UPDATE: Coldstream’s vandalized rainbow crosswalk cleaned-up

COLDSTREAM – Work crews have cleaned up Coldstream's rainbow crosswalk after it was vandalized with white paint over the weekend.

District of Coldstream chief administrative officer Trevor Seibel told iNFOnews.ca that crews were out today, July 22, cleaning off the white paint and assessing the damage to the crosswalk across Kalamalka Lake Road at Kal Beach. By 11 a.m. crews had pressure washed the paint off the crosswalk.

Seibel said the vandalism took place sometime between Saturday evening and Sunday morning and this was the first time the rainbow crosswalk had been vandalized since it was painted on the road in 2017.

Vernon RCMP are investigating the vandalism and say the suspect left behind an item at the scene.

"Investigators are working with our Integrated Forensic Identification Section to determine whether the item has any evidentiary value," Vernon media relations officer Cpl. Tania Finn says in a media release.

The District says in a media release the crosswalk has been "effectively resorted to the condition in existence prior to the vandalism," and it will be undergoing warranty maintenance work in the "very near future."

The rainbow crosswalk was installed in 2017 at a cost of $5,000 in addition to the $6,100 already spent to install the existing crosswalk, the District says.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Const. Louis Morrison of the Vernon RCMP at 250-545-7171, remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or leaving a tip online at www.nokscrimestoppers.com.

By 11 a.m. July 22, 2019, District of Coldstream crews had cleaned up the white paint on the vandalized rainbow crosswalk at Kal Beach. Howard Alexander

— This story was updated at 3:04 p.m. Monday, July 22, 2019, with information from RCMP.

— This story was updated at 11:27 a.m. Tuesday, July 23, 2019, to clarify, at the request of the District of Coldstream, the cost breakdown of the rainbow crosswalk.


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Ben Bulmer

After a decade of globetrotting, U.K. native Ben Bulmer ended up settling in Canada in 2009. Calling Vancouver home he headed back to school and studied journalism at Langara College. From there he headed to Ottawa before winding up in a small anglophone village in Quebec, where he worked for three years at a feisty English language newspaper. Ben is always on the hunt for a good story, an interesting tale and to dig up what really matters to the community.