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North Okanagan
Conservation on the lookout for East Hill bear
VERNON - East Hill residents are being warned there’s a bear in their neck of the woods. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says a large bear was spotted in the East Hill neighbourhood over the past few days. There haven’t been any run-ins with people or pets, though the Conservation Service is actively working to locate...
Police suspect alcohol led to lake accident
VERNON - Police suspect alcohol was involved in an accident east of Cherryville this weekend. Around 7:20 p.m. May 24 North Okanagan RCMP were called to the scene of a vehicle found half submerged in McIntyre Lake, off Highway 6. There were no occupants inside the vehicle. A patrol of the area with the dog...
Police believe Trinity Valley suspects were cooking up crystal meth
VERNON - A six day investigation and clean-up at a North Okanagan property wrapped up over the weekend, leaving authorities strongly suspecting crystal meth was being produced there. A significant quantity of hazardous materials believed to be used in the manufacturing of crystal meth were removed from the Trinity Valley Road rental home and secured...
Torched boat latest in series of suspected arsons
VERNON - A torched boat is the latest in a series of suspicious fires under investigation by authorities. Deputy fire chief Jack Blair says an 18 foot recreational ski boat with a For Sale sign on it was set ablaze in a parking lot in the 2300 block of 48 Avenue around 11 p.m. Tuesday....
Trial date set for former Vernon mountie facing child porn charges
VERNON - A former Vernon cop will stand trial in B.C. Supreme Court next March. Ryan Hampton, 35, faces nine charges, including possessing and accessing child pornography. He was arrested in June 2013 and subsequently suspended from the force. He has since resigned from the RCMP. Hampton will be tried before judge alone starting March...
Rash of fires spark concern
VERNON - A series of suspicious fires has police appealing to the public for information. The most recent of the suspected arsons include a vacant building and porta-potty set ablaze Sunday and Monday. Police continue to investigate a pair of suspicious dumpster fires from early May, as well as a chain of unsolved arsons from...
Five arrests made in connection with suspected synthetic drug lab
VERNON - Police, environmental agencies and a HAZMAT team descended upon a secluded North Okanagan property over the long weekend following the discovery of an alleged drug lab. Police had already been investigating the Trinity Valley Road property near Enderby for months, but is was reports of shots fired in the area that led police...
Local couple brewing up new downtown destination
VERNON - You’ll still be able to buy a drink at the former night club on the corner of 30 Avenue and 30 Street downtown, but the similarities end there. Stefan and Pearl Marten, the new owners of the prominent Main Street building, are brewing up a different approach, one that invites families, foodies and...
Former Vernon vice-principal punished for boosting student’s grades
VERNON - A former Vernon vice-principal has been reprimanded for boosting a student’s grades. The B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch is suspending former Vernon Secondary School vice-principal Tony Martin Dolinar’s teaching certificate for one month because he increased the grades “of a student whom he wished to favour” without the consent of the student’s teacher. Dolinar...
North Okanagan school district axes positions and prepares for the next tough decision
SALMON ARM - The North Okanagan school district is looking at closing schools and reducing the number of trustees on its board to settle ongoing financial challenges in the operating budget. Those ideas surfaced at a board meeting Tuesday as trustees passed a preliminary budget for the 2014/15 school year that would involve laying off teachers...
Debris from Kingfisher landslide endangers boaters
SHUSWAP - Debris from the massive landslide east of Enderby has made its way into Mara Lake. It’s been almost two weeks since a massive deluge of logs, mud and water washed out a portion of Mabel Lake Road and the bridge over Cook Creek. Some of that debris flowed downstream into Mara Lake and...
Sweet gesture helped firefighters tackle weekend blaze
LUMBY - A long night of firefighting became a little easier through the generosity of a Lumby restauranteur. Around a dozen members of the Lumby volunteer fire department were called to Shuswap Avenue around 10 p.m. Sunday to battle a fire in a machine shop. It was well after most shops closed, and the firefighters...
New recycling program could be unfair to seniors, people with disabilities
VERNON - Vernon City Hall is learning from its populace you can’t put everyone in the same box. Multi-Material B.C. is set to take over the city’s recycling system next Monday, and that will involve shifting pick up from blue bags to blue bins. There are concerns seniors and people with disabilities will struggle with...
Vernon woman pleads to have mother’s stolen ashes returned
VERNON - A Vernon woman is pleading to have her mother’s ashes returned after they were stolen in a break and enter. “I can’t even focus on anything else, I’ll do anything to get my mother back,” Manon Care says. “I feel more violated than when she passed away a couple months ago.” Care kept...
New Vernon visitor centre stalled by approval process
VERNON - People passing through Vernon won’t be able to visit the city’s new tourism centre for at least a few more weeks. The visitor information centre was pegged to open May 1 on 39 Avenue beside Civic Arena, but the Ministry of Transportation’s approval process to rezone the property is taking longer than expected....
New motorcyclist dies in head-on collision near Enderby
NORTH OKANAGAN - Police responded to a fatal motorcycle accident in Enderby mere hours after attending the scene of a tragic car crash in Lumby involving two brothers. Police and emergency crews responded to the motorcycle around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Cpl. Gerry Kovacs says a 64-year-old Enderby man new to motorcycling was killed in a...
Passenger watches his brother die in Lumby car crash
NORTH OKANAGAN - A Lumby man tried to save his brother before he died after an early morning car crash Sunday. The 23-year-old man and his 25-year-old brother at the wheel were on their way to help some friends having vehicle troubles around 2:20 a.m. Along the 1000 block of Whitevale Road near Lumby, the 2003...
RBC Cup a boon for local economy
VERNON - The return of the RBC Cup is expected to bring economic benefits to the region for years to come. Vernon is hosting the national Junior A Hockey Championship for the first time since 1990, and the city’s economic development manager Kevin Poole says it’s going to infuse the local economy with players and...
Vernon teen killed in weekend crash identified
VERNON - The boy who died in a crash on Highway 97 near Crystal Waters Road May 4 has been identified. He was Rodney Michael Boring, 14, of Vernon. Boring was the passenger in a Pontiac Sunfire involved in a collision with a full-sized pickup truck at about 3:45 p.m. Sunday. He died at the...
Pair of suspicious fires ignite concerns
VERNON - A pair of suspicious fires have police and the fire department looking for answers. The Vernon Fire Department responded to back to back dumpster fires Saturday night. The first was in a large construction dumpster on Kalamalka Road around 11:30 p.m., and the second at 44 Avenue and 27 Street by Shoppers Drug...
Crews still trying to restore Kingfisher landlines
ENDERBY - Despite a minor setback, Telus hopes to get landlines restored in a small community just east of Enderby by the end of the day. Landlines went dead in the Kingfisher area, roughly 25 kilometers from Enderby, last Friday following a massive landslide that washed out sections of Mabel Lake Road, a bridge and...
Unsellable donations costing Salvation Army precious funds
VERNON - The Salvation Army Thrift Shop isn’t always getting a good deal when it comes to donations, especially at this time of year. Instead of being sold for funds, some items actually cost the organization to get rid of. For Salvation Army store manager Gary Rich, it’s a weekly frustration that balloons in the...
In their shoes: Riding along with Vernon bylaw
VERNON - I thought bylaw officers spent all their time shoving parking tickets on my windshield with uncanny timing until I suited up in a protective vest and accompanied them on a typical evening shift. We didn’t go near a single parking meter. On a Friday night, Vernon bylaw officer Russ Lutsenko handed me the...
Suspicious car fire outside law office
VERNON - Investigators are calling a vehicle fire Wednesday evening on Main Street suspicious in nature. Deputy fire chief Jack Blair says the department responded to a fully involved Ford Explorer in the lane way by Nixon Wenger just off 30 Avenue around 6:30 p.m. “Firefighters extinguished it and requested RCMP attend,” Blair says. “They...