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Glynn Brothen
Emergency service in Ashcroft only available on weekends
ASHCROFT - The emergency room in the Village of Ashcroft will only be open on weekends as the Interior Health Authority continues its employment search for doctors. The services sustained a series of cuts after the village’s second doctor quit, leaving it to reduced emergency hours throughout the week. Now the service is only available from...
Drunken U-turn leads to crash, injury
CHASE - One woman is in hospital and another is in police custody after a single vehicle crash on Shuswap Road East near Pritchard around 4 a.m., Monday, June 1. Chase RCMP Cpl. Mark Skotnicki says officers noticed two women in their early-20s standing on the road next to a pickup truck in the ditch....
High retail vacancy rate ‘a one-off for Kamloops’
KAMLOOPS - Commercial space vacancy in Kamloops is the highest it has been in the last three years but market analysts at a local real estate firm suggest the percentage is based solely on the thousands of square footage left empty by the now-defunct Target Canada in Sahali Mall. Prior to the big box departure,...
Kamloops girl’s life cut short by abuse and neglect
KAMLOOPS - In a lengthy report documenting the plight of a young aboriginal girl failed by several bureaucracies, a critic says apathy, incomplete reports and inaction from ministry workers were significant contributors to a Kamloops girl's continual homelessness and eventual death at 19 years of age in the squalor of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Representative for...
Case against former immigration society director fails
KAMLOOPS - A judge has dropped a series of claims, including defamation and breach of confidentiality allegations against a former Kamloops Immigrant Services executive director who claimed the board chair harrassed staff in a toxic workplace after she and five other employees were dismissed. In her May 28 decision, Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin said Wanda...
More B.C. wildfire personnel headed to Alberta
KAMLOOPS - Forty-one B.C. wildfire personnel, including two unit crews and an agency representative, will join the 88 others deployed earlier this week to fight wildfires in Alberta. Crews will be stationed in Edmonton, but could be deployed elsewhere throughout that province based on fire activity and need. Along with 129 personnel, B.C. sent two...
Pinantan store destroyed by fire ready to reopen
PINANTAN LAKE - The Pinantan General Store burned to the ground just over a year ago, now the family who owns it has rebuilt it and plans to host a grand opening celebration early next month. "The store is totally different. It’s quite beautiful. I'm proud of it," co-owner Stacey George says. The location is...
Vehicles damaged at SPCA overnight
KAMLOOPS - The local SPCA has once again been vandalized — this time the windows of shelter vans were smashed. RCMP officers are at the SPCA location on Eighth Avenue to investigate damage to two vehicles. Const. Jason Epp says staff arrived Thursday morning to discover both vans were tampered with overnight. "The suspects possibly...
7-Eleven trip results in trip to civil court
KAMLOOPS - A woman wants financial restitution after tripping and falling at a local corner store. Jennifer Mochizuki filed a notice of civil claim in Kamloops Supreme Court earlier this month after she allegedly tripped on a floor mat at the 1790 Tranquille Road 7-Eleven store on October 28, 2014. “The plaintiff tripped and fell...
Westsyde girl, 5, fighting cancer for second time
KAMLOOPS - A Westsyde couple is in need of a bone marrow donation for their daughter, as well as financial assistance, as their five-year-old continues her battle with cancer at the B.C. Children’s Hospital. Samantha Donovan and her family thought the battle with Burkitt’s leukemia was over after the family returned from the hospital three...
Accused in nurse assault declared unfit for trial
KAMLOOPS - The woman accused of assaulting a nurse at the Hillside Psychiatric Centre was declared unfit for trial in Kamloops Provincial Court Wednesday, May 27. Judge Len Marchand made the declaration after accepting findings from a psychiatric report on Heather Ann Harris, who was charged with assault after the April 15 incident. Details of...
UPDATE: Police presence in front of Ellison Elementary
VERNON - Police have cordoned off the road near Ellison Elementary School in Vernon after someone discovered blood in the area Wednesday morning. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the blood was found sometime between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., May 27, on Fulton Road, in front of Ellison Elementary School. While police are treating the...
Many hands helping with clean up in Cache Creek
ONLINE FUNDRAISERS SET UP CACHE CREEK - Locals shovel shale and debris from backyards and driveways as a helicopter flies overhead to assess damage after flash flooding took over the Village of Cache Creek on Saturday, May 23. For many residents, the damage is aesthetics and landscaping, where others have basements full of mud. Some...
Driver ordered to pay $2,000 after killing passenger
KAMLOOPS – The case against an Alberta driver who caused an accident that killed a…
Driver killed in highway rollover west of Kamloops identified
KAMLOOPS - The man killed in a single-vehicle crash near Cherry Creek west of Kamloops this weekend has been identified. The lone occupant of the vehicle was Jerrylee Lyle Terry, 33, of Lillooet, according to the B.C. Coroners Service. The pickup truck flipped on its roof after it left the highway and collided with a rock...
Humanitarian remains focused on efforts abroad since return from Nepal
KAMLOOPS - David Sakaki received a call for help with the devestating earthquake in Nepal while he was flying home to Kamloops after his humanitarian work in Nicaragua. So he got off the plane, went home, unpacked and packed again. Sakaki volunteers with GlobalMedic, a team of medical professionals which travels to areas rocked by...
Woman files lawsuit after dance floor injury
KAMLOOPS - A child care worker is seeking compensation for damages from the Northland Properties Corporation and the Shark Club Sports Grill after a table allegedly fell and broke her ankle while she was on the dance floor. Violet Weaver filed her allegations in a notice of claim in Kamloops Supreme Court May 20. Weaver...
Winery first in Kamloops to win prestigious award
KAMLOOPS – Last week, experts selected a Kamloops winery’s 2012 vintage for 'Pinot Noir over…
No jail for break and enters
KAMLOOPS - After breaking and entering two separate residential garages last year, a babysitter will serve his four-month sentence in the community rather than jail. Adam James Thomas McMillan pleaded guilty to breaking and entering the Aberdeen homes last October. Crown prosecutor Camille Cook said the owner of the first house noticed items were moved...
Body of missing man recovered in South Thompson River
KAMLOOPS - Police located the body of a 58-year-old man who was reported missing May 18. Cpl. Chery Bush, a spokesperson for the Kamloops RCMP detachment, says investigators recovered the man's body the afternoon of May 20 from the South Thompson River. Police asked the public for information earlier this week after the man's truck...
Expect delays on Columbia Street next week
KAMLOOPS - Drivers can expect more delays on their commutes starting next week with work having already started on the Columbia Street widening project. The city’s capital projects manager Darren Crundwell says work started Tuesday, May 19, but the site will get busier starting May 25 as Fortis B.C. begins work on the site and...
Public asked for details in missing child case from 1960s
KAMLOOPS - The search for Edna Bette-Jean Masters, who went missing July 3, 1960, continues. The family who knew the 21-month-old as Bette-Jean called police when the girl went missing after playing with friends at a residence near Red Lake, 45 miles Northwest of Kamloops. Cpl. Cheryl Bush says Bette-Jean never returned after her disappearance...
Federal prison for three of four convicted in Cherry Creek break and enter
KAMLOOPS - Four men who stole firearms and cash from a home before running from police in a high speed car chase which prompted an emergency mine closure were sentenced in Kamloops Supreme Court today, May 20. Ellwood Bradbury, 24; Gopal Figueredo, 22; and Anees Mohammed, 23 were sentenced to three years in federal prison...
Date set for Slide the City in Kamloops
KAMLOOPS - The chance to pick up a ticket for this summer's epic slip 'n slide event is coming soon. The first Slide the City Kamloops will take place Saturday, July 18, and ticket registration opens Tuesday, May 26. The family-friendly event will feature food, drinks, live music and a 1,000-foot water slide covering Hillside...