Shannon Quesnel

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT PENTICTON - Even the defence lawyer agreed there's little chance of softening a sentence for a man who bit clean through a woman's labia and spit part of it across the room. Brian Douglas Louie, 35, sat quietly in Penticton Provincial Court today and listened to his lawyer, Micah Rankin, go over...

PENTICTON - Her kids told her to get "with the times" and so Gillian Ciunyk did just that with a shiny new tablet. The Infotel prize winner of a Microsoft Surface Pro 2 was all a-twitter over the shiny black rectangle she pulled out of its box at her place of employment, the law firm...

PENTICTON - There was a promise of fire near the end of the 2013 Penticton Santa Claus Parade on Saturday evening and Remax didn't disappoint. The realty company brought one-half of their iconic balloon - some would say the best half - the basket and burner. The operator would launch huge gouts of flame into...

PENTICTON - A cannabis decriminalization petition got more than enough signatures from people the Penticton riding to submit to Elections B.C. however other ridings in the province may fall short. Sensible B.C. director Dana Larsen said he is still hoping to collect 200,000 of the 400,000 signitures needed to trigger a referendum. The deadline to submit...

PENTICTON - Getting home safe would be the best Christmas gift under the tree and the Penticton RCMP will work to make that happen with National Impaired Enforcement Day. RCMP state 95 people a year are killed in crashes usually from impaired driving. On Saturday, Dec. 7 officers in Penticton and across the country want...

PENTICTON - A lawyer and his client reconciled their differences and accepted a 44-month sentence with 85 days already served. Andrew Robert Hardenstine, 33, will do four years of hard time for illegal firearms, drug possessions and other crimes committed in mid-September. The sentence was a joint submission made between Crown prosecutor John Swanson and...

OSOYOOS - Information is the best weapon against those who have been stealing from vehicles in underground and other parking areas in Osoyoos. Osoyoos RCMP detachment need details and descriptions of those digging through secured parked vehicles on Cottonwood Drive, Maple Drive and Jack Pine Lane for the past six weeks. Stolen items range from...

PENTICTON - Higher power rates is what's needed for the city-owned electric utility to stay in business Mayor Garry Litke said. The mayor appeared annoyed with arguments at Monday's council meeting the city could run its utility near or at a loss. There were concerns about higher power rates hurting people on fixed incomes or...

PENTICTON - A driver from Penticton found out the hard way Channel Parkway comes to an end at Skaha Lake. RCMP Sgt. Rick Dellebuur said a local resident, 33, was heading south down Channel Parkway last night with a woman, 53, as a passenger. The 2009 black Dodge truck crossed the intersection around 8:15 p.m.,...

PENTICTON - Being able to access porn on the internet doesn't mean people are educated about sex. "There are lots of people having sex but there aren't a lot of (sex) educated people having sex," public health nurse Colleen Maloney said. She, Kathy Hiebert and other staff with the Opt Penticton sexual health program take...

DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY BETTER PENTICTON - At least babies were off-limits for a man convicted of possessing child pornography. A psychiatric assessment discovered Garry Schakel, 49, of Penticton, would not look at or would avoid images of infants in sexual situations when he went looking for child porn, Crown prosecutor Catherine Crockett said. She...

THEN 20-YEAR-OLD HAD RELATIONSHIP WITH 15-YEAR-OLD PENTICTON - If a young man obeys the rules of his sentence, he'll have no criminal record even after pleading guilty to and being sentenced for sexual assault. Harrison Bruce, 22, was involved in a consensual relationship with a then 15-year-old girl, Crown prosecutor Catherine Crockett said. Despite both...

'YOUR PYRO DAYS ARE DONE' PENTICTON - Detonating a car bomb is no way to deal with allegations of bullying, according to a Penticton judge. Stephan Wesley Daoust, 19, and his older brother were charged with placing or throwing explosive to damage property in connection to an explosion in Oliver Aug. 11. Daoust admitted he...

PENTICTON - Electricity rate increases will surely generate some heat during the city's budget season. The municipality will be running a $979,000 deficit if council continues with their zero per cent tax increase policy for 2014. At tonight's council meeting the deficit plus higher power bills have the potential to electrify the discussion. Fortis B.C....

PENTICTON - WestJet wants Penticton to convince the company to park one or more of its planes at the Peach City airport. The airline will have new planes in 2015 and economic development director Colleen Pennington wants the company to stop passing up the Penticton Regional Airport when it looks for new communities to connect...

PENTICTON - A convicted woman wants to stay in prison to better her life and Judge Gale Sinclair agrees. Megan Anne Roberts, 26, was sentenced in Penticton Provincial Court today to six months at the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women for breaching a conditional sentence order. Roberts was on that order after being found guilty...

PENTICTON - A young woman, 19, was busted for trafficking meth in the 2700 block of Skaha Lake Road yesterday. She was arrested for trafficking and for crystal meth possession for the purpose of trafficking after police found a few grams of the drug on her person. The woman did not have a criminal record...

PENTICTON - Santa Claus will somehow do double duty by simultaneously appearing in Summerland and Oliver tonight. The man in red will be in Summerland for that town's 26th annual Festival of Lights firework spectacular, as well as a fire display and ice carvings. Everything begins on Main Street. There will be dancers, singers, a...

PENTICTON - Gambling pays off big for three social service groups with $108,250 in gaming grants. The South Okanagan Similkameen Volunteer Centre Society will receive $62,500 for its programs, the Penticton Early Childhood Education Society will get $13,750 to help fund its nursery, and the Canadian Mental Health Association’s South Okanagan Similkameen Branch will get...