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Charlotte Helston
REPORTER
Charlotte Helston grew up in Armstrong and after four years studying writing at the University of Victoria, she came back to do what she loves most: Connect with the community and bringing its stories to life.
Covering Vernon for iNFOnews.ca has reinforced her belief in community. The people and the stories she encounters every day—at the courthouse, City Hall or on the street—show the big tales in a small town.
If you have an opinion to share or a story you'd like covered, contact Charlotte at Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230.
Charlotte Helston's Stories
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Railroad removal prompts call to action
ARMSTRONG - The rail bed between Armstrong and Sicamous is shrinking with each passing day, and that’s launched rail trail proponents into high gear. Phil McIntyre with the Shuswap Trail Alliance says the Canadian Pacific Railway has been pulling out the tracks over the past several weeks. Crews were seen this week in Armstrong removing...
Body of drowned Coldstream man found
REVELSTOKE - Searchers have found the body of a Coldstream man who went missing after jumping into Revelstoke Lake July 30. Authorities were notified at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday that the 28-year-old had jumped from the Laforme Creek bridge and never resurfaced. The Laforme Creek Bridge, 20 km north of the Revelstoke Dam on Highway 23...
HELSTON: Confronting history in a non-threatening way
The Splatsin First Nation in Enderby is welcoming one and all to take a journey through time and memory in the stories of its people. From ancient legends to contemporary tales, the stories in an upcoming community play, Tuwitames, tell of Splatsin values, traditions and defining moments in their history. Historian and co-author of the script,...
Winfield man’s last four months were out of this world
EARTH - A Lake Country man has been to Mars — the simulated version anyway. Ross Lockwood, a PhD candidate in condensed matter physics at the University of Alberta, hails from Winfield but has spent the last four months in a NASA built simulation centre on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii....
UPDATE: Head-on crash sends 4 to hospital
VERNON – The investigation continues into the cause of a head-on collision on Highway 97 south of Vernon near the landfill. A large SUV towing a camper trailer and an SUV crossover hit near Westridge Road around 6:00 a.m. Thursday. Four people were rushed to Vernon Jubilee Hospital with traumatic but non-life threatening injuries, according...
Lake Country firefighters respond to brush fire
LAKE COUNTRY - The Lake Country Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire that turned into a small brush fire Wednesday afternoon. Crews were dispatched just before 3:30 p.m. to the fire, somewhere along Oyama Road. More information will be posted as it becomes available. To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston...
Splatsin First Nation plots dramatic return of traditional stories
ENDERBY - After years of safekeeping in archives and in the minds of elders, stories of the Splatsin First Nation are being told the way they should be; with music, actors, costumes and an audience. Tuwitames, a community play presented by Runaway Moon Theatre and the Splatsin Language Program, runs August 6-10 at the Splatsin...
Local man finds pilot of crashed float plane
VERNON - First, Ed Rougeau heard a plane engine thrumming in the sky over his home on the rural, west side of Okanagan Lake. Then the engine cut, and over his shoulder Rougeau saw the Cessna 180 float plane crash into the forest. It was loud as the plane knocked its way through the trees,...
Engine failure possible cause of plane crash
VERNON - A mechanical failure may have sent a float plane crashing into the woods off Westside Road. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says early information is the plane’s engine failed. Residents in the area heard the plane go down near Six Mile Creek road off the west side of Okanagan Lake around 6:45 p.m. Monday....
Pilot of downed plane walks from crash site
VERNON - The pilot of a plane that crashed somewhere in the woods off Westside Road has been taken to hospital with undetermined injuries. Reports of a downed aircraft in the Six Mile Creek area on the west side of Okanagan Lake came in around 6:45 p.m. Monday. Emergency officials, and several nearby residents who...
Extraordinary animal tales of the North Okanagan
VERNON - Have you ever seen a hen raise a flock of ducklings? A dog adopt a piglet? What about a horse herding a bear? The North Okanagan has it all in terms of extraordinary animal encounters. There was Coldstream resident Val Buchanan, also known as Farmer Val, and the story that hatched when she...
2,500 girl guides deserve an applause for spending last night in tents
ENDERBY - Yesterday’s violent thundershower sent most of us running indoors, but a bunch of little girls spent the stormy night in nothing more than their tents. Girl guides, that is. “It was an exciting night for sure,” girl guide spokesperson Laurie Hooker says. But it was nothing the 2,500 guiders couldn’t handle. They took...
Authorities investigate another suspicious fire, this time at Middleton Mountain
VERNON - Another suspicious fire in Vernon, this time in fruit shipping containers, has investigators combing through the rubble. The Vernon Fire Department was called out to the 1200 block of Waddington Drive on Middleton Mountain Monday about 11:30 p.m. Tall flames and smoke could be seen from other parts of the city. Numerous wooden...
Pet rescues underway in Smith Creek fire zone
WEST KELOWNA - An animal rescue team is doing everything possible to ensure no pet is left behind while a forest fire rages in West Kelowna. The Canadian Disaster Animal Response Team (CDART) has recovered over 60 animals from the evacuation zone near Smith Creek, including 16 horses, 21 cats and 21 dogs. Spokesperson Petra...
Evacuees watch crews attempt to save their homes
WEST KELOWNA - Margaret Maljevac is living out of Rubbermaid bins and watching water bombers swirl above her home, hoping it will still be there when the evacuation order is lifted. Maljevac is one of thousands of residents displaced by the Smith Creek wildfire in West Kelowna, now 400 hectares large and only 20 per...
Mixed Martial Arts ban won’t affect local youth
VERNON - Kids can compete in mixed martial arts tournaments in Vernon, but not professional fighters. That’s the stance Vernon councillors took Monday when endorsing a ban on mixed martial arts (MMA) contests in the city. Council postponed dealing with the proposed bylaw last month because of concern the wording was too all-encompassing. Coun. Mary...
Sugar Lake wildfire triples in size
VERNON - A wildfire that was an estimated 33 hectares in size over the weekend tripled overnight. Fire information officer Melissa Klassen says the lightning-caused fire raging just north of Sugar Lake is now burning 107 hectares of timber. While the fire grew Sunday night, Klassen says the latest figure is the most accurate because...
Heat pushing wildfire risk to the extreme in Thompson-Okanagan
THOMPSON OKANAGAN - With temperatures in the Thompson-Okanagan boiling over into the mid-30s in the next week, fire officials are warning the public to be especially vigilant. The weather in the Kamloops Fire Centre, which covers Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna and Penticton, is expected to remain hot and dry for the next 7-10 days, conditions which...
Kin Race Track fire considered suspicious
VERNON - Authorities are treating a fire at Kin Race Track as suspicious, just the latest in a long string of dozens of suspicious fires in the community. The Wednesday night blaze destroyed the grandstands overlooking the race track, leaving a charred and unstable structure too dangerous for investigators to enter. “We haven’t even been...
Guilty pleas expected in Vernon child porn case
VERNON - A Vernon man accused of luring children online and making or publishing child pornography is expected to enter a guilty plea this fall. According to the Vernon court registry, David Clayton Willerth, born in 1974, intends to enter guilty pleas Oct. 6. It is unknown which of Willerth’s 25 counts, or how many...
New Enderby gas station infused with Splatsin culture
VERNON - Next time you fill up at the Super Save gas station in Enderby, follow the bear prints inside the new building. You’ll find intricately carved wooden pillars and doorways, glass etching on the windows and countless other cultural details infused into the brand new gas station store designed by Kevin Halchuk and Grahame...
Cougar discovered inside a home, chewing on a dog toy
VERNON - It wasn’t a 911 call anyone would ever expect to make. “There’s a cougar in my house chewing on a squeaky toy,” says a Westside Road resident who asked to be referred to only by her first name, Verena. “The police initially thought I might be hallucinating.” Verena, 53, just returned home from...
Rescuer still searching after 50 years
VERNON - After a 50-year run with search and rescue, Vernon’s Pete Wise has a quick answer when asked if he’s ready to retire. It’s a negative. Wise, 66, is as ready as ever to drop what he’s doing to drive out to the middle of nowhere as he was when he was 16. “It’s...
Okanagan routes hit top spots in worst roads survey
OKANAGAN - The Okanagan has some of the worst roads in the province. That’s the message voters in BCAA’s Worst Roads survey are sending this year. Silver Star Road in Vernon hit first, Westside Road near Attenborough Road second, and Cosens Bay Road in Coldstream third. Two other portions of Westside Road in West Kelowna...