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Vernon news
Friend of cop charged with child porn says accuser-wife showed pornography after child’s birthday party
"IT WAS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC." KELOWNA – A friend of a former Vernon cop and his ex-wife Valerie Little, who accuses him of downloading child pornography, says she believes Little was trying to get pregnant to have a better chance at taking sole custody of their kids. She also testified Little accidentally played a pornographic video...
Westbank private hospital still a go despite financial problems, says band chief
KELOWNA – The Westbank First Nation has confirmed its private for-profit hospital project has been…
Take a seat at the painted piano downtown Vernon
VERNON - The people of Vernon are making beautiful music together, thanks to a colourful, communal piano on Main Street. The old upright piano appeared about three weeks ago on the sidewalk outside a 30 Avenue business, Good Gracious. The store’s former owner Dave Russell, who is now retired, came up with the idea after...
Shelter Cove fire remains steady during the day
WEST KELOWNA - B.C. Wildfire has been hitting smoke on the south flank of the Shelter Cove fire with air tankers but other than that, not much has changed today in the 430-hectare blaze. The evacuation order continues for 70 homes along Westside Road which is closed in both directions between Cinnabar Creek and La...
Why Vernon fields are being watered daily despite water restrictions
VERNON - A number of people are complaining about watering restrictions in Vernon, but it’s not quite what you think. Greater Vernon Water manager Zee Marcolin says most people are getting the message about stage one restrictions and have reduced their water consumption accordingly — no big objections there. What people are complaining about is...
Surprise gives Armstrong woman the ‘wedding of a lifetime’
THE WHOLE TOWN WAS BASICALLY IN ON IT ARMSTRONG - Joan Jong was sad to be missing the Saturday farmers market in Armstrong — even if it was because she was getting married. She’s been selling vegetables at the market, which her family helped establish many years ago, for practically her whole life. But as...
Health authority hard hit by influenza last season
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - The Southern Interior was hard hit by influenza last season with a jump in confirmed cases and deaths. But at the same time, the flu season here in the Interior Health Authority was typical of what the rest of Canada experienced. Dr. Gillian Frosst, an epidemiolgist with the heatlh authority, told the board...
Behind the line at the Shelter Cove wildfire
KELOWNA – The Shelter Cove wildfire along Westside Road continues to grow, however Wildfire B.C. says homes and other structures are not threatened and they are confident they will have it under control soon. The fire, which was first reported Monday afternoon, is not yet contained and continues to burn roughly 430 hectares of dry,...
UPDATE: Evacuation order issued for aggressive wildfire near Falkland
FALKLAND - An aggressive wildfire in the Bolean Lake area of Falkland has prompted an evacuation order. The blaze, which was reported to B.C. Wildfire about 2 p.m. Monday, July 20, quickly grew to an estimated 300 hectares in size up from four hectares earlier in the day. B.C. Wildfire reported Tuesday morning the blaze...
First wife testifies in trial of former Vernon cop charged with child porn
KELOWNA – The first wife of a former Vernon RCMP officer charged with child porn described him as a confrontational man who often raised his voice. Jennifer Fisher and Ryan Hampton’s marriage officially ended in 2011, the same year he married his accuser, Valerie Little. Little, herself a member of the RCMP, told police she...
Pedestrian struck on Vernon crosswalk in critical condition
VERNON - A pedestrian is in critical condition after being hit by a car while using a Vernon crosswalk Saturday morning. The 53-year-old Vernon woman was walking in the crosswalk at Tronson Road and Okanagan Landing Road just after 7 a.m., Saturday, July 18, when she was hit by a car, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk...
RCMP investigating disappearance of migrant workers from Vernon orchard
VERNON - Police are on the lookout for a group migrant workers from Mexico who went missing from a Vernon orchard in June. The four men left personal items behind, but appear to have taken their identification papers, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. The orchard owner told police they disappeared June 26. The men are...
Sunny week ahead for Okanagan
OKANAGAN - It was a hot, sunny and stormy weekend and this week is expected to be a bit closer to normal Okanagan summer weather. Temperatures reached as high as 36 Celsius Sunday as storms rolled through the region. While there is a risk of thunderstorms again today the chance of rain forecast for the...
Okanagan Indian Band members being taught how to dispose of dangerous military explosives
VERNON - Members of the Okanagan Indian band are training to clear unexploded military mortars left littered on their lands decades ago. Since the Boer War in 1906, the Department of National Defence used band land at Madeline Lake about 24 kilometres northwest of Vernon and Goose Lake to train soldiers in firing live mortars,...
Shuswap house boat fatality brings woman back two decades to ‘spookily’ similar accident
HAVE THINGS CHANGED AT ALL IN 22 YEARS? SHUSWAP - After hearing a young woman was run over by a houseboat and killed on Shuswap Lake, Diane Castle’s first thought was ‘oh no, not again.’ The story took the Calgary woman back 22 years ago to the day her best friend died in the same...
VIDEO: Eating pie while surfing in Kal Lake? No problem for this guy
VERNON - Crumbs? No problem. Calories? He’s literally burning them off as he eats. Troy Delfs recently satisfied a Davison Orchard pie craving while surfing in Kalamalka Lake — and he made it look easy. In a video posted to Facebook and viewed thousands of times, Delfs begins in the water, holding onto a tow...
Grass fire sparked north of Vernon
SPALLUMCHEEN - Emergency crews weren’t taking any chances with a small grass fire just north of Vernon beside Highway 97. Fire information officer Kelsey Winter says B.C. Wildfire crews were on the ground alongside firefighters from the Armstrong Spallumcheen Fire Department in an area roughly 15 kilometres north of Vernon near Gurney Creek. The fire,...
Vernon lingerie store’s not the best hangout for cadets
VERNON - It’s that time of year when hundreds of sharp-dressed cadets can be found around town, but it appears one local business wants to keep them at bay. A notice posted outside La Senza in the Village Green Centre, a popular stop for the cadets on weekends, asked that no more than five enter...
Be fire safe, not sorry, when you use your tools and toys in the bush
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - If you plan on being a lumberjack or ripping around on your ATV in the bush this weekend, B.C. Wildfire Management is asking you to take into account the fire risk before firing up a chainsaw or starting up the quad. “If members of the public or industry personnel plan to do any...
Judge orders former Mountie charged with child porn be allowed to shave, change clothes
KELOWNA – Ryan Hampton, a former Vernon RCMP officer facing child porn charges in Kelowna Supreme Court, has not changed his clothes in eight days. Hampton, who has been in custody since his arrest in June 2013, was supposed to be shipped back to Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre on the weekends, but was kept in...
Hampton disputes testimony he left images of child porn for his wife to find
KELOWNA – The former Vernon Mountie facing child porn charges in Kelowna says he didn’t tell an investigator he left images and videos of child porn on a flash drive for his wife to find, directly contradicting testimony given by the Sargent who first interviewed him in May of 2013. Ryan Hampton is on trial...
Province to review bus industry after two Coquihalla crashes
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Two major bus crashes in the last year resulted in serious injuries and now the provincial government is moving forward with a safety review on the motor coach industry. Minister of Transportation Todd Stone says the review will include examining safety statistics, analyzing vehicle inspections and vehicle licensing. It will also compare the...
Unusual bike cruises down Vernon train tracks
VERNON - At first glance, it looks like an ordinary bike. But there’s something different about this particular two-wheeler, that much is clear from three pole attachments jutting out horizontally from the bike. The odd contraption, spotted on the railroad by Kal Beach in Coldstream, is made to run along train tracks. What is it,...
Solve the clues and find the treasure at Kamloops’ newest attraction
KAMLOOPS - You and three friends enter a parlour decorated with antiques and cat-themed trinkets. The door closes behind you, the clock starts and you hear the voice of a lady named Margaret. She tells you she has an estate, and the clues leading to her fortune are in the very room you’re standing in....