NEWS New program for acutely ill patients Page A2
COMMUNITY Princeton band plays in hometown Page A8
SPORTS
Grads tie fundraiser hockey game Page A9 $1.10 Includes TAX
SPOTLIGHT The Similkameen
Volume 63 Issue 12
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Proudly serving the community since 1948 • www.similkameenspotlight.com
Princeton man given another year in jail Michaela Garstin editor@similkameenspotlight.com
Another year of jail time has been tacked onto the sentence of the man who pled guilty for a 2008 manslaughter in Princeton. William Harvey Green was sentenced on three charges of trafficking in a controlled substance in Penticton provincial court on March 12. The charges stem from an incident that occurred just weeks before Green killed Willard Bruce McInroy in 2008. Crown prosecutor Richard Li said on three separate occasions Green acted as a “middle man” for undercover officers purchasing cocaine on Nov. 20 and 21 in 2008. Just a few weeks later, on Dec. 9, RCMP discovered the decomposed body of McInroy in an old funeral home at 133 Bridge Street. “It’s good to keep him in longer, with the added conviction,” said Princeton RCMP officer Sgt. Dave Clare. “The trafficking occurred before the murder, so we had to push to get the charges delayed.” Green had confessed to RCMP that he and his friend McInroy had been on a four-day crack cocaine binge and holed up in McInroy’s apartment on Dec. 2. Green hit McInroy with a baseball bat, knocking him onto his couch where Green struck him several more times with the bat before he fled the apartment. It wasn’t until four months later that RCMP caught up with Green, locally known as Bill, in Merritt. “A consecutive sentence is
definitely favourable, and that’s what he got,” Clare said, adding that a concurrent sentence wouldn’t have given Green more jail time. An additional year will be tacked onto the three years Green received for manslaughter. Justice Peter Rogers sentenced Green to eight years of jail in 2011, but he was given two-forone credit, leaving him with just over three years of time to serve. Green has a lengthy criminal record including assaults, possession of a weapon and resisting arrest. The Town of Princeton was shaken up in December 2008 when the badly decomposed body of McInroy was found. At the time, a neighbouring business proprietor said she had smelled something awful days prior to the discovery of McInroy’s lifeless body. Princeton Const. Joe Huoben told media at that time they found the body in a state of decomposition and unrecognizable. The coroner’s report determined McInroy had died exactly one week before his body was discovered. The building where the body was found was well known in Princeton because it previously had been taped off while investigators searched through the death certificates and documentation of the mortuary manager, Fred Netherton. A series of complaints had been lodged against him over missing remains, and the building had since been condemned and slated to be torn down. With files from Kristi Patton/ Penticton Western News
Welcome to town Bert!
Michaela Garstin/Spotlight
FRIENDLY LIZARD - Keith Olsen holds Everything Pets’ new mascot - a bearded dragon named Bert.
Tragic accident kills Princeton girl A five-year-old Princeton girl was killed by a tree while out collecting firewood with her family around 11 a.m. on March 18 near Iron Mountain Road in Princeton. The young girl was sitting on the box of a pickup truck when a tree was accidently cut down, hitting her in the head. She was rushed to Princeton Hospital, where she was
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pronounced dead after life saving measures failed to revive her. The girl’s name is not being released at this time, but will be released later. Princeton RCMP and BC Coroners Service are conducting a joint investigation. Support for the family is being offered through Princeton RCMP victims services.
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