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RECEIVER Ben West is one of the returning veterans hoping to provide leadership for the Okanagan Sun this season.
KELOWNA VIOLINIST Melissa Wilmot is returning home to perform a duet with Toronto pianist Hyoseon Sunny Kim at the Christ Lutheran Church this weekend.
NO BOOKS go to waste in the West Kelowna home of Carol Jackson, where old books are recycled for new readers rather than being tossed in the garbage.
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82 serving our community 1930 to 2012
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THURSDAY July 19, 2012 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
â–ź SNOWBIRDS
â–ź WESTSIDE
Famed aerial Cable wake park owner anxious to reopen team returning to Kelowna Wade Paterson STAFF REPORTER
The Snowbirds will be back in the sky over Kelowna next month. The Royal Canadian Airforce’s aerial acrobatics team will present its full 35-minute show— the same one presented at airshows across North America—over Okanagan Lake starting at 4 p.m., Aug. 1. While the aerial manoeuvres will be seen from just about anywhere on the downtown lakeshore, or across the lake on the Westside, the best vantage point is expected to be Waterfront Park, say organizers. The famed flyers, who performed here last summer in support of the Rotary Club, have added the Kelowna stop to their 2012 schedule as part of their support for the CHILD Foundation, an organization that raises money for children with intestinal and liver diseases. The Snowbirds have been official ambassadors of the Child CONTRIBUTED Foundation for the last THE Snowbirds in flight 10 years. formation. According to event chairwoman Lisa Merrick, in addition to the public show, there will be two invite-only events, a luncheon for children who suffer from Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and other liver disorders and their parents at Kelowna Flightcraft at the airport on July 31 when the Snowbirds arrive. In addition to lunch, the children will get to meet the pilots, ask them questions and will be taken out onto the tarmac to get an up-close look at the planes. Following the Aug. 1 show, an invite-only dinner for VIPs and sponsors of the event will take place at the Delta Grand Hotel. See Aerial A4
DOUG FARROW/CAPITAL NEWS
PROVINCIAL CABINET minister Steve Thomson said efforts are underway to expedite the tenuring paperwork required to reopen the Whiplash Cable Wake Park. of how long the process might take; however, Wiker said that his conversations with the province lead him to believe that the park could be back up
and running as early as next week. If the process is delayed much longer than that, Wiker isn’t certain that his dream of a cable
wake park on Okanagan Lake will survive. “We’ll have to make the decision within the next week-and-a-half as to whether or not (to con-
The Okanagan Valleys only
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Alistair Waters
Whiplash Cable Wake Park was knocked down by a wave of bad news Friday in the form of a provincial shut-down order. But tides could turn back in its favour as early as next week. Conrad Wiker, owner of Whiplash, said a representative of the provincial government gave him a cease and desist order at 4 p.m. last Friday. According to Steve Thomson, B.C. Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and the Liberal MLA for Kelowna-Mission, Whiplash didn’t have a valid licensing or tenuring arrangement. He said that the province had to shut the business down until the appropriate tenuring was put in place. “For liability and insurance reasons, that step needed to be taken. What’s unfortunate is that it had to be taken in the timing that it did,� Thomson said. The minister explained he has directed his regional staff to expedite the licensing process because Whiplash is currently missing out on a peak time for business. “We’re working at a top priority to get them the appropriate tenure approval for their operation and to have them back in business as quickly as possible,� Thomson said. The minister wouldn’t give an exact estimation
tinue),� said Wiker. “Unfortunately, the shutdown may cause us to be in a financial position where we may not be able to open.� Wiker said the cease and desist order came as a shock to him. “We believed that we were operating 100 per cent legal. We never chose to do anything illegal or wanted to do anything illegal,� said Wiker. But Thomson said discussions had taken place prior to the business being shut down last week. “I think that they were aware of the requirements. I think there was some awareness that they potentially didn’t have the appropriate authorization for the business they wanted to operate,� said Thomson. “That being said, that’s history and not what I’m focusing on at this point. “What I’m focusing on is having my staff in the region do everything they can as quickly as they can to get them into the appropriate tenure.� Whiplash first opened to the public June 30. The park includes a beginner and expert cable that can accommodate those riding on a wakeboard, kneeboard, wakeskate or pair of water skis. Wiker said he was happy with the number of customers through two weeks of operation.
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