TUESDAY
K A M L O O P S
THIS WEEK Tuesday, June 12, 2012 X Volume 25 No. 47 www.kamloopsthisweek.com X 30 cents at Newsstands
Police probe thefts, fires in NorKam By Tim Petruk STAFF REPORTER tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
Jim Knowles (right) and Pramod Thapa are pleased to see the return of Pramod’s mountain bike, which was stolen in May and last week recovered by the Kamloops RCMP. Dave Eagles/KTW
PROMO’S GRAD PRESENT By Dale Bass STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Promo got an early graduation present — local Mounties found his stolen bike. The mountain bike, put together from donated parts and with volunteer labour from Full Boar Bike Shop, is vital to Pramod Thapa — who everyone refers to as Promo — because the competitive downhill skier uses it in the off-season to train. His goal is to take part in the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, or the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Thapa, who has cerebral palsy, gradu-
ated from Sa-Hali secondary on Thursday, June 7. The day before, police phoned his trainer, Jim Knowles, to let him know they had found a bike they thought was Thapa’s. RCMP Const. Grant Learned said the bike was located while officers were dealing with an unrelated matter. Learned said the theft had not been reported, but officers recognized the bike from a story in KTW about the theft. Knowles did not report the theft because other bikers had told him the odds of recovering it were slim. Friends and supporters of Thapa’s dream
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donated parts to create it and Full Boar donated the frame made by British mountain-bike company Orange. That helped with identifying it because the frame is white with a union jack painted on it. At the time of the theft, Knowles estimated it would cost about $4,000 to replace the bike. Since the early May theft, Thapa has been using a road bike to train for the Gran Fondo Highway Pass race in Alberta on July 7. He first tackled the gruelling race last year, a competition that spans 147 kilometres and includes a 7,000-foot climb.
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They might be teenagers, and they might be criminals, but they appear to have good taste in wine. Just after midnight on Monday, June 11, Kamloops Mounties received a report of a break-in at Bruno’s Cold Beer and Wine store in the 100-block of Tranquille Road in North Kamloops. By the time police arrived, the culprits were gone. Investigators looked at surveillance footage and determined the two teenage crooks had broken a window to gain access to the store, then swiped a $60 bottle of wine before fleeing on foot. Patrols failed to turn up any suspects, but Mounties got lucky a few hours later. Just after 3 a.m., emergency crews were called to a vehicle fire at Clapperton Road and Mulberry Avenue in North Kamloops. Someone had set ablaze an abandoned 1960s car. An officer on scene spotted a teenager running away and caught up with him. He denied having anything to do with the fire but, after police
found the 17-year-old’s driver’s licence on the ground next to the burned-out car, he was taken to jail. Also arrested was a 16-year-old girl found passed out in the area. Police say they found liquor bottles in the area. The bottles had been stolen earlier from the Tranquille Road liquor store. Both suspects were expected to be released after sobering up, with possible charges pending. Police are looking into any possible connections between the pair and last week’s fire and vandalism at the former George Hilliard elementary. Investigators are looking into a suspicious blaze in Brocklehurst on Friday, June 8. Just before 4:30 a.m., a resident in the area of the building, in the 900-block of Holt Street, called 911 to report a fire on top of the building. Kamloops Fire Rescue arrived and snuffed out the blaze, which was burning on the school’s roof, above a utility room. KFR Insp. Kevin Hall said it looks like the fire was set on purpose. “It’s definitely suspicious,” he said. “And, there were some other acts of vandalism perpetrated at the school last night.”