Kelowna news
No pillows: Kelowna Hell’s Angel complains about prison
"HE WAS NOT ON HOLIDAY AT A FIVE-STAR RESORT:" CROWN A Hell's Angels member due to be sentenced for beating a man in 2010 is now seeking a reduced jail sentence because of tough times in prison while waiting for sentencing. On November 1, 2010 Joseph Bruce Skreptak and four of his Hell's Angels associates...

Hells Angel found guilty on weapons charges
KELOWNA – The public may never know what would have happened had four armed men not been pulled over for speeding two years ago—but what police found inside the vehicle that night was enough to convict two of them of almost a dozen charges. Full patch Hells Angel Joseph Bruce Skreptak and alleged gang associate...

Judge denies Hells Angel’s request to change judges for sentencing
KELOWNA - Full patch Hells Angel Joseph Bruce Skreptak and alleged gang associate Cory Montemurro's application to have a different judge sentence them was denied in Kelowna Supreme Court Tuesday. Two months ago, both men were found guilty of almost a dozen weapons charges after they were pulled over by police in November 2010 with a cache...

How the city is going to try to make it easier for tourists in downtown Kelowna this summer
KELOWNA - Summer in downtown in Kelowna is going to be all about construction, traffic congestion and scarce parking as the city deals with an unusual number of big, building projects. “The biggest concern is construction during the summer when the volumes are highest and parking stalls are used the most,” Purvez Irani says. He's...

Trailer Park Boys actors sell out show in Kelowna
KELOWNA – A couple of cast members from the hit Canadian TV show The Trailer Park Boys were in Kelowna for a sold-out comedy show Thursday night. Around 250 people packed the Habitat for the adults-only show featuring actors John Dunsworth, better known as the drunken manager of Sunnyvale Trailer Park Jim Lahey and his...

Kelowna’s Matt Dwyer fighting in Brazil this weekend
KELOWNA – Toshido MMA’s Matt Dwyer is in Brazil this weekend for a UFC welterweight fight against William Macario in what Sherdog.com calls a “loser leaves town matchup.” This is Dwyer’s second UFC appearance since his debut against Albert Tumenov in which he was stopped by a surprise head kick in the first round. Although...

Road hogging continues as big block construction projects dominate downtown
KELOWNA - If you think Kelowna has endured a lot of big-ticket construction projects in the last few years, you would be right. If you thought it was over, you would be wrong. A number of large building projects, and all that goes with it — detours, lost parking spaces, narrowed roadways — have either...

B.C.-based special effects guru chases Academy Awards glory for ‘X-Men’
TORONTO – If only Oscar-nominated special effects whiz Cameron Waldbauer could be in three places at once, like the super-powered characters in his eye-popping films.

Lake Country counters CN rail objections with mass mail out
KELOWNA - Lake Country civic officials are countering what they are calling misinformation by residents opposed to the purchase of the CN Rail corridor and the alternative approval process being used to seek its approval. Corporate services manager Reyna Seabrook said the district decided to do another mass mail out to all Lake Country households...

Bobbitt not happy with how he was portrayed during trial
KELOWNA – David Wesley Bobbitt, who pleaded guilty to sexually and physically assaulting a 22-year-old Penticton woman in 2011, isn’t feeling well. And he doesn’t like his lawyer either. Final submissions in the Supreme Court case that began last year concluded Friday, with Bobbitt, 39, saying he wasn’t happy with how his lawyer James Pennington...

UPDATE: Police report tragic end to case of missing man
GOLDEN – RCMP have recovered the body of a former Kelowna man from the Columbia River near Golden.

Course operators look forward to February golf
KELOWNA — Forget the groundhog, hardcore golfers are the new harbinger of spring. At least at Kelowna Springs Golf Club and some other Central Okanagan golf courses where agreeable weather is allowing for the earliest opening some courses have ever seen. “This is unheard of in 20 years,” Ian Robertson, general manager of Kelowna Springs,...

Shoebox suites are the trend and Kelowna residents better get used to it
KELOWNA - A pair of micro-suite projects set to go ahead in Kelowna are part of a trend across Canada to smaller and smaller living spaces, says Kelowna city councillor Gail Given, one that the older generation had better get used to. “This generation is exploring different options, and these two projects have opened the...

Blocking the path to higher learning
KELOWNA - The ongoing dispute between UBC Okanagan and the residents of Curtis Road which runs right behind the school has ended up again in the courts, blocking access to the popular back trail. Michael Shakespeare, the school’s vice-president of operations, said in a prepared statement that the easement granted to UBCO has not been...

Bobbitt sentencing reconvenes in Kelowna
KELOWNA – An ex-girlfriend who says she too was sexually abused by David Wesley Bobbitt is not credible, according to defence lawyer James Pennington. On Wednesday morning Bobbitt’s sentencing reconvened in Kelowna Supreme Court after a seven month break. Since starting June 23, the focus has been to determine if Bobbitt, who pleaded guilty to...