Charlotte Helston

Five and a half years ago, Const. Michael (Mike) Jacobson took a bike ride that saved a man's life and last week earned him specific recognition from some of the highest offices in the province. Jacobson was off duty and bicycling up Silver Star Road on a hot July day in 2007 when he got...

UPDATE: 4:31 p.m. Nov. 27 Crown lawyer Iain Currie interrogated the accused for nearly three hours today about the events leading to the death of Kiera-Leigh Carlson. Chase Garret Donaldson, the accused, had some new things to say about the incident that didn't match his earlier statements.  Currie focused much of his examination on the...

UPDATE: 4:00 p.m. Nov. 26 Kurt Ising, a professional engineer who has been involved in the analysis of over 1,300 automobile accidents since 1995, told court this afternoon that he neglected to include a possible scenario in his final report.  Ising was contracted by the defense to compile a report analyzing the events that occurred...

UPDATE: 4 p.m. Nov. 23 The wife of the man accused of hitting a woman with his car says a flash of headlights while coming around a sharp corner confused him and caused him to swerve.  "It's just that corner," said Marcia Donaldson, wife of the accused Chase Donaldson, of a corner on Aberdeen Rd....

The new name chosen for the section of Hwy 97 running between Winfield and Oyama is actually quite an old name.  On Tuesday, Lake Country decided on Pelmewash Parkway, one of 160 different names submitted.  "Pelmewash was the Anglicized version of the Aboriginal name for Wood Lake prior to the arrival of Thomas Wood in...

Court opened Monday for the trial of the man accused of killing a 22-year-old Vernon woman with his car in 2010 and then fleeing the scene.  The accused, 28-year-old Chase Garett Donaldson, is being tried for dangerous driving causing the death of Kiera-Leigh Carlson and failing to remain at the scene.  Donaldson has plead not guilty...

It's unknown if thieves of a metal car trailer knew they were stealing a 1934 Ford pick-up truck and thousands of dollars worth of hotrod parts. 

Charges have been laid against a Creston man involved in a two-vehicle fatal collision that occurred Apr. 23, 2011.  The crash happened when a Ford Windstar travelling north on Hwy 97 attempted to turn left from a turning lane across the two southbound lanes, onto Highland Road. The Windstar was intercepted by a Mazda MX-6...

Heightened police presence on Vernon roads is designed to remind drivers to slow down and cruise carefully.  Gord Molendyk, spokesperson for the RCMP, said traffic-related accidents in the early months of 2012 sparked efforts to increase traffic enforcement in the area. As a result, he says, traffic fatalities have dropped by 40 per cent.  There...

A Vernon city councillor wants to make Polson Park a safer place.  The park has been the site of several violent and criminal activities in recent years and while Coun. Patrick Nicol had no specific answers to the problem, he wanted to make sure the RCMP was on it. During Tuesday's council meeting, Nicol asked...

A local area business owner believes the remaining 166 acres of the BX Ranch in north Vernon should be purchased by the City to be used as parkland. Randy Schellenberg made his presentation to council Tues. afternoon, saying the city had indicated a need to acquire 40 hectares for a new destination park in the...

The City of Vernon's environment arm is trying to sharpen its focus as it reassesses its marketing budget to reach and appeal to a broader group of people. Brooke Marshall, Vernon's environmental planner, says it's tough getting people out to some of the events.  Earth Hour and Rivers Day projects, which received minimal community participation...

Reactions to Vernon's 30th Avenue Revitalization Project remain mixed between business owners and their property holders.  In a petition circulated by the City of Vernon, 81 per cent of property owners said they would support funding the two-million-dollar project. But in most cases, property owners are not the actual businesses operating there. On Nov. 7, both...