Month of October
MP Richard Cannings NDP – Environmentalist elected for SOWK
NDP Richard Cannings was declared the winner after garnering 24,823 votes. “I pledge to not only take your concerns to Ottawa, but also to seek out your ideas on how we can make this a better place to live,” Cannings states. “Together we can build a better country and a Canada we can be proud of once again.”
The red tide however prevailed coast to coast with the Liberals winning – the Conservatives rejected. The NDP took a beating. Conservative Marshall Neufeld gained enough to move into second place with 19,894, Liberal Connie Denesiuk slipped into third with 18,727 votes, followed by Samantha Troy from the Green Party, 2,851 and Independent Brian Gray, 432.
Month of November
Farmers don’t like RDOS trail plan
39 property owners/farmers have signed a petition and sent it off to the Regional District Okanagan – Similkameen expressing strong objections to a proposal for what they call an ‘unnecessary and redundant’ trail south of Oliver. The objection is to the “use of a public resource for a new trail” which to a large degree duplicates an existing hike and bike trail about 500 metres away along the Okanagan River. The group led by orchardist David Machial says the list of objections is long: Possible property damage, increase in liability, safety of food produced nearby, misuse of adjacent land, environmental degradation and impacts on native species and wildlife. Politicians got the message in a townhall type meeting and the plan is on the skids.
Month of December
Rescue on ice – teen saved
Young teenager walking on ice fell through – in water for 20+ mins. Emergency Crews rushed to scene. One person jumped into lake to rescue but ice prevented him getting to victim. Other personnel used a float board and a canoe to get closer and at about 10 to 4 were able to get the boy into the boat, to shore, into an ambulance and off to the hospital. Would be treated for hypothermia. OFD spokesman Rob Graham: “I bet he was exhausted.” He spoke to Global Okanagan : “I don’t know how long he’d been there when we arrived on scene, but at that point hypothermia can become a problem, if he’s been in the water for a long period of time.” The boy lives just south of the location. His mother, father and other relatives rushed to the scene. Both the teenager and a rescuer treated for mild hypothermia. Hard to believe but the teenager went to school the next day.
This concludes our month by month top story review. Two stories not mentioned earlier are almost a theme all year long –
National Park and Crime vs policing.
ODN will deal with that later today when we pick:
Top Story – Local and Regional:
Top Newsmaker of the Year: