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Lake Country

FINAL UPDATE: Crews extinguish Lake Country wildfire

LAKE COUNTRY – B.C. Wildfire Management hit a small blaze in Lake Country yesterday afternoon and overnight hard. Fire information officer Kelsey Winter says the fire near Posthill Lake Road in Winfield is 100 per cent contained as of this morning, June 28. She says the wildfire was called in at about 2 p.m. on...

UPDATE: Missing Lake Country woman found

LAKE COUNTRY - A missing 81-year-old woman has been found alive and well in Lake Country this afternoon. Const. Kris Clark says Norma Bowman was found near the Aspen Grove Golf Course in Lake Country. She had been last seen at her home near Swalwell Park yesterday, June 24. Clark says Bowman is alive and...

Beading a path through the Okanagan

PENTICTON - An Okanagan artist and entrepreneur turned a daydream into a unique business opportunity which continues to grow with each new tourist season. Karen Griggs was looking for a way to make a living while following her passion when she came up with the idea of the Bead Trail. According to her blog, a...

Few answers in head-on collision that killed Vernon boy

VERNON - What caused a vehicle carrying a Vernon boy to swerve across Highway 97 a year ago remains a mystery, even with the findings of a coroners report. The May 4, 2014 accident killed Rodney Michael Boring, 14, on a stretch of Highway 97 going through Lake Country. Boring was the passenger in a...

Bad guys seem to take time off in Lake Country

LAKE COUNTRY - RCMP in Lake Country are reporting a year-over-year drop of 40 per cent in total criminal code offences in the last quarter of 2014 as compared to 2013. This includes a 53 per cent drop in property crimes during the same period. Crimes against people in the bedroom community of 12,000, such...

Possible arson at Gatzke farm

LAKE COUNTRY – The owners of Gatzke Orchards are hoping someone knows how a suspicious fire started on their property Monday night. According to a post on their Facebook page, the fire started on the south end of the property on May 11 but was noticed before it could spread out of control. “Feeling a...

Median barriers will be installed on dangerous stretch of Highway 97

KELOWNA – A stretch of Hwy 97, notorious for crashes caused when a driver crosses the centre line, will receive nine kilometers of concrete median barriers this summer. The announcement was made Friday, May 8 with plans for phase one to begin this month. The $2.5-million project will start with work between University Way and...

Gas prices jump in the Central Okanagan

KELOWNA - If you’re running low on gas and can find a gas station that has yet to get the memo, you might want to fill up. Gasbuddy.com users are reporting an 11 cent jump in the price of regular gas, from $1.11.9 to $1.22.9 at stations across the Central Okanagan. And you might have...

Okanagan Indian Band embraces Lake Country mayor’s support for land claim

VERNON - Lake Country Mayor James Baker appears to have thrown his support behind the Okanagan Indian Band’s land claim to the Commonage Reserve including the portion which includes the CP Rail line intended for the Okanagan Rail Trail, and the band intends to hold him to his words. Chief Byron Louis says he welcomes...

Kelowna to review prayer policy after Supreme Court ruling bans them at public meetings

KELOWNA - A ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada about conducting prayers at public meetings has prompted the City of Kelowna to review its own council procedures bylaw. While there are no prayers given at regular council meetings, deputy city clerk Karen Needham says a prayer is offered at the public hearings held every...

Attempted child abduction in Lake Country

LAKE COUNTRY – RCMP are on the hunt for a man who tried to grab two, six-year-old girls in the Lake Country area Sunday afternoon. Police say the suspect tried to lure the girls into a shed around 2:30 p.m., April 12. The girls describe the suspect as a Caucasian man, about 40-years-old, 6’ tall...

Lake Country referendum could prove pivotal in closing CN Rail corridor deal

KELOWNA - The provincial government recently pledged more than $7 million for the CN Rail corridor purchase but it does nothing to solve Lake Country’s shortfall of $2.6 million. It may also have created a new problem — voter apathy in Lake Country where a yes vote for the purchase is still critical to the deal...

UPDATE: Police say man sought in ‘inappropriate’ pictures did nothing wrong

LAKE COUNTRY - Photos found on a second-hand camera purchased in Lake Country had RCMP looking for the man found among ‘inappropriate’ photos, but after finding him yesterday, say he was not related. A Lake Country woman called police when she ‘discovered some inappropriate photos’ on a child's camera she purchased it second-hand on March...

Provincial support for Okanagan rail trail may sway voters, but not Okanagan Indian Band

VERNON - While a recent funding announcement from the provincial government may entice some Lake Country voters towards a yes vote in an upcoming borrowing referendum, the Okanagan Indian Band is warning governments not to celebrate just yet. Premier Christy Clark announced a $7.2 million pledge for the acquisition of the Okanagan Rail corridor the...

Province pledges $7.2M for CN Rail corridor purchase

KELOWNA - There are some strings attached, but the provincial government is pledging $7.2 million to help make the purchase of the CN Rail corridor a reality. The money is conditional on a successful referendum in Lake Country later this month, according to a press release from the province Tuesday, April 7. “We believe in the...

Okanagan rail corridor proponents pledge $5 million for community trail

VERNON - A citizens group has committed to raising $5 million to build a rail trail from Vernon to Kelowna if local municipalities secure the land. Brad Clements of the Okanagan Rail Trail Initiative says several community members have already expressed interest in making donations toward the creation of the trail. “People say, 'Let us...

Regional district budget down this year, but could have dropped further

KELOWNA - The Central Okanagan Regional District will spend $59.4 million of your tax dollars this year and you’re welcome to say something about it. “There is an opportunity for the public to address the board regarding the 2015-19 financial plan,” said spokesman Bruce Smith. “They don’t have to preschedule or anything. There is a...

Commercial vehicles collide on Highway 97 near Winfield

KELOWNA – An accident between two commercial vehicles on Highway 97 near Winfield Thursday morning resulted in one of the drivers going to hospital and another issued a traffic violation. Cpl. Joe Duncan of the Kelowna RCMP says the accident happened just north of Ellison Lake when one of the drivers merged his vehicle into...

Lake Country referendum mail ballot options

LAKE COUNTRY – If you won’t be in town for the referendum on April 25, 2015 or during any of the advance polls on April 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21, you may still be able to vote by mail. Lake Country is seeking elector assent through a referendum to approve the borrowing of up...

Women struck by plywood while out for a walk in Lake Country

LAKE COUNTRY - Two women out for a stroll in Lake Country were struck by a leather covered, wooden pick-up box cover which apparently flew off a passing truck last week. The pair were out walking their dogs at around 4:30 p.m., Saturday, March 14, in the 3500-block of Woodsdale Road when the incident occurred,...

Lake Country Food Bank digs in to build new facility

LAKE COUNTRY - Less than two months after winning $100,000 in a contest to put toward the project the Lake Country Food Bank broke ground today on their new million-dollar facility. During the ceremony, representatives were on hand from the District of Lake Country along with other major partners including a few from Okanagan College....