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Glynn Brothen
Kamloops newspaper ordered to remove stories on accused murderer
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops newspaper has been ordered to remove two stories from its website…
Kamloops designer sets off on new chapter, bids farewell to city’s fashion scene
KAMLOOPS - The city is losing its best-known fashion designer to Toronto. Quinn Collier, owner of QTC designs, staged his final fashion show at Hotel 540 on June 28 to a crowd of white-clad spectators — mainly friends and family — who supported him in his six-year quest to become a fashion designer. “Lots of...
‘Sheer brutality’ earns killer who stabbed friend 12 years
RECEIVES SAME SENTENCE AS LAST TRIAL KAMLOOPS - A convicted killer could be back out in the community in roughly five years’ time after he was handed his sentence today, June 30, for his 'sheer brutality' in the 2008 murder of a Lytton man. Kamloops Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley handed Cory Bird, 27, the...
UPDATE: Highway between Merritt and Spences Bridge reopens following rock slide
MERRITT - The highway between Spences Bridge and Merritt has reopened completely following a rock slide yesterday afternoon. According to Drive B.C., the slide took place around 12 p.m. June 26 on Highway 8, at Voght Street, about 45 kilometres west of Merritt. It originially blocked traffic in both directions about 45 kilometres west of...
Lytton community leader gets three years in prison for bizarre sex assault
SHAVED YOUNG MAN'S PRIVATE PARTS WHILE HE SLEPT KAMLOOPS - A community leader who used his reputation as a means to keep his bizarre sexual behaviour and assault on a young man secret will spend the next three years in a federal prison, a Kamloops Supreme Court Justice decided today, June 26. Michael Hume, a...
Woman who went missing in Okanagan bush has outstanding warrants
PEACHLAND - The Winnipeg woman who went missing for more than a week and then was found by two men checking on livestock on an old logging road near Peachland is due for a court appearance in Manitoba. Kara Jo Leigh Stoyanowksi, 24, went missing for nine days after she left a recreational area near...
Police-themed party gets surprise police visit
PRINCE GEORGE - Police-themed birthday parties are all the rage with young boys, often complete with badges and hats, but not all young boys get to have actual cops at their birthday party too. When Cpl. Dave Tyreman found out four-year-old Capper was hosting a police-themed birthday party on June 20 he decided to roll...
Safety levels at Kamloops jail questioned by union chair after violent assault on corrections officer
KAMLOOPS – A union chair is calling on the province to offer staff more protective…
Second assault at Kamloops jail this week
KAMLOOPS - Emergency personnel were on scene at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre for an inmate assault this morning, June 24. Dean Purdy, chair of the corrections and sheriffs services component of the B.C. Government and Service Employee’s Union, says an ambulance and fire truck arrived at the jail this morning. “The inmate-on-inmate violence occurs...
Deceit, identity theft and bigger breasts will cost jailed fraudster over $17K
KAMLOOPS - After stealing an 83-year-old man’s identity to use as a co-signer on breast implants, a tummy tuck and liposuction, a local woman owes more than $17,000 along with nine months in jail, a Kamloops Provincial Court Judge decided today, June 23. Judge Len Marchand sentenced Brandie Bloor, a woman with a history of...
First Nation welcome signs cut down near Kamloops on eve of Aboriginal Day
SAVONA - Investigators with Kamloops Rural RCMP are appealing to the public for information after two signs welcoming people to the Skeetchestn First Nation were cut down the night before National Aboriginal Day on Sunday. The signs, which stood next to the Trans-Canada Highway in the Savona area, were discovered sawed down Sunday morning, June...
SNELSON TRIAL: Ex-wife of accused was vigilant after hearing of missing girl
KAMLOOPS - Katherine Oystryk, 44, remembers hearing about Jennifer Cusworth and watching out for her own safety after the 19-year-old girl went missing from a Kelowna house party her then-husband attended 21 years ago. Now Oystryk's ex-husband, Neil George Snelson, 48, stands accused of manslaughter in Cusworth’s killing. This is his second trial. Oystryk testified...
SNELSON TRIAL: Cusworth was beaten to death: Pathologist
GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY KAMLOOPS - Around seven or eight blows to the head caused the death of a 19-year-old girl who was found beaten, bruised and strangled in a watery ditch at the side of a pumpkin farmer’s property in Kelowna in 1993. In Kamloops Supreme Court today, June 4, Dr. Ronald Roy, a forensic...
SNELSON TRIAL UPDATE: Friends recall last moments with Jennifer Cusworth
KAMLOOPS - The last time Jennifer Cusworth’s friends saw her alive at a house party, they planned to get her home safely after drinking into the early morning hours of October 16, 1993. For Pam Coulombe and Faith Klinksiek their plan didn’t work out; the 19-year-old disappeared from the party. A jury heard Coulombe and...
Kamloops girl’s life cut short by abuse and neglect
KAMLOOPS - In a lengthy report documenting the plight of a young aboriginal girl failed by several bureaucracies, a critic says apathy, incomplete reports and inaction from ministry workers were significant contributors to a Kamloops girl's continual homelessness and eventual death at 19 years of age in the squalor of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Representative for...
More B.C. wildfire personnel headed to Alberta
KAMLOOPS - Forty-one B.C. wildfire personnel, including two unit crews and an agency representative, will join the 88 others deployed earlier this week to fight wildfires in Alberta. Crews will be stationed in Edmonton, but could be deployed elsewhere throughout that province based on fire activity and need. Along with 129 personnel, B.C. sent two...
UPDATE: Police presence in front of Ellison Elementary
VERNON - Police have cordoned off the road near Ellison Elementary School in Vernon after someone discovered blood in the area Wednesday morning. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says the blood was found sometime between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., May 27, on Fulton Road, in front of Ellison Elementary School. While police are treating the...
Date set for Slide the City in Kamloops
KAMLOOPS - The chance to pick up a ticket for this summer's epic slip 'n slide event is coming soon. The first Slide the City Kamloops will take place Saturday, July 18, and ticket registration opens Tuesday, May 26. The family-friendly event will feature food, drinks, live music and a 1,000-foot water slide covering Hillside...
WASELENKOFF ACQUITTED: Why police sometimes fail to get fingerprints
KAMLOOPS — When he acquitted a retired Kamloops school teacher of possession of child pornography, a Kamloops Supreme Court justice said the Crown provided no direct link between Jerry Waselenkoff and a stack of compact discs stashed in the floorboards below his apartment. Police managed to get fingerprints off the CDs but unlike typical crime...
WASELENKOFF TRIAL: Retired teacher not guilty of possessing child porn
KAMLOOPS - While a Kamloops Supreme Court Justice acknowledged the testimony of a retired teacher was "carefully woven" in his trial for possession of child pornography, he delivered an acquittal today, May 14. Jerry Waselenkoff was charged with one count of possessing child porn after a downstairs neighbour, Frans Van Der Woning, located four cases...
WASELENKOFF TRIAL UPDATE: Accused challenges neighbour’s accusations
KAMLOOPS - The relationship between a man charged with possessing child pornography and a neighbour who testified against him was far different than what court heard, according to the accused. Retired teacher Jerry Waselenkoff took the stand as a defence witness Tuesday, May 12 to say he and his neighbour Frans Van Der Woning had...
Mom’s lessons helping daughters cope with her loss
KAMLOOPS - When Valerie Brook passed on to her daughters her love of music, it was a gift they would never be without. She would listen for hours, take them to music lessons, attend their concerts, encourage them. Loralie Loewen, 30, played the violin and Crystal Greffard, 31, the piano since they were children. Music...
Traffic court on its way out with new e-ticketing system
WILL THE DECISION RELIEVE BACKED UP PROVINCIAL COURTS AND SAVE MONEY OR WILL IT STRIP YOU OF YOUR RIGHTS? KAMLOOPS - A critic of a new amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act — which will introduce driving notices instead of tickets and remove provincial traffic courts for disputes — calls the move unconstitutional and plans...
Robin Williams impression is spot on
Everyone was shocked last year at the untimely departure of one of the world's greatest actors and comedians. Robin Williams embodied many different characters and frequently took chances on casting roles to challenge them. Watch this young actor show his chops by impersonating Williams' personalities in today's trending now. Then watch Conan O'Brien examine Hillary...