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Penticton news
Record hot weather on the way for Okanagan
OKANAGAN - It was a hot weekend in the Okanagan and the hot weather is forecast to continue through this week. Environment Canada recorded temperatures reaching as high as 33.8 Celsius in Penticton on Sunday, a bit shy of the 35 C record set nearly 70 years ago. In Kelowna temperatures climbed to 33 C,...
Penticton Vees name Jost captain, Fabbro assistant
PENTICTON - The Penticton Vees Jr. ‘A’ Hockey Club is pleased to announce forward Tyson Jost (98) has been named the team’s Captain and defenseman Dante Fabbro (98) has been named an Assistant Captain for the 2015-16 season. President, General Manager and Head Coach Fred Harbinson says it was an easy decision picking the leadership...
Penticton Search and Rescue evacuate injured hiker at the bluffs
PENTICTON - Penticton Search and Rescue responded to a call for help at Skaha Bluffs earlier today, June 7. Fifteen search and rescue volunteers responded to a call from B.C. Ambulance Service just after 2:15 p.m. Sunday to assist with an injured climber. The man, who was reportedly seriously injured, was in the an area...
Penticton heart attack victim thanks life savers
PENTICTON - A Penticton man is effusive in his gratitude to the people who saved his life after he suffered a heart attack while playing pickle ball at the community centre gym. Gary Gierlich, 58, says his last memory before collapsing on April 16 was a feeling of dizziness. The next thing he remembers is waking up...
Keremeos RCMP on hunt for man who flashed young girl
KEREMEOS – Police are hoping the public can help them find the man who allegedly exposed himself to an adolescent girl in Keremeos almost two months. It happened at about 5:40 pm., April 16, according to a RCMP media release issued Friday, June 5. The suspected flasher is described as a man his 20s with...
Mom trying to give parents of stillborn babies a few extra days together
WEST KELOWNA – Kristin Esmail and her husband didn’t find out until she was in labour their son, Richard James, was stillborn. After 39 weeks in utero, finding out that they would not be able to take him home was almost too much pain to bear. “It was such a shock,” the West Kelowna resident...
Fire truck pull adds some heat to a hot day in Penticton
PENTICTON - With a forecast calling for temperatures to climb above 30 Celsius for the weekend, many Penticton residents were heading for the beach for the first time this season or just relaxing in the backyard today. Others headed downtown this morning to pull a fire engine down Main Street. The first annual Muscular Dystrophy Canada...
Filmmakers invited to show their stuff at Peach Fest
PENTICTON - There is going to be a new form of entertainment at the Penticton Peach Festival this year with the addition of Reel Peach Fest, a new venue for both professional and budding filmmakers to show their stuff. Each night, after 9 p.m., between August 5 and 9 as stagehands prepare for each evening’s round...
Pup with broken leg needs your help
PENTICTON – A 10-month-old puppy who was hit by a car needs a little help from the public to get back on all four paws. Jodi, a black and white Labrador retriever mix, was brought into the South Okangan-Similkameen SPCA with a broken femur and in need of more than $4,000 worth of medical treatment....
SNELSON TRIAL: Ex-wife of accused was vigilant after hearing of missing girl
KAMLOOPS - Katherine Oystryk, 44, remembers hearing about Jennifer Cusworth and watching out for her own safety after the 19-year-old girl went missing from a Kelowna house party her then-husband attended 21 years ago. Now Oystryk's ex-husband, Neil George Snelson, 48, stands accused of manslaughter in Cusworth’s killing. This is his second trial. Oystryk testified...
Oliver man killed in Highway 97 crash
PEACHLAND - A crash between a car and a semi in Peachland yesterday claimed the life of an Oliver man. The B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed Grant Wheeler, 81, was killed in the crash, June 4. Wheeler was driving northbound on Highway 97 when he became involved in a collision with a southbound semi-trailer at...
Hot weather and hot events coming to the Okanagan this weekend
OKANAGAN – After a week of rain Environment Canada is calling for a sunny, hot and dry weekend, just in time for some great events in the Okanagan. Temperatures are expected to reach the mid-30s Saturday and Sunday with minimal chance of rain, so pack up your kids and your sunscreen and make it count....
Pedestrian killed while attempting to cross Highway 97 near Oliver
PENTICTON - A teenager girl is dead after being struck by a vehicle on Highway 97. The accident occurred around 5:35 p.m today, June 4, when a 16-year-old female pedestrian attempted to cross the highway just north of Oliver. A southbound motorhome attempted to avoid striking the girl, but was unable to avoid hitting her....
New Okanagan disc golf course lands in Vernon
VERNON - You’ve got your putting and your driving Frisbees, your heavy ones and your sleek, thin ones, and now fans of the popular sport of disc golf — and curious newcomers — will have a scenic, and best of all, free, course in Vernon to fling them on. It’s all happening on a city-owned...
Council agrees to student rate for non-District 67 schools
PENTICTON - After weeks of dicussion, the city's only French school will get a price break on using city facilities. Penticton City Council took a lengthy look at school rate pricing for the use of city facilities earlier this week. The re-examination of the school pricing policy came following a request from the city’s only...
Water board calls on province to take action on invasive mussels
OKANAGAN - The Okanagan Basin Water Board is using the province’s declaration of June as Invasive Species Action Month to prod it into increasing its role in the fight against zebra and quagga mussels. “Awareness is great but action is better. The water board is doing all it can within its mandate to prevent the...
The beetle is gone, now the hard work begins
WILDFIRES, JOB LOSSES, JEOPARDIZED WATERSHEDS THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - For the most part the small, yet devastating, mountain pine beetle has disappeared from the landscape of the Southern Interior, but the aftermath of its work will be felt for many years to come. The mountain pine beetle epidemic that crawled into B.C. in 2000 is recognized as...
SNELSON TRIAL: Cusworth was beaten to death: Pathologist
GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY KAMLOOPS - Around seven or eight blows to the head caused the death of a 19-year-old girl who was found beaten, bruised and strangled in a watery ditch at the side of a pumpkin farmer’s property in Kelowna in 1993. In Kamloops Supreme Court today, June 4, Dr. Ronald Roy, a forensic...
Penticton RCMP investigating suspicious death, likely homicide
PENTICTON - Penticton Mounties are investigating what appears to be a homicide after shots were fired in the 1000 block of Lakeshore Road early this morning, June 4. Around 3:20 a.m. RCMP were called and found a dead man at the scene, according to a news release. Officers in white coveralls are examining an outdoor...
UPDATE: One dead following Highway 97 crash south of Peachland
WEST KELOWNA - One is dead and another seriously injured following a crash on Highway 97 between Peachland and Summerland Thursday morning. Cpl. Joe Duncan said West Kelowna RCMP and other emergency services responded to a crash around 9 a.m., Thursday, June 4, between a passenger vehicle and a tractor trailer. Duncan says the Toyota...
Three regional district staffers earned more than $100,000 last year
PENTICTON - Nearly $7 million in salaries and expenses was paid to regional district staff in 2014, with the top-19 wage-earners accounting for more than $1.6 million of that. Last year’s salary figures for staffers making $75,000 or more and elected representatives stipends were released by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen in an annual Statement of...
Skaha Lake waterfront plans on display
PENTICTON - Penticton citizens interested in a revitalized Skaha lakefront will have an opportunity to provide input and hear more about a major revitalization project proposed for the Skaha Marina area in the coming days. The proposal put forward by Trio Marine Group would see an expanded 100-slip marina featuring day and seasonal rentals as...
Intersection issues follow major reconstruction in Penticton
PENTICTON - It’s a big improvement, but it’s not complete. Those thoughts appear to be on the minds of many residents and employees working in the vicinity of Industrial Avenue and Atkinson Street this week, just days after an extensive reconstruction of Industrial Avenue was completed. A pedestrian crossing the intersection this afternoon, June 3,...
SNELSON TRIAL UPDATE: Friends recall last moments with Jennifer Cusworth
KAMLOOPS - The last time Jennifer Cusworth’s friends saw her alive at a house party, they planned to get her home safely after drinking into the early morning hours of October 16, 1993. For Pam Coulombe and Faith Klinksiek their plan didn’t work out; the 19-year-old disappeared from the party. A jury heard Coulombe and...