure engineer, Mark Dowhaniuk. "We went through a process to see if we could keep the trees," Dowhaniuk said during Monday's council...