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Penticton news
Penticton municipal candidates spent more than $100,000 on campaigns
PENTICTON - It cost an average $4,526.34 to try to get elected to Penticton City Council during last year’s November municipal election. The six successful candidates spent a total of $27,158.09 to get elected. That compares to an average expenditure of $2,322.21 spent by all of the 25 council candidates that tossed their hat into...
February weather helps city move capital project along
PENTICTON - The almost complete absence of winter in Penticton this February has helped the city make steady progress with its capital works program this year. Work on the rebuilding of Industrial Avenue that began in October, 2014 restarted recently after a short shut down. A mild and relatively precipitation free February has helped city...
Threatening letter reaction, the line between thwarting a threat and mentioning a menace
PENTICTON - The only thing that appeared out of place at four schools named in last week’s threatening letter was the presence of police in parking lots Monday. Ty Carey and Nolan Aubie, grade 11 students at Princess Margaret Secondary School said they had attended an assembly Monday just prior to lunch. They said there...
Vees announce playoff schedule
PENTICTON, BC –The Penticton Vees are winding down their regular season schedule with the BCHL Fred Page Cup playoffs just around the corner, and with that, the team has released its home dates for the Interior Division playoffs. Due to a three-way-tie between Merritt, Salmon Arm and West Kelowna for the final two playoff spots,...
Canadian country music star George Canyon to play Peachfest
PENTICTON - Country music fans, mark Friday, Aug. 7 on your calendar. That's the day George Canyon performs during this year’s 68th annual Penticton Peach Festival. Canyon is considered to be one of the most requested and well known stars on Country Music Television, in addition to being the most played Canadian artist on Canadian...
Mayor’s race was close from a budget point of view
PENTICTON - The contest for the Mayor’s chair in last November’s Penticton municipal election proved to be a closer spending race for two of the candidates than the results at the ballot box. The province recently released financial disclosure statements for the November municipal elections. In Penticton, winning candidate Andrew Jakubeit’s campaign cost $21,888, while...
Regional board grant will assess public appetite for conservation fund
PENTICTON - The South Okanagan Similkameen conservation program manager approached the Regional District Okanagan Similkameen board of directors Thursday, seeking $65,000 to investigate the development of a conservation fund for the regional district. Bryn White described a regional district conservation fund as “a dedicated source of funding for organizations to work together to conserve in...
Homes evacuated as firefighters tackled Penticton blaze
PENTICTON - Two people required rescue by firefighters when a fire at the corner of Maple Street and Birch Avenue burned through a garage. Penticton RCMP, B.C. Ambulance and Penticton firefighters were called to the townhouse complex at approximately 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. Penticton Fire Chief Wayne Williams said members arrived on scene to...
Gangster parolee back behind bars
PENTICTON - A man previously convicted of offences in Kelowna and Winnipeg is back behind bars following his arrest in Osoyoos on the weekend. Osoyoos RCMP arrested Donald Bryce Lyons at his residence on Feb. 21 after his parole was revoked, according to an RCMP news release. Lyons was apprehended without incident after a Canada...
THREATENING LETTER: What Penticton police are telling parents as they prepare for a new school week
PENTICTON - Fears of a continued threat and frustration over communication was on parents’ minds at a community meeting set up by School District 67 following last week’s discovery of a threatening letter at Skaha Lake Middle School. Police and school officials met with students' parents and members of the public to hear their concerns...
Meeting called to calm concerns about threatening letter found at schools
PENTICTON – While investigators try to figure who is behind the bizarre, threatening letter which forced some schools in the South Okanagan to go into lock down last week, RCMP and school district officials will try to calm concerned parents on Sunday. A stack of 30 copies of the letter threatening to harm students was...
Fatal Penticton house fire
PENTICTON – Fire crews found a body while fighting a house fire in Penticton Friday night. Penticton firefighters were called to the fire on Smythe Drive at about 5:14 p.m., Feb. 20. Crews arrived to find a neighbour using a fire extinguisher to put out a burning SUV in the driveway, fire chief Wayne Williams...
RCMP considered risks of making school threat letter public
PENTICTON - The threatening letter found on Penticton school property this week is in the hands of RCMP behavioural experts as they try to sort out who is behind the writing and why they did it. A stack of roughly 30 copies of the letter containing what appears to be a threat by a young...
Man accused in doctor beating granted bail
PENTICTON - A Summerland man accused of the savage beating of a Penticton doctor was released, pending payment of $50,000 bail, Thursday, Feb.19. Gregory Stanley Nield is accused in the Dec. 5, 2014 assault of a Penticton psychologist in the hospital’s psych ward. Nield’s attack left the doctor unconscious resulting in severe facial injuries, including...
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...
School district provides update on security measures after finding threatening message
PENTICTON - Following the discovery of a note threatening harm to students at Penticton Secondary School on Feb.18, School District Superintendent Wendy Hyer issued a communication Thursday, Feb. 19 explaining the district’s Threat Assessment Protocol. The protocol was developed in order to respond to situations where students may be a threat to themselves or others....
‘One can hardly imagine a more horrific assault’ than Bobbitt’s: Crown
KELOWNA – Reckless, self-serving, grandiose, entitled, antisocial, narcissistic, lacking in empathy, sexually sadistic, psychopathic and violent. Those are some of the words the Crown used to describe David Wesley Bobbitt in a hearing to determine if he deserves dangerous offender status. Bobbitt, 39, has already pleaded guilty to seven charges, but before Justice Peter Rogers...
Early morning house fire leaves elderly couple homeless
PENTICTON - Fire crews arrived at a fire in Penticton early Thursday morning to find an elderly man trying to put out his burning house with a garden hose. The man and his wife, who were asleep in their home were awakened by the fire at about 4:30 a.m., Feb. 19 and managed to escape,...
History repeating itself with Main Street revitalization
PENTICTON - The more things change, the more they remain the same. That adage proves to be applicable to the City of Penticton’s most recent efforts at downtown revitalization. The subject is particularly pertinent this week as B.C. celebrates Heritage Week, with the theme "Main Street: At the Heart of the Community". Penticton historian Randy...
Downtown’s Ellis Street could see new life with relocating business
PENTICTON - A Penticton business’s relocation to a downtown side street could provide the impetus for a new look - and new uses for a street that presently sits underdeveloped and underutilized. As Cannery Brewing’s new facility on Ellis Street nears completion, Manager Pat Dyck is excited about the prospect of relocation to the downtown...
Threatening letters found on Penticton school property
PENTICTON - Mounties want to know who made photocopies of a letter containing a threat located on the grounds of Skaha Middle School and Princess Margaret Secondary School in Penticton Wednesday morning. The papers were found at 9:15 a.m. Feb. 18 and police were called, according to an RCMP media release. Though Mounties don't believe...
Petition to stop trapping going to Penticton council
PENTICTON - One of the oldest animal protection groups in Canada is taking aim at Penticton city council in an attempt to restrict leg-hold traps within city limits. A cat was found in January with a leg badly mangled as the result of being caught in a leg-hold trap. The incident has prompted The Association...
Haynes Provincial Park opens for camping again this April
OSOYOOS - Following the discovery of a burial ground, HaYnes Point Provincial Park has officially been designated an archaelogical site and will be managed by the Okanagan Indian Band, along with Okanagan Falls provincial park, according to a media release from the province. Haynes Point opened to pedestrian traffic following completion of the archaelogical assessment...
More Okanagan Correctional Centre hiring sessions planned for March
OLIVER - If you've been thinking of a job in corrections now is the time. Additional hiring sessions have been scheduled for applicants interested in a job at the new Okanagan Correctional Centre that's under construction in Oliver. More than 700 people attended previous sessions, prompting the province to schedule four new information sessions in...