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Steve Arstad
I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.
Steve Arstad's Stories
Restoration efforts underway following downtown Penticton fire
PENTICTON - The owner of a downtown Penticton building damaged by fire last week says it will not have to be torn down. Nikkos Theodosakis says restoration work has begun on the building, which caught fire in the early hours of Sept. 30, with cleaning of the ten office units on the building’s second floor....
Gap between rich and poor getting wider in South Okanagan-Similkameen: Vital Signs report
PENTICTON - The third annual Vital Signs report has given the South Okanagan-Similkameen failing grades when it comes to jobs, affordable housing and the gap between the rich and poor. The report is produced by the Community Foundation of Okanagan-Similkameen and studies 11 issues in an attempt to define the overall health and wellbeing of...
Penticton mother of two faces eviction for paperwork error
'NOW I HAVE LITERALLY NOWHERE TO GO, EXCEPT BACK TO THE WOMEN'S SHELTER WITH MY TWO KIDS' PENTICTON - A Penticton family facing an uncertain future as the eviction deadline on their subsidized housing nears says difficulty with ministry paperwork is to blame and wishes her landlord would show a little bit of compassion for...
Pro-waterslide group launches website, plans rally supporting Skaha Park proposal
PENTICTON - A group of people in favour of the constroversial Skaha Marina and waterslides development in Skaha Park have created a website and a Facebook group to get their message out. One of the organizers Miranda Tumbach says they just want to show their support for the proposed project and don't want to criticize...
Warning issued following rash of overdoses in the South Okanagan
PENTICTON – Concern over the rash of drug overdoses in the South Okanagan is growing,…
Provincial funding announced for City of Penticton labour study
PENTICTON - The City of Penticton will be able to move forward with a planned labour market study thanks to a provincial funding announcement made today. MLA Dan Ashton and several city dignitaries were on hand, Oct. 9, to announce $71,300 in community and employer partnership funding from the Ministry of Social Development and Social...
Mount Baldy to open for the upcoming ski season
PENTICTON - South Okanagan ski enthusiasts can begin preparations for a new ski season at Mount Baldy. Following fears the ski resort, about 40 kilometres east of Oliver, may not be ready for the coming season, the Baldy Capital Corporation announced today, Oct. 9, preparations are being undertaken to fully open the ski resort for...
Penticton service club pledges $250,000 to hospital project
PENTICTON - The South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation took a leap forward toward their fundraising goal of $20 million this week. Penticton’s Rotary Club pledged $250,000 towards the foundation’s Patient Care Tower campaign, beginning with member John Rankiw’s individual donation of $100,000, according to a media release. Club spokesperson Ben Amos says the group originally...
Reports of school closures in Kaleden and Naramata unfounded
PENTICTON - School enrolment in District 67 is down this year but it’s nothing to panic about yet, says School District 67 Board Chair Linda Van Alphen. The district is down 30 students over last year, which is less than officials had anticipated, Van Alphen says, adding Superintendent Wendy Hyer noted recently a number of...
Rash of overdoses prompts warning from Oliver and Osoyoos RCMP
PENTICTON – Osoyoos and Oliver RCMP are seeking the public’s assistance following a spike in…
South Okangan burning ban lifted in time for long weekend
PENTICTON - Residents of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen can get out the marshmallows and light their campfires, just in time for Thanksgiving weekend. The regional district will be rescinding their burning ban effective noon tomorrow, Oct. 9, emergency services supervisor Dale Kronebusch says. The ban was extended this year due to dry conditions...
Some Kaleden residents driving to Penticton to cast ballot after polling boundary changes
PENTICTON - A number of voters in the community of Kaleden are discovering to their dismay their polling station is no longer just down the street following changes to the community's polling boundaries. Assistant returning officer Douglas Youngstrom says this year’s polling boundary runs along Skaha Lake, all the way to Penticton, placing a number...
Okanagan wineries report progress in efforts to rein in legislation
OKANAGAN - Small and medium sized wineries say efforts are working to slow the province’s issuing of liquor licenses to allow wine sales in grocery stores. Following a meeting held at Poplar Grove Winery in Penticton last week, the B.C. Alliance for Smart Liquor Retail Choice reported the group met with staff of Premier Christy...
Penticton Search and Rescue bulking up on recruits
PENTICTON - Penticton Search and Rescue beefed up its ranks during a recent recruiting campaign. Search and Rescue spokesperson Randy Brown says 25 applicants were reviewed and 17 eventually selected. Those 17 began initial training Monday night, Oct. 5. The new recruits begin with a basic 70-hour search and rescue course, which will take about...
Multiple offender tests court’s compassion one more time
PENTICTON - A 25-year-old man who has already chalked up 57 prior convictions was warned in Penticton Provincial Court today, Oct. 7, “the ice is getting thin” over repeated failed promises to rehabilitate. Lawrence Jordan Brown appeared by video in court this afternoon, facing sentencing on several counts stemming from an attempted theft at a...
Penticton council approves Main Street revitalization design
PENTICTON – Another phase in the revitalization of downtown is set to get underway after…
Okanagan group returning favour to rat breeder hit by flood
OLIVER - A rehabilitation centre for owls and other raptors in the South Okanagan will return a food supply favour by sending a rat breeder some new stock. Abbotsford rat breeder Mike Hopecraft "The Reptile Guy" took a major a hit last week when he lost almost 200 of the animals when a water line...
Penticton poet waxes political in ‘The Cut’
PENTICTON - It’s Shane Koyczan at his political best. Koyczan, who is from Penticton, takes Prime Minister Stephen Harper to task in this piece written for the Imagine Oct. 20 campaign, organized by Dan Mangan in association with leadnow.ca. Likening the election campaign to a job interview, Koyczan says the Conservative leader's approach to avoiding...
A Princeton murderer just got a minimum 22 years in prison and still got lucky
PENTICTON - A Penticton judged saved a man convicted of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder from one of the harshest sentenced meted out in years. John Ike Koopmans was sentenced to three counts of life imprisonment today, Oct. 6 in the slaying of Keith Wharton and his girlfriend Rosemary Fox, but...
Police find 18-month old child crying, alone on Penticton street early Saturday
PENTICTON - Penticton RCMP report a happy ending to an incident that could have had tragic consequences. RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says police received a call at approximately 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning, October 3, of an 18-month-old girl crying in the street at Eckhardt Avenue and Argyle Street. Police located the child and walked...
City of Penticton purchases $1.5M parcel of land
PENTICTON - The City of Penticton has acquired a piece of real estate adjacent to the South Okanagan Events Centre property on Power Street. The announcement was made during Monday night’s council meeting, Oct. 5, and came following an in camera discussion following from a previous meeting. The 1.495 acre parcel is located at 903...
Motorcycle thief surrenders after heroin-induced ‘vision’
PENTICTON - Penticton RCMP came across a motorcycle thief, an excessive speeder and several break ins during their patrols last week. Penticton RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth reports a motorcycle belonging to a Surrey resident was found by police Tuesday, Sept. 29, after the driver crashed it on Marina Way near the art gallery. The...
City of Penticton continues to seek a solution to leaking leisure pool
PENTICTON - City staff and professional engineers continue to seek a solution to the Penticton Community Centre leisure pools leaky drains. The pool was scheduled to reopen following a summer closure to replace slippery deck tiles around the leisure and main pools on Sept. 14, but as staff was refilling the leisure pool, a leak...
Iconic Penticton sign vandalized
PENTICTON - The city’s famous Penticton sign on Munson Mountain was vandalized recently. City of Penticton communications manager Simone Blais says city crews noticed the defacement a few weeks ago. Someone had spray painted a large band across the lower section of the “i” in Penticton, turning it into an exclamation point. City crews will...