Vernon news
Magic of Enchanted Forest put new owner under its spell
REVELSTOKE - The Enchanted Forest had its new owners spellbound from the first time they saw the woodland wonderland many years ago. The roadside amusement park located between Sicamous and Revelstoke on the Trans Canada Highway has, for the fifth time in its 55 years, changed hands, but longtime visitors need not fear any drastic changes;...
No fireworks in Vernon for Canada Day, but here’s what is happening
VERNON - With many people disappointed there won’t be any fireworks accompanying Canada Day in Vernon, a local organizer says there’s still lots to enjoy, and take pride in, this year. Residents learned in May there wouldn’t be a fireworks display on Canada Day — a shock to many who assumed the longstanding tradition would,...
Young boy with Down syndrome airlifted to Vancouver after work van ran over his chest
WEST KELOWNA – An eight-year-old boy with Down syndrome from West Kelowna is in critical condition in Vancouver Children’s Hospital today after a commercial van ran over his chest in his neighbourhood yesterday, June 22. Jonah Pevach's mother Candice Loring says the accident happened around 4:30 p.m. and they were airlifted to Vancouver yesterday evening....
Concern for homeless community heightens as temperatures rise
VERNON - While the hot weather forecast has many of us planning fun ways to beat the heat, members of the homeless population are thinking about something else entirely: survival. Imagine heading into 40 Celsius weather with no air conditioning, no hat or sunscreen, and no water. That’s the situation Vernon’s Cammy LaFleur Street Outreach...
UPDATE: Water quality advisory rescinded for Delcliffe area
VERNON - A water quality advisory issued for customers in the Delcliffe Road and Cameron Road area earlier this week has been rescinded. Greater Vernon Water along with Interior Health issued the advisory, June 24, for customers supplied by the Delcliffe Water Utility. Increasing water levels had increased turbidity resulting in cloudy water and a...
HELSTON: The Canadian Ski Patrol’s legacy is something that’s never leaving
It takes a certain kind of person to be a volunteer, and we’d be lost without them. From the search and rescuer who misses dinner with his family to help find a missing hiker, the listening ear on the other end of the crisis hotline, or the ski patroller who spends her weekend not knowing what kind of emergency she might be called to next — they are here for us, not for money, not for credit, but to help.
Being dismissed from Silver Star feels like ‘something precious to you being taken away’: Canadian Ski Patroller
CANADIAN SKI PATROL STILL LOOKING FOR ANSWERS VERNON - Sadness, anger and confusion are some of the emotions members of the Canadian Ski Patrol are feeling after finding out they aren’t being asked back to Silver Star Mountain next winter. Volunteers from the Canadian Ski Patrol can be found on many ski hills around the...
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...
Forecast heat wave prompts warning for people to be prepared
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – Hot desert air moving into the Southern Interior this weekend is behind a Special Weather Statement warning people to get ready. Record breaking high temperatures of 40 Celsius are forecast for Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28, in the South Thompson, Nicola and South Okanagan. In the statement, issued today, June 25,...
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...
Upswing in payroll at Vernon city hall
VERNON - There’s been a hike in payroll at the City of Vernon. Staff salaries went up over half a million dollars last year, according to financial information released in a 2014 annual report. The city shelled out more than $21.7 million in pay and expenses for its employees in 2014, up nearly $520,000 over 2013. Among...
Family with prohibited pet pig appeals to Vernon council
VERNON - This little piggy wants to stay home, but a little known Vernon bylaw stands in the way. In the hope of keeping their pet pig Felix, a local family is asking Vernon council for a variance to the Animal Regulation and Animal Pound Bylaw, which states swine cannot be kept within the city,...
Careless use of flare guns believed to have sparked Kal Park blaze
VERNON - A fire in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park Tuesday night is believed to have been caused by reckless behaviour. Coldstream fire chief Dave Sturgeon says crews responded to a small, one-metre by one-metre grass fire in the Rattlesnake Point area of Kal Park around 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. By the time firefighters arrived,...
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...
Cisco Road wildfire evacuation alert rescinded
LYTTON – The Regional District Emergency Operations Centre has rescinded the evacuation alert for roughly 60 properties near the Cisco Road wildfire near Lytton. The alert was issued at 9 p.m. June 11 for the west side of the Fraser River from the intersection of Lytton Ferry Rd. and South Spencer Rd., south to the...