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Vernon news
Hot dog calls on rise as weather heats up in Southern Interior
THOMSON-OKANAGAN - Though summer isn’t even officially here, the unseasonably warm weather in the Interior is already prompting concerned calls about dogs left unattended in cars. “We’ve had three or four already this morning (May 22) and yesterday we had half a dozen before lunch,” Cam Buksa, spokesman for the Central Okanagan branch of the...
Locally filmed Tomorrowland starring George Clooney hits theatres
VERNON - A movie partly filmed in the North Okanagan opens in theatres today. Disney’s Tomorrowland — starring George Clooney, Hugh Laurie and Britt Robertson — hits the big screen Friday, May 22 In Vernon, your first chance to see the film will be at Cineplex. The first showtime is 4 p.m. today. You can...
Death of teen snowmobiler at Hunters Range ruled accidental
VERNON - Brandon Oullette set off on his snowmobile in Hunters Range last December with the intention of meeting his father further up the trail, but the 16-year-old never made it. A coroners report into his death says Oullette took the more difficult route up a steep, snowy mountainside after heading out with his dad...
Vernon man dies after fall from sailboat
VERNON – A Vernon man fixing a mast on a sailboat at the Vernon Yacht Club died after falling from a ladder Thursday. David Gilbert Jones, 82, struck the rigging and parts of the boat and then landed in the lake after falling from the ladder Thursday morning, May 21, according to a media release...
Alpaca headed to Armstrong auction makes a break for it
ARMSTRONG - A runaway alpaca caused quite a scene in the Armstrong area Thursday. It jumped out of a truck while being unloaded at Valley Auction, off Highway 97 in Spallumcheen, and made a break for it, May 21. “The little fellow takes off on us,” Valley Auction owner Don Raffan says. “At one point...
Study at UBC Okanagan seeks breast cancer survivors
OKANAGAN - A researcher from UBC Okanagan is hoping to find survivors of breast cancer for a study on the effects of increasing physical exercise after treatment and rehabilitation. Cristina Caperchione, an assistant professor with the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, is leading ProjectMOVE which has secured a $200,000 research grant from the Canadian...
Early spring both good and bad for local farmers
OKANAGAN – The early heat felt across the Okanagan this year has local farmers springing into action. Producers of vegetables, fruit, hay and alfalfa crops say the warm weather came at least two weeks early this year, meaning they can plant earlier, expect higher yields and very likely harvest earlier as well. At the Kelowna...
Dangerous driver who left Vernon nurse paralyzed sent to prison
“I HAVE BEEN GIVEN A LIFE SENTENCE WORSE THAN JAIL”: NURSE VERNON - An accident of some kind was inevitable the night a Vernon woman’s life changed forever, court heard during a sentence hearing for the man who ran into her car and fled the scene. Michael Timothy George Heeley, 22, was driving recklessly before...
Tolko’s mountain of ash plagues Spallumcheen residents
SPALLUMCHEEN - Palisades Mobile Home Park resident Beverly Anderson first experienced what she calls a “soot storm” shortly after she moved in last year. “My first mistake was we went out and left all the windows open. When I came back in it was like a dust storm all over my floor, and my cupboards,”...
Second crossing 20 years out but planning now is essential, transportation ministry says
WEST KELOWNA - If you ask project director Murray Tekano, the current study about where to put a second Okanagan Lake crossing is not just a public relations exercise to be seen doing something. Tekano says 20 years for planning a major infrastructure project such as the second bridge is standard for the industry and...
Why Vernon won’t have fireworks at this year’s Canada Day celebration
CITY DOESN'T PUT ON THE SHOW, BUT IT MANAGED TO PUT IT OUT VERNON - A time-honoured tradition won’t be on the lineup of events for Canada Day in Vernon this year due to a shift in the event’s organizational structure. Normally, Vernon resident Terry Schmauder would lead preparations for the Canada Day fireworks show,...
Man says bull called Slow Poke was violent despite name, sues Vernon rodeo company
KAMLOOPS – A novice rider is suing a rodeo company in Vernon, B.C., over a bull named Slow Poke that he alleges failed to live up to its name and caused him serious injury.
Numerous snake scares in the Okanagan
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Snake encounters have shaken up a number of Okanagan residents in the last few days — including one in an apartment building — and a wildlife control expert says in many cases, it has to do with the weather. Pete Wise runs a wildlife control service based in Vernon and says he’s had...
You have a few more months to register your off-road vehicle
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Good news for the estimated 200,000 trail riders across the province as the government has pushed the deadline to register off-road vehicles from June 1 to Nov. 1. According to a press release sent Wednesday, May 20, the deadline change will give users more time to prepare for the mandatory registration as well...
Police step up efforts to curb speeding in Armstrong
ARMSTRONG - Several speeders were surprised to find police waiting for them on a backcountry road in Armstrong this week. Residents in the Otter Lake Road area of Armstrong have expressed concerns about speeders to police and city council, and those worries prompted an enforcement blitz early Tuesday morning, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk said in...
Interior Health to consider ebola preparedness recommendations
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If the world has learned anything from the ongoing ebola epidemic, it’s that you cannot predict where and when a person carrying the dreaded virus will show up. The Interior Health Authority learned that in December when one of its own employees, nurse practitioner Patrice Gordon, returned from Sierra Leone and began displaying flu-like...
Proposed regulations could see motorized boats disappear from the Shuswap River
SHUSWAP - Proposed regulations could mean the end for motorized boats on much of the Shuswap River. The reasoning behind the proposal is environmental degradation and the safety of other river users, such as tubers, swimmers and kayakers, says the North Okanagan Regional District’s sustainability coordinator Anna Page. The proposed regulations would ban motorized boats...
‘Two full open cans of beer (dropped) at the officer’s feet’
HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING TO DRINK SINCE LAST NIGHT, OFFICER LUMBY - It was more a question of what laws a Lumby man wasn't breaking when he was pulled over on Victoria Day. A cop parked at the Lumby RCMP detachment noticed him drive by without a seat belt on and using his cell phone on...
Hot weather ahead for the Thompson-Okanagan
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Dig out your sunscreen and your flip-flops because B.C.’s Interior is in for some unseasonably hot weather over the coming week. Although the average temperature for the region is in the low 20s from Kamloops all the way south to Penticton, residents can look forward to highs of 29 C with only occasional...
UPDATE: Vernon teen located
UPDATE: 10:51 A.M., MAY 25, 2015 Vernon RCMP say the missing 17-year-old girl has been…
Lumby man crashes car in dense fog, requires rescue
VERNON - Emergency personnel rushed to get an injured man out of his car after it flipped on Highway 6 over the long weekend. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says police were called to the single vehicle accident about 5:45 p.m. Monday, May 18. A 20-year-old Lumby man’s vehicle crashed and rolled, trapping him inside, Molendyk...
Stickle Road plan back to the drawing board
VERNON - A controversial plan to change the intersection of Stickle Road and Highway 97 has been shelved. Vernon-Monashee MLA Eric Foster says the idea of eliminating lefthand turns from Stickle Road onto the highway has been thrown out, and the Province will come up with a new plan for improving the intersection. “The Transportation...
Westside Road shooter could get dangerous offender status
KELOWNA – The man who shot at police as he and two accomplices fled from police along Westside Road in 2012 will be evaluated by a psychiatrist to determine if he is a dangerous offender. In late February, Michael Ellis, 41, was found guilty of unlawful discharge of a prohibited weapon, armed robbery, attempted robbery,...
Check out all your summer camps before you sign up
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – A first-of-its-kind kid’s camp expo coming to a community near you is your chance to get a taste of all the fun activities available to keep your little ones busy all summer long. Campapalooza is a chance to meet counsellors and see what all the great summer camps offer for toddlers to teens...