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Steve Arstad
I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.
Steve Arstad's Stories
UPDATE: Missing Princeton teenager found
UPDATE: 8:49 a.m., JUNE 24, 2015 RCMP say Tianna Angstadt has returned home safe and sound. Poilce thank the media and the public for their assistance. 1:10 P.M., JUNE 27, 2015 PRINCETON - Police are asking for help to find a missing Princeton teenager. RCMP say Tianna Angstadt, 13, was last seen at her home...
VIDEO: Animal advocate wants unnecessary suffering by injured wildlife to end
PENTICTON - A Penticton animal advocate believes a change in policy is necessary when it comes to police and conservation officers dealing with injured wildlife. Theresa Nolet was driving along Highway 97 near the intersection of Duncan Avenue and the Channel Parkway in Penticton on June 23 when she saw a wounded deer with a...
Central City Foundation continues to seek new operator for The Crossing
KEREMEOS - Five months after the Portage residential treatment centre for addicted youth, known as The Crossing at Keremeos closed its doors, the owner of the property says work to reopen the facility continues. Central City Foundation president Jennifer Johnstone says a made-in-B.C. solution is being sought to reopen The Crossing and the foundation has...
Tubers reminded of channel restrictions until July 1
PENTICTON - This weekend’s prediction of sizzling temperatures will likely result in one of the busiest weekends so for this year for Penticton channel tubing. Be warned, the full length of the channel will not be open until Canada Day, so floaters are being asked not to go past the under construction Satikw Bridge. Chris...
South Okanagan roadside checks result in arrest for outstanding warrant
PENTICTON - RCMP in the South Okanagan have arrested a man wanted in Calgary in connection with the sexual assault of a young child. Police say it all started with an uninsured driver who was stopped during one of the roadside checks conducted by the police on Saturday, June 20. Four days later, RCMP arrested...
Search efforts escalate for two missing hikers in South Okanagan
PENTICTON - The search for two Ontario hikers missing since Monday in the Similkameen is escalating as the search enters its third full day. Keremeos RCMP first received a report about two hikers overdue to return to the Cathedral Lakes Lodge in the Similkameen Mountains southwest of Keremeos at 8:36 p.m. Monday, June 22. Lynne...
Ski hill agreement nets benefits for Osoyoos Indian Band
PENTICTON - Next year’s ski season will see Mount Baldy operate under a new partnership agreement with local First Nations. The Osoyoos Indian Band recently signed an agreement with Baldy Capital Corporation that will provide an annual lease payment by the corporation for land on the hill and allow band members greater access to the...
Staff at Okanagan owl rehab centre trying to understand reason behind poisoning
PENTICTON - A break and enter and food poisoning at the South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls has left staff wondering what the reasons were for the weekend crime. Centre Manager Dale Belvedere says the rehab centre was broken into sometime overnight Saturday. It appears whoever broke in poisoned a bucket containing food for rats, which ...
UPDATE: Search for missing hikers in Similkameen
PENTICTON - Efforts are increasing in a search to find two missing hikers. Search and rescue teams are working with police in looking for two people who failed to return from a hike in the Similkameen yesterday. Cpl. Dave Tyreman says Rick Moynan and Lynne Carmody, both believed to be in their 50s, left a...
Victim of Oliver motorcycle crash identified
PENTICTON - An Osoyoos man has been identified as the victim of a June 9 motorcycle crash in Oliver. Robert Andrew Derby, 63, crashed his motorcycle after swerving to avoid a deer, according to a media release from the B.C. Coroners Service. He struck a utility pole after leaving the roadway in the 7300-block of...
Airsoft toting gunman to do less jail time
PENTICTON - A 19-year-old Penticton man sentenced last week for brandishing and shooting people with an airsoft handgun on city streets on two separate occasions, had his sentence reduced today. Christian Darren Leggatt, will serve 60 days less than the 90 originally sentenced, following the correction of an an error in evidence discovered at his...
No reason to feel particularly antsy in the Okanagan this summer
OKANAGAN - The early summer weather in the Okanagan Valley this year has meant a spike in ant activity. According to pest control experts, we aren't experiencing a higher than normal ant population, it's just they are active earlier than usual. Mark Dawson with Enviropro Pest Control assures us ants aren't taking over. “Ants are...
Beading a path through the Okanagan
PENTICTON - An Okanagan artist and entrepreneur turned a daydream into a unique business opportunity which continues to grow with each new tourist season. Karen Griggs was looking for a way to make a living while following her passion when she came up with the idea of the Bead Trail. According to her blog, a...
Okanagan residents needn’t fear the “big one” following a Penticton quake
PENTICTON - The small earthquake in the South Okanagan yesterday startled a number of people in Penticton and Naramata, but not to worry, seismologists say, it wasn’t a harbinger of the "big one". The shallow depth, magnitude 2.5 quake took place at 4:45:02 p.m., Thursday, June 18, “almost directly under Penticton, just to the southeast,”...
Coroner rules Okanagan Falls drowning death ‘undetermined’
OKANAGAN FALLS - The B.C. Coroner's Service figured out what killed an Edmonton man found floating in the Okanagan River near Okanagan Falls last spring, but questions about why he ended up in the river remain unanswered. Coroner Walter Burns has determined Andrew Scott Gangl drowned in the river and alcohol and drugs were contributed...
Aboriginal court case could break new ground in Okanagan
PENTICTON - A woman facing sentencing over a litany of conditional sentence and personation breaches and minor thefts may soon make legal history in Penticton. Mae Lynnette Postel’s sentencing led both counsel and Judge Gregory Koturbash to look into the possibility of diverting her case to a form of aboriginal justice known as a 'sentencing...
Career criminal earns another seven years behind bars
PENTICTON - Call it courthouse math: A man who has been sentenced to 21 years in jail in the last 19 years, yet still managed to find time to commit more crimes, has earned another seven years in prison. Jon Russell Lowe appeared by video before Judge Gregory Koturbash in Penticton Provincial Court today, June...
Penalty for shooting someone with an airsoft gun? More than you might think
PENTICTON - A 19-year-old Penticton man with a penchant for shooting people with an airsoft gun discovered today they are no toys in the eyes of the law. Christian Darren Leggatt will spend 96 more days in jail for one incident and another 90 days for a second occurrence, Judge Gregory Koturbash decided in Penticton...
Neighbours fear ‘another Boonstock’ if Naramata winery gets special liquor licence
PENTICTON - A Naramata winery operator who faced a gallery full of people against an application for a special events liquor licence, hopes to assuage fears at tonight’s council meeting. The matter first came before council on May 4 and council deferred a decision on the licence for Bench 1775 Winery for 30 days following...
Third time proves unlucky as fire destroys Keremeos restaurant
PENTICTON - The Riverbed Bistro in Keremeos was destroyed by fire early this morning, the third fire at the restaurant in the past four years. Firefighters were called to the blaze at about 3:30 a.m., Monday, June 15, at the restaurant directly across the street from the local firehall. Keremeos Chief Jordy Bosscha says the...
Bad Tattoo wins medals for good brew
PENTICTON - A Penticton craft brewery, not even in business for a year, has attracted award winning national attention. Bad Tattoo was awarded two silver medals in the 2015 Canadian Brewing Awards held last week in Niagara Falls, Ontario, according to a media release The brewery won silver for best North American-style amber lager as...
Heavy intoxication cause of Sawmill Lake drowning: Coroner
PENTICTON - A suspicious drowning death that occurred last year in a lake near Oliver has been deemed accidental following a report by the B.C. Coroners Service. No trauma was found on Grace Marie Capot-Blanc’s body to indicate she was forced into the water. She was, however, heavily intoxicated at the time of her death,...
Impaired driver wreaks path of destruction in Penticton
PENTICTON - An impaired driver operating his vehicle “like he was playing bumper cars” ran amok through Penticton streets. Penticton RCMP Staff Sgt. Kurt Lozinski says police arrested the driver of a white BMW yesterday afternoon, June 11, for impaired driving on Wilson Street in the city’s south end. Lozinski says no police chase was...
Robbery at a Penticton Scotiabank branch
PENTICTON - Penticton RCMP are on the lookout for a suspect after bank robbery earlier this week. Police were called to the Scotiabank branch at 2062 Main St. at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 after bank employees reported a robbery. RCMP say a man entered the bank and handed a note to a...