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Vernon
Wildfire season expected to heat up
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - With just 13 wildfires reported in May it was a ‘pretty average’ spring month for B.C. Wildfire but the amount of rain that falls over the next month will play a big part in whether predictions of a heavy fire year are correct. Melissa Klassen with the Kamloops Fire Centre says of the...
Penticton teen arrested for carrying butcher’s cleaver, bat and hammer
VERNON - A Penticton teen was arrested Monday morning for the possession of weapons, including a butcher’s cleaver and a bat wrapped in electrical tape. A police officer noticed the teen and a second person walking around downtown Vernon near Safeway shortly after midnight while conducting a routine patrol of the area. The teen was...
Boat fire in Armstrong could be connected to string of Vernon arsons
VERNON - Police are investigating whether a suspicious boat fire in Armstrong is connected to a rash of suspected arsons in the Vernon area. Emergency personnel were dispatched to 143 L & A Crossing Rd. Saturday around 10:40 p.m. for a report of a boat on fire. “One boat was completely involved and destroyed and...
Arrests made in Vernon arson case
SERIAL ARSON SUSPECT STILL ON THE LOOSE VERNON - Police have made arrests in one of 13 suspected cases of arson in the Vernon area. Two men, aged 24 and 30, were arrested Friday evening for setting fire to some trash behind AJ’s Pets & Things on 31 Avenue. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the...
Theft stops Shuswap business in its tracks
SHUSWAP - A local business owner is calling a theft from her business planned and devastating. “They broke into the compound, smashed into the truck… moved the trailer and cut all the locks… it was planned for sure,” Barb Rivest of Shuswap Unique Adventure Tours says. “It was my whole business right there, so that...
Firefighter conference to pump millions into Vernon economy
VERNON - A firefighting conference held in Vernon is expected to fuel up the local economy. The annual Fire Chief’s Association of B.C. Conference and Expo comes to Vernon in 2017, and is expected to have an economic impact of $5 million in the community. The event typically attracts 800 people, including fire department chiefs,...
A closer look at Vernon’s rash of arsons
TIMES AND LOCATIONS DISPLAYED ON ARSON MAP VERNON - While investigators continue to hunt for clues in a continuing series of suspected arsons, a map shows most were set within four kilometers of each other between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. The suspicious fires — set in dumpster bins, pallets, vacant homes and vehicles —...
Two Lumby teens arrested in connection with stolen truck
VERNON – RCMP have charged two men in connection with a stolen Dodge pickup truck from Lumby. The truck was reported stolen from the Lumby arena parking lot on May 29. Police received two separate reports of the truck, sighted at a Vernon Tim Horton’s and of a suspicious vehicle of the same make and model...
Vernon firefighters association rings alarm bells over staffing structures
MAYOR SAYS STAFFING STRUCTURE IS EFFICIENT, COST-SAVING AND DOESN’T CAUSE HIM CONCERN VERNON - A heated debate over Vernon's decision to deploy fire crews in groups of two instead of four continues to simmer. The Vernon Professional Firefighters Association is speaking out about staffing structures following the release of a YouTube video showing a fire...
Fire guts mobile home
VERNON - Fire roared through a mobile home in Coldstream Friday morning. Vernon and Coldstream Fire Departments attended the Kalview Trailer Park blaze on Clerke Road, just off Highway 97 south of Vernon around 9 a.m. Fire officials remain on scene. More information will be posted as it becomes available. The Vernon Fire Department has...
Heat coming your way this weekend
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN — Get your sunscreen ready: the cool, wet week has a reprieve in store for us with higher temperatures for a water park or beach this weekend. Today highs will reach near normals of 21 C to 23 C across the region with a 30-40 per cent chance of thundershowers or storms this afternoon...
Residents, business owners warned to take precautions against alleged arsonist
"CLEAN UP ANY PALLETS, DON'T HAVE THEM OUT AND AVAILABLE" VERNON - While authorities have determined at least some suspicious fires are not connected to a string of suspected arsons, investigators believe an arsonist is still on the loose in the city. Deputy fire chief Lawrie Skolrood, one of the lead investigators, says out of...
Martial Arts community kicks back at “offensive” remarks by Vernon council
VERNON - The mixed martial arts community is in an uproar over what they feel were offensive and uneducated comments made about their sport earlier this week by Vernon councillors. The City of Vernon wants to ban mixed martial arts (MMA) events because, as Coun. Bob Spiers put it, “the association with the type of...
Dog control seeks owners of pig with pink painted toe nails
VERNON - She has painted pink toe nails, likes to follow you around, and squeals when you pick her up. That’s about all dog control knows about a small grey pig found wandering around the Vernon Golf Course. Pat Ellis, with K9 Dog Control, says the chubby, grey pig was turned in to the Vernon...
Teacher strikes to continue next week
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN — If you have kids, be prepared to find alternate plans next week because the teachers’ union has announced a second week of rotating strikes, set to take place next week. Students in the Central and North Okanagan School Districts (SD23 and SD83) will be home Monday, June 2. On Tuesday, the strikes rotate...
UPDATE: Severe thunderstorm watch ended for Okanagan
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - A severe thunderstorm warning for the Central and North Okanagan including Vernon and Kelowna has ended this evening though a chance of heavy rain remains for the entire region. Environment Canada says 10-20 mm of rain is expected by Thursday morning but there is a chance of localized thunderstorms that could bring at...
Councillor calls new communications strategy “propaganda”
VERNON - Council is in disagreement over a new communications policy, adopted Monday in a split 4-2 vote. The city’s communications coordinator, Tanya Laing Gahr created the policy and described is as a way to effectively communicate the city’s story to the media, the public, funding bodies and other levels of government. Coun. Bob Spiers...
Community chooses touching memorial for councillor Patrick Nicol
VERNON - Councillor Patrick Nicol will be remembered forever in the place he loved best. Having received substantial feedback from the community, Vernon City Hall has chosen to create an area in Polson Park called Patrick’s Gathering Place. The area will feature benches and a memorial plaque. Nicol passed away in January after a long...
Former B.C. premier to chair Lumby-based marijuana facility
LUMBY - A company chaired by a former B.C. premier has applied to grow and distribute medical marijuana from a facility in Lumby. True Leaf Medicine Inc. has submitted an application to Health Canada to operate the facility under the federal government’s new rules for the system, which came into effect April 1. Mike Harcourt,...
Snow on Coquihalla
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Winter has returned to the Coquihalla Highway and the rest of the region can expect heavy rain today. Drive B.C. is reporting slushy sections from the Great Bear Snowshed to the Coquihalla Lakes exit, water pooling north of that section and fog in the section of the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Kamloops....
Vernon drafts ban on mixed martial arts
VERNON - Vernon is hitting mixed martial arts where it hurts. City council is moving forward with the creation of a bylaw that would ban Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events within municipal limits. “We don’t need them,” Coun. Bob Spiers says. “It’s just the association with the type of people that run those events and...
Study finds multi-million dollar benefits to Okanagan Rail Trail
OYAMA - Converting the rail bed between Vernon and Kelowna into a multi-use pathway would drive over $3 million in visitor spending in the first year alone, states a consulting report on predicted benefits. The Okanagan Rail Trail held a press conference Tuesday morning in Oyama to release the findings of a 70 page impact...
Number of suspected arsons climbs to nine
VERNON - Police continue to investigate a series of suspected arsons as the number of suspicious fires grows to nine within the city. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says police are looking into two fires from the weekend, one a torched car at the Kia dealership and the other a motor home on 26 Street. Molendyk...
Road safety highlighted during Bike to Work Week
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - This week is Bike to Work Week, a celebration that kicks off a season of more cyclists on the roads, and both cyclists and motorists are being reminded to do their part to help keep everyone safe. ICBC notes an average of nearly 1,000 cyclists are injured during the warmer months of May...