Penticton news
Penticton poet waxes political in ‘The Cut’
PENTICTON - It’s Shane Koyczan at his political best. Koyczan, who is from Penticton, takes Prime Minister Stephen Harper to task in this piece written for the Imagine Oct. 20 campaign, organized by Dan Mangan in association with leadnow.ca. Likening the election campaign to a job interview, Koyczan says the Conservative leader's approach to avoiding...
A Princeton murderer just got a minimum 22 years in prison and still got lucky
PENTICTON - A Penticton judged saved a man convicted of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder from one of the harshest sentenced meted out in years. John Ike Koopmans was sentenced to three counts of life imprisonment today, Oct. 6 in the slaying of Keith Wharton and his girlfriend Rosemary Fox, but...
The 14-year-old Vernon boy charged with murder has been released
VERNON - A 14-year-old Greater Vernon boy charged with murder is out of jail — at least for the time being. The teen, whose identity is protected under the Youth Act, was released on bail Sept. 22. Details such as what the bail is set at, and the conditions of his release, were not made...
Vernon arsonist sent to jail for lighting townhouse on fire while roommate slept
VERNON - A Vernon man who flicked a cigarette onto a bedroom mattress while his roommate was asleep in another room admitted the act was ‘effing stupid.’ Brandon Joshua Milligan Boyce, 20, turned himself in the same day of the townhouse fire on July 17, 2014. The blaze resulted in over $137,000 in damages to...
Okanagan group returning favour to rat breeder hit by flood
OLIVER - A rehabilitation centre for owls and other raptors in the South Okanagan will return a food supply favour by sending a rat breeder some new stock. Abbotsford rat breeder Mike Hopecraft "The Reptile Guy" took a major a hit last week when he lost almost 200 of the animals when a water line...
Solid consumer confidence drives strong Okanagan housing market
OKANAGAN - As goes the weather, so goes real estate activity, according to the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board, which is reporting a cooling of sales in September after a robust summer. The Central Okanagan and Shuswap markets continue to strengthen and see an improvement year-to-date over last year,” board president Christopher Miller says in...
New movie of the week being filmed in Osoyoos
OSOYOOS - A new Valentine’s Day TV movie that begins filming this week is being shot entirely in Osoyoos. A Hand in Love is a ‘story about true love in an on again - off again relationship.’ The movie will feature a young couple dealing with business, a vineyard, a blog and a baby. The...
City of Penticton purchases $1.5M parcel of land
PENTICTON - The City of Penticton has acquired a piece of real estate adjacent to the South Okanagan Events Centre property on Power Street. The announcement was made during Monday night’s council meeting, Oct. 5, and came following an in camera discussion following from a previous meeting. The 1.495 acre parcel is located at 903...
Penticton waterslide protesters create human chain around Skaha parkland
PENTICTON - The turnout at a protest to bring attention to trees in Skaha Park which might be lost to development exceeded organizers’ expectations Sunday afternoon, Sept. 28. Save Skaha Park society spokesperson Lisa Martin says the event, which was the fourth protest organized by the group to bring attention to the City of Penticton's...
Three-car crash during morning commute in Penticton
PENTICTON – A morning rush hour collision in Penticton resulted in a short closure of Fairview Road today. Penticton RCMP media spokesperson Rick Dellebuur says at approximately 8:30 a.m., Monday, Oct. 5, a 53-year-old Cawston woman was driving a 2013 Toyota Prius northbound on Highway 97 when a man driving a Honda Civic made a...
What Interior residents need to know about the killer gas radon
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It sounds like something from a thriller sci-fi movie - a colourless, odorless radioactive gas that seeps from the ground, infiltrates buildings and kills people. In real life, radon gas is a known carcinogen, the second leading cause of lung cancer accounting for 10 per cent of cases and is found in elevated...
City of Penticton continues to seek a solution to leaking leisure pool
PENTICTON - City staff and professional engineers continue to seek a solution to the Penticton Community Centre leisure pools leaky drains. The pool was scheduled to reopen following a summer closure to replace slippery deck tiles around the leisure and main pools on Sept. 14, but as staff was refilling the leisure pool, a leak...
You can be on reality TV if you have inherited a house in the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - If you’ve recently inherited a house in the Okanagan the producers of a new reality TV show want to hear from you. Anaid Productions, the company behind such shows as X-Weighted and The Liquidator, is searching for families that have been bequeathed a home in the Okanagan. Those selected for the show will be...
Week of perfect fall weather ahead in the Okanagan
OKANAGAN - As far as autumn goes, this should be a good week in the Okanagan with temperatures above normal during the day and overnight. While we are waking up to temperatures several degrees below seasonal normals of 5 Celsius the mercury is supposed to stay above those normals for the rest of the week....
Naramata Centre suggested for Syrian refugee housing
PENTICTON - As Naramata Centre’s new board of directors try to plot a course for the future, one suggested use appears to be gaining favour: Supporting Syrian refugees. Directors of the former retreat have sought input from the community of Naramata about how best to use the facility, which is owned by the United Church...