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The City of Kelowna is done fooling around with speeders on Springfield Road. City councillors Monday adopted the Green Wave program, aimed at improving safety on one of the most crash-marred roads in Kelowna. Fair warning: The initiative is set to begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday. "Everything's ready to go," said Fred Wollin, City of...

Const. Geoff Mantler as very emotional before his arrest and subsequent kick of suspect Buddy Tavares, a witness testified today. Grant Wereley, a retired realtor who spent eight years as an RCMP officer, said Monday morning that Mantler was very excited and fumbled to put his car into park before he approached Tavares' car. "He...

UPDATE:  4:30 p.m. Nov. 30  A police expert in the use of force says the high-risk RCMP arrest of Buddy Tavares showed little leadership and criticized how RCMP recruits are being trained. Sgt. Jeremy Lane had already told the court that Const. Geoff Mantler was out of line when he kicked Buddy Tavares. But then...

Police mishandling of the Buddy Tavares arrest occurred largely because of the youth and inexperience of the officers involved, an expert witness in police use of force said. Sgt. Jeremy Lane testified Friday morning that one of the problems with Tavares' Jan. 7, 2011 arrest—in which RCMP Const. Geoff Mantler was videotaped kicking Tavares in...

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 29 An expert in police use of force said Const. Geoff Mantler's kick to Buddy Tavares' head was inappropriate and one of many mistakes Mantler made during the Jan. 7, 2011 arrest. Sgt. Jeremy Lane, who works in the Abbotsford Police Department and teaches classes in many areas of police training,...

A third RCMP officer in the last two days testified that Buddy Tavares' movements before he was kicked by Const. Geoff Mantler were cause for concern. While viewing enhanced still photos from the videotape of the incident, Const. Brent Wilson told a B.C. Provincial Court judge Thursday that Tavares' slow body movements, inconsistent compliance to...

UPDATE: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 28 Cst. Kyle Boffy heard the dispatch and immediately feared the worst. It was Jan. 7, 2011. Boffy had received the dispatch that a man with a brain injury had come to his former workplace, fired off shotgun rounds and left the scene. "I thought it was going to take a...

Buddy Tavares' actions just prior to being kicked by Geoff Mantler would have been perceived as a threat by any trained officer, an RCMP constable testified today. Const. Robyn Boffy, second to arrive at Tavares' arrest scene Jan. 7, 2011, told a B.C. Provincial Court judge Wednesday morning that several factors in Tavares' demeanour could...

During a cross-examination that at times turned heated, defence counsel Neville McDougall relentlessly tested Buddy Tavares' memory, which Tavares claimed was limited by both a serious motorcycle accident and McDougall's own client, RCMP Cst. Geoff Mantler. On the trial's second day in B.C Provincial Court, Tavares took issue with McDougall's suggestions that he was less...

UPDATE 4:30 p.m. Nov. 26 Buddy Tavares says he doesn't remember being kicked in the face by a Kelowna RCMP officer, but that the videotape he saw later of the incident made it clear. "The first time I knew what happened is when I saw the video," he said. "I know I really hurt." Guided...

UPDATE: 12:30 p.m. Nov. 26 A witness told a Kelowna Provincial Court judge that he clearly saw a Kelowna RCMP constable kick a man in the face and he had video evidence to prove it. Kelly Hayes, a video journalist who worked with Castanet Media at the time, was the first witness the Crown called...

Kelowna City councillors will discuss in its Monday meeting whether to adopt, in principle, a longterm Fire Department strategic plan for 2012-2022. Among the recommendations in a report prepared by Fire Chief Randy Carlisle is the construction of a training facility as part of the new North Glenmore Station project. The facility would generate revenue...

Regional District of Central Okanagan board members will review in their Monday meeting the School Site Acquisition Charge Act, which permits the district to collect $605 per residential unit for school sites starting next week. The charge is to partially cover the cost of expanding educational facilities. Projections for student enrolment in the next decade...

The Kelowna City Council took one more step in its Monday meeting to ban large commercial trucks from rumbling along Ellis Street. Councillors favoured a recommendation by Transportation and Mobility Engineering Traffic Technician Randy Olivera and approved a measure to move forward with the plan. The City will now ask for public feedback from residents, business owners...

Kelowna will remain the same size in the foreseeable future, Mayor Walter Gray said Monday. Citing a boundary-review study underway since July, Kelowna City Council decided not to proceed with any boundary moves any time soon. The Council also directed staff to set aside any boundary-adjustment discussions with Lake Country at this time.  "The City...

Either the accused in the Ashlee Hyatt second-degree murder case was consumed by rage and alcohol that led her to stab the 16-year-old to death or she is a victim of vicious rumours and bullying at a drinking party that was so chaotic that no one really knows who stabbed Hyatt June 2, 2010. That's the...

DNA found on the knife used to kill 16-year-old Ashlee Hyatt does not belong to the girl on trial for second degree murder, a DNA expert testified in B.C. Supreme Court Wednesday. Dr. Dean Hildebrand, from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, testified for the defence that the knife used to stab Hyatt contained a...