Charlotte Helston

UPDATE: 5 p.m. March 13 By Charlotte Helston The perjury trial of former Vernon teacher Deborah Ashton, 48, grinded on today with Crown lawyer Don Mann going through six months of daycare attendance records for Ashton's son. The records relate to Ashton's second count of perjury, which alleges she lied when she testified she always...

By Charlotte Helston The final phase of the 30th Avenue Revitalization project will get in gear this month after engineering staff managed to steer around a financial obstacle. After the budget rose by $267,000, several city councillors refused to give the project a green light until staff came up with a new way to find...

"WE THOUGHT THE COURT WOULD CHOOSE TO USE ITS TIME AND RESOURCES FOR SOMETHING ELSE" By Charlotte Helston A former Vernon elementary school teacher returned to B.C. Supreme Court today facing two counts of perjury for two statements made in an earlier trial. Deborah Ashton, 48, was back for her third trial on the same...

By Charlotte Helston A downtown revitalization project may have hit a dead end after a 3-3 vote crushed a motion to give it the green light. A special meeting of council will be held Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. to seal its fate. An unsavoury rise in the budget cost—$267,000—soured the project for several councillors. The...

By Charlotte Helston For the family that pulled a woman out of a burning car, the reality of their heroic deed is only just sinking in. It's been little over a week since Diane Meda, her son Kevin, and her fiancé Dan Balcaen rescued Margaret Hollingsworth, 77, from a fiery end on the side of...

By Charlotte Helston It will take substantial renovations before an elderly Coldstream couple can return to their Lakeview Drive home after a fire spread through their property over the weekend. The owner, John Anderson, told the fire department he was trying to start his 1981 Mercedes which had been sitting unused for some time. The...

Vernon mounties dealt with half a dozen vehicle thefts early Sunday morning, and are reminding the community to lock up and not leave valuable items unattended. The thefts were concentrated to the 3000 block of 32nd St. "The reports continued throughout the morning," Cpl. Gerry Kovaks said, adding at least 6 reported thefts from motor...

A 24-year-old male student without a valid B.C. drivers license was arrested Saturday afternoon after hitting multiple parked vehicles downtown Vernon. The Kamloops man was driving a 2003 white Chev Impala in the area of 32 Ave. and 34th St. when witnesses spotted him bash into four parked vehicles and a lamp standard. Cpl. Gerry...

"WITH TRAGEDY COMES OPPORTUNITY" By Charlotte Helston When Dale Danallanko looks at the gaping hole where the recycling facility used to be, he looks beyond the scorched metal and piles of ashes. The manager of recycling and disposal facilities operations envisions what could be rebuilt. "It's strange to think I drove by on Friday and...

By Charlotte Helston Boarding the B.C. Transit Future Bus this month will give riders one more look at the North Okanagan's proposed transportation plan before it goes for the green light. The Transit Future Bus will be touring the North Okanagan from March 14-18 with the proposed 25 year transit plan for the area. This...

"THEY SAVED A WOMAN'S LIFE" By Charlotte Helston Another minute and the men who pulled a woman out of a burning car would have been too late. Around 9:30 p.m. last Friday, Daniel Balcaen and Kevin Meda pulled an elderly woman from her car just moments before it burst into flames on Hwy 6. "According...

By Charlotte Helston The Vernon school district doesn't want to hold their meetings in a portable anymore. They want an upgrade, and they've been waiting patiently for many years. A new report by MQN Architects on the school board's administration buildings identified numerous problems, including building code violations, unmet standards for energy consumption and conservation,...

By Charlotte Helston Plummeting enrollment in Vernon schools means the district is entitled to less government funding. School board chair Bill Turanski says the school board is anticipating a $2.2 million dollar shortfall, which will impact programming. According to Turanski, there are expected to be 176 fewer students sitting in Vernon classrooms this fall. "We're...

"I WANT TO BLOCK IT OUT" A family member of two Vernon children who lost both their parents in a murder-suicide is struggling to make sense of it all, and she's not alone. Police confirmed today that Vernon resident Gregory Neifer, 30, shot himself after killing his wife Sheena, 29, while their two kids slept...

By Charlotte Helston UPDATE: March 5, 2013 - 5 p.m. The B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed the identity of the man who died following a motor vehicle accident near Vernon March 3.  He was Tyrone Nicholas Turnbull, 33, from Vernon. Turnbull was the sole occupant of the vehicle which left the road and rolled over...

By Charlotte Helston The death of a Vernon couple has been deemed a murder-suicide. Sheena Neifer, 29, and Gregory Neifer, 30, were found dead in their home early Monday morning near the top of Hartnell Rd. They were husband and wife and parents to two young boys. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said Gregory Neifer shot...

By Charlotte Helston A fire has compromised much of Vernon's Birnie Rd. recycling plant, and along with it, the jobs of over 30 employees. The fire was reported around 9:30 p.m. Friday night, and fire crews have been there ever since, first reining in the flames, then preventing new flare-ups, and now investigating the cause....

UPDATE: March 4, 2013- 5:21 p.m. Some residents in the Vernon area where two people were found dead this morning say they aren't all that surprised to see crime there. Two bodies were discovered in a Hartnell Rd. home early Monday morning. Police have yet to identify the dead, saying only that the deaths are...

An especially dangerous drunk driver was arrested early Monday morning after mounties discovered a loaded rifle on his seat. "This is a scary situation," RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said. "It is illegal to have a loaded firearm in a vehicle."  The 34-year-old Cherryville man was chauffeuring two passengers when RCMP pulled him over around 1...

A grow-op in the 2700 block of 17th St. has been busted. Last Friday, the Vernon Task Force completed their investigation into a possible grow operation downtown Vernon.  "Our Officers seized 122 plants, and related equipment from the home," RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said. Two people were arrested. RCMP suspect the operation has been active...

By Charlotte Helston UPDATE: March 5, 2013 - 5 p.m. The B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed the identify of the man who died following a motor vehicle accident near Vernon March 3.  He was Tyrone Nicholas Turnbull, 33, from Vernon. Turnbull was the sole occupant of the vehicle which left the road and rolled over...

Late Friday night, March 1 a fire destroyed the Regional District of North Okanagan’s material recovery facility to the point that it is currently not usable. This facility received approximately 100 tonnes per week of the regional districts Blue Bag Recycling Program material for processing and marketing and also approximately 5,000 tonnes per year of...

By Charlotte Helston An Okanagan vineyardist says the B.C. Grapegrower's Association starling control program saves him thousands of dollars every year. George Heiss has been growing grapes in the Okanagan for over forty years. When he first started up Gray Monk Estate WInery in 1972, Starlings were there to greet him. At first, there were...