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MERRITT HERALD FREE
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2013 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
Merritt to host Sturgis rally and concert in July By Emily Wessel THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
The third annual Sturgis North motorcycle and music festival will be held at the Merritt Mountainfest grounds just outside the city limits, organizers announced on the event’s website Tuesday. The festival, which runs from Aug. 22 to 25, is on its third location in three years. It’s inaugural event was
held in Salmon Arm in 2011, and in 2012 it was moved to the Motoplex Speedway in Vernon. The festival comes to Merritt after negotiations with a site in Chase fell through, but Sturgis North President Joan Hansen said the Mountainfest grounds have three key qualities the other locations were missing. “Merritt’s got infrastructure, it’s got camping, and it’s got the proximity to
Vancouver,” she said. “Our goal this year is to keep our costs down, our prices for the patrons down, and start getting some of our debts from previous years paid back.” Hansen said organizers are working with creditors from both Salmon Arm and Vernon on the event’s outstanding debts, which she said were largely unexpected.
See “Sturgis” Page 7
Upset driver plays demolition derby in RCMP parking lot By Staff
THE HERALD newsroom@merrittherald.com
Afternoon pick-me-up Merritt Secondary School’s Danika Potter (with the ball) gets a lift from a pair of Valleyview VIke tacklers during high school senior girls’ rugby action last Wednesday at the Central School playing fields. The visiting Vikes, who hail from Kamloops, scored a try with less than five minutes remaining in the game to edge the MSS Panthers 10-7. The play-offs began this week for both Merritt senior rugby teams, while local elementary schools convened on Thursday at Diamond Vale School for a rugby play-day. Ian Webster/Herald
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Merritt RCMP didn’t have to go far to investigate a hit and run on May 6. “A 35 year-old male drove into the police station parking lot in Merritt fearing he was being chased by ‘bad guys’,” said Cst. Tracy Dunsmore in a press release. “After tearing the bumper off of one vehicle hoping to set off an alarm to get police attention, the male left the parking lot and then returned moments later and hit two other vehicles. Damage to the last vehicles was minimal.” The male also attempted to kick in
This police cruiser is missing its bumper after a bizarre incident in the RCMP detachment parking lot. Emily Wessel/Herald
the rear door of the building before entering at the front with his girlfriend asking for protection from men whom he believed were after him. The male was taken into custody and escorted to Nicola Valley Hospital where he was then sent to Royal Inland Hospital
in Kamloops for a psychiatric examination. “According to family and friends, this was out of the ordinary for the male, who had been fine prior to the incident and had lunch with several of them,” said Dunsmore. The file is under investigation and charges are pending.
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