Vernon

Teen killed in fatal fall from cliff not using climbing gear: RCMP

VERNON - It looks like an 18-year-old wasn’t using any safety equipment when he decided to go rock climbing and wound up taking a fatal fall from a rock face near Vernon on the weekend. The teenager, who has yet to be identified, was camping with three friends when the group decided to go rock...

Fire at Vernon apartment building quickly doused

VERNON – If a passerby hadn’t noticed smoke from a small fire burning on the outside wall of a Vernon apartment building Saturday afternoon, it could have turned out much worse. Vernon Fire Rescue crews were called to the Sundance Suites at 2902 43 Ave. near MacDonald Park around 4:04 p.m., April 11, to a...

Horse racing scrapped again; Vernon’s Kin Race Track in legal limbo

VERNON - It will be another quiet summer at Vernon’s historic horse racing track as plans for its future remain mired in uncertainty. Arson gutted Kin Race Track’s grandstands last summer, and without them the Okanagan Equestrian Society’s president says no events can be held. “Everything runs out of the grandstand,” Robert White says. The...

Tall flame at Vernon landfill just standard procedure

VERNON - You might notice a tall flame coming from the Vernon landfill as you drive by, but rest assured, it’s just routine gas flaring.  The Regional District of North Okanagan recently constructed a new landfill gas management system at the dump on Birnie Road. In accordance with the B.C. Landfill Gas Management Regulation, the...

Vernon motel could be yours for just over $1M

VERNON - A downtown motel familiar to most Vernon residents is up for sale. The Green Valley Motel on Highway 97 across from Polson Park is on the market for $1,195,000. Built in 1965, the motel features 27 units currently rented out by the month. A description of the listing suggests it has lots of...

What Vernon firefighters hope you do differently to prevent another tragedy

VERNON - Conditions at a fire scene this week gave crews flashbacks to conditions that killed an Enderby firefighter several years ago, and the Vernon Fire Department is now issuing a public warning in the hopes of preventing another tragedy. Crews responded to a dumpster fire around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 8, on 14 Avenue,...

Man brought into custody after five hour standoff with Vernon RCMP

VERNON - A 70-year-old man was taken into custody Friday morning after a five-hour stand-off. Officers were called to a fourplex in the 4900 block of Old Kamloops Road just before 1 a.m. April 10 for a report of a distraught man, police said this morning. “He’d had a confrontation with a neighbour and then...

Lake Country referendum could prove pivotal in closing CN Rail corridor deal

KELOWNA - The provincial government recently pledged more than $7 million for the CN Rail corridor purchase but it does nothing to solve Lake Country’s shortfall of $2.6 million. It may also have created a new problem — voter apathy in Lake Country where a yes vote for the purchase is still critical to the deal...

Late snow to hit Interior highways this weekend

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A spring snow storm is expected to drop up to 10 centimetres of wet snow on Southern Interior highways this weekend. According to Environment Canada, an unseasonably cool frontal system will reach the coast by Friday evening and rain will change to snow over the mountain passes early Saturday morning. So far 5...

Local electronics retailer expands as big box stores close shop

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If Andre Blanleil gets any satisfaction from the demise of his retail competitor, electronics giant Future Shop, he doesn’t show it. “They were good competitors. They did a good job for the market they were going after,” the president of Andres Group of companies says. The regional chain operates 21 locations under the...

Vernon thief caught on video not who victims expected

VERNON - Police are looking into an odd theft committed by what appears to be an unexpected culprit — an elderly woman. Footage captured by a Vernon couple’s surveillance camera shows what looks to be an elderly woman making off with a patio table shortly after 6 a.m. on April 3 in the area of...

Vernon Search and Rescue deploys helicopter to injured hiker

VERNON - A seriously injured hiker in Kimberly has Vernon Search and Rescue to thank for getting him to the hospital in record time. Leigh Pearson, with Vernon SAR, says the group’s helicopter winch rescue team was deployed on Friday, April 3, for a mutual aid call in Kimberly. After navigating around some bad weather,...

Sunny today, cloudy for final ski day of season

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - We may be starting the day well below seasonal normals but the next couple of days will be sunny and warm. Seasonal normal low temperatures sit at 2 Celsius in Kamloops and 3 C through the Okanagan while seasonal normal high temperatures range from 14 C to 16 C. Today has started off...

Vernon firefighters come to aid of entrapped person

VERNON - Emergency crews freed two people trapped in a car after an accident Tuesday morning. According to Vernon Fire and Rescue Services, there was a two vehicle accident just after 8 a.m. in the 4300 block of 32 Street. The driver and passenger in one of the vehicles involved were trapped inside until firefighters...

Vernon Breastfeeding demonstration made larger point

“I REALLY DO THINK WE HAD A POSITIVE OUTCOME FROM THIS NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE” VERNON - What began as a negative experience for a Vernon mother quickly became an opportunity to spread a positive messages about breastfeeding, says the organizer of a feed-in at the Village Green Centre. A few days after Megan Deuling was shamed...

Vernon couple wins $5.8M

VERNON - A Vernon couple officially received their part of the $35 million Lotto 6/49 grand prize Tuesday afternoon, walking away with $5.8 million and a more relaxed outlook on life. Albert and Margaret Greening had one of six winning tickets in the April 1 draw, the other five were purchased in Ontario and Quebec....

Vernon teen pulled over for drunk driving before he even has his license

VERNON - A drunk teenager was slapped with an Immediate Roadside Prohibition over the long weekend, and he doesn’t even have his driver’s license yet. The 17-year-old was caught driving erratically in the Kalamalka Road area of Coldstream on Friday, April 3, around 10:30 p.m., RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. An officer patrolling in the...

Province pledges $7.2M for CN Rail corridor purchase

KELOWNA - There are some strings attached, but the provincial government is pledging $7.2 million to help make the purchase of the CN Rail corridor a reality. The money is conditional on a successful referendum in Lake Country later this month, according to a press release from the province Tuesday, April 7. “We believe in the...

Total lunar eclipse an Easter weekend treat

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Play a little hide and seek with one of the biggest ‘eggs’ you can find this week — a total lunar eclipse is scheduled to take place this Easter weekend. According to Time and Date, the moon will be totally eclipsed for about five minutes early Saturday morning with the event set to...

Woman shamed for breastfeeding in Vernon mall food court

BREAST FEEDING MOM TOLD 'THERE'S A TIME AND A PLACE FOR THESE KIND OF THINGS' VERNON - A feed-in is being organized to support a Vernon mother asked to stop breastfeeding her son at the Village Green Shopping Centre earlier this week. Megan Deuling was breastfeeding her four-month-old son at the food court in the...

Vernon mall says goodbye to another retailer

VERNON - Shopping options continue to shrink at Vernon’s Village Green Mall. Ricki’s, a fixture at the mall since the shopping centre opened 40 years ago, will close its doors by the end of the month as part of a company restructuring plan. The news comes not long after Target announced it was pulling out...

Mother Nature’s take on April Fools’ Day: A mix of snow, rain and thunderstorms

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - After dropping upwards of 20 centimetres of snow on some highway passes Tuesday, the first day of April could also bring more rain, more snow and a chance of thunderstorms to the Interior. Temperatures should hit the double-digit mark today, but will hover just below seasonal normals of 12 Celsius to 14 C,...

Okanagan Spirits has a taste for expansion

VERNON - When the shiny pieces of Okanagan Spirits' new state-of-the-art copper stills arrived, there was only one problem: The instructions were in German. With no one fluent in the language, setting up the 50-plate still and 1,500 and 2,000 litre copper pots—now the largest in Western Canada—was an entertaining process, laughs owner Tony Dyck....

Pac-Man takes on the Okanagan

OKANAGAN - If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like if Pac-Man took over the streets of the Okanagan, wonder no more. Google Maps is now offering a local version of Pac-Man. Only available in some browsers, you will see a Pac-Man box in the bottom left of the screen. You simply need to...