82 serving our community 1930 to 2012
SPORTS
ENTERTAINMENT
WEST
CENTRAL OKANAGAN high school girls’ soccer teams prove to be a force to be reckoned with in championship matches.
THE BEATLES music experience continues to resonate with fans of the Fab Four more than 40 years since the band broke up as a new Beatlemania show comes to Kelowna Community Theatre.
WEST KELOWNA’S mayor is not a big fan of the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention held this year in Saskatoon, but Coun. Carol Zanon says she’s glad she went.
A19
B1
B8
We’re on your side. Kelowna
West Kelowna
AIR MILESÂŽ and Bigger Smiles WWW CRAFTSMANCOLLISION COM s 7EST +ELOWNA +ELOWNA
THURSDAY June 7, 2012 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
â–ź BUSINESS
Drawing investors to the Okanagan Kathy Michaels STAFF REPORTER
Okanagan to meet Jung after learning her songs helped him gain the strength to learn to walk again after being injured in a motorcycle accident.
â–ź PROJECT LITERACY
Irish star flies across the country for sweet reward Jennifer Smith STAFF REPORTER
Every day Robert Jung makes Kelowna residents’ lives a little sweeter, doling out treats as the owner of Annegret’s Chocolates. But this week, an Irish singing sensation with a voice so rich it makes the darkest of cocoa seem milky turned the tables.
Julie Feeney, the 2006 winner of the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year, flew into Kelowna Wednesday to meet Jung after learning her song, Life’s Nudge, pulled him back from a terrible motorcycle accident that stole the marathon runner’s ability to walk and crushed his will to live.
“I was in a stage where I really gave up on life,� admitted Jung. “I just really didn’t feel I could keep going.� Confined to a wheelchair and struggling through hours upon hours of physical therapy and acupuncture sessions, Jung’s first year of rebuilding didn’t seem to be offering any improvement
Tickets still available Julie Feeney plays Kelowna Project Literacy’s 25th Anniversary Celebration at the Laurel Packinghouse this Friday, June 8, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 for wine, food and a chance to see the award-winning instrumental and electronic artist described as Lady Gaga-esque, for her costuming. Tickets can be purchased at Mosaic Books on Bernard Ave. or by calling Project Literacy at 250-7622163. She will be at Towne Centre Mall (home of Annegret’s Chocolates) the following day, Saturday, June 9, from noon to 3 p.m. for a concert and fashion show. when he started looking for outside inspiration. Originally from Germany, Jung had won a European title as a mar-
Okanagan Valley only Cadillac Dealer Since 1977 JACOBSEN EXCELLENCE
shall arts fighter in his teens and, remembering that feeling of victory, he
See Reward A7
N Y9 7N
See Investors A10
DOUG FARROW/CONTRIBUTOR
JULIE FEENEY meets Robert Jung for the first time at the Kelowna airport on Wednesday afternoon. The Irish pop star made the trip to the
McCurdy Rd.
HW
One conversation in the right place at the right time can turn a lowly start-up company into an industry leader. And if all goes according to plan, some of those pivotal chats could be taking place right now, say representatives of Metabridge, a locally based technology industry retreat in Kelowna this week. “The founder of Metabridge, Steve Wandler, had his one conversation in a suite at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas in 2008, and that led to the acquisition of his company, YourTech Online,� said Mike Blonde, director of Metabridge. Wandler was at a tech conference like Metabridge, talking to Richard Mandeberg, then the executive vicepresident of Support.com. In short order, the leading provider of Internet delivered services folded Wandler’s growing company into the mix, raising it to a new level. It’s actually a common scenario in the industry, said Blonde. “People in technology, especially Silicon Valley, are more willing to help entrepreneurs to succeed. Success breeds success and when you create a great company or technology, it can snowball.� It’s a mindset that Metabridge organizers have capitalized on, allowing them to turn a conference that had just 30 attendees when it started four years ago into something more substantial. This week 300 people from across Canada and the U.S. will descend on Kelowna for a couple days of schmoozing, learning and building relationships that could last a lifetime—or at least change a life. “It’s not a traditional environment with stuffy workshops,� said Blonde. “We are aiming to build North America’s premier retreat-style tech events. And you’ll see by the list of VIPs and start ups from across Canada, that we’re well on our way.� That’s another key element to making these events fly. There has to be the right mix of movers and shakers—and Metabridge organizers have managed to make that happen as well.
+ Leathead Rd. Hwy 33w