Kelowna Capital News, June 20, 2013

Page 1

SPORTS

BUSINESS

ENTERTAINMENT

THE CENTRAL Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame welcomes a new group of inductees for 2013.

COLUMNIST Maxine DeHart says look for some changes to the McCurdy Bowling Centre and neighbouring Freddy’s Brewpub in Kelowna.

PLAYING to the beat of his own drum is Brad Weber, the musical influence behind the drumming trio Pick A Piper, coming to Habitat in Kelowna on June 28.

A27

Police say little about dead woman

1892 Spall Rd 250-868-1010 • 1892 Byland Rd 250-769-7355

The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com

Ripe strawberries ready for picking

Justice Allan Betton. However, Betton noted Skreptak took several men with him on the trips as a “show of force.” “These are not, in my view, the markings of the intention described by Mr. Skreptak,” said Betton. “The accused’s response....was to act more in the form of a vigilante.” Skreptak, the court heard, confronted the second boy in the presence of his father and at one point struck the father multiple times in the face, resulting in many facial fractures that required reconstructive surgery. It is not clear if Skreptak committed the assault to intimidate the boys, who knew he was a Hells Angel, or if Skreptak hit the father because he was “lipping” him off, the court concluded. “Either scenario, it See Assault A15 Jennifer Smith STAFF REPORTER

Residents trying to get to the mailbox on Yates Road in front of the home where a young mother is said to have died in the early hours of Tuesday were being turned away

PUBLIC NOTICE

Judie Steeves STAFF REPORTER

JUDIE STEEVES/CAPITAL NEWS

IT WAS a great day for strawberries at Benvoulin Road Strawberries for Eva (left)

and Monica Wattie, who took home three buckets of berries they had picked this week.

by police that evening. The Kelowna RCMP’s serious crime unit had the entire block cordoned off to investigate what was officially being termed “a suspicious death” at a Glenmore-area home on the corner of Yates and Ballou roads.

After 42 YEARS

On Tuesday, at 12:37 a.m., the police were called to the house where the paramedics were already on site. “When police arrived, they found a 27-year-old woman from Kelowna dead inside the home,” Kelowna RCMP spokes-

person Const. Kris Clark said in a brief media release issued the next day. Neighbours in the area told local media it was a couple who lived inside the house with their children and that social services had arrived to remove the kids.

It’s strawberry season—and they are the first in a long line of berries and tree fruits that ripen over the next few months in the Okanagan’s fields, orchards and vineyards. Since strawberries are a highly perishable crop grown in only a short season here, strawberry lovers have to seize the opportunity now to enjoy them picked fresh—ripened on the vine. Unlike pears, which must be picked prior to reaching maturity, strawberries are at their peak of flavour and sweetness when fully ripened on the plant. This week’s wet weather is not the best for their quality, but the cooler weather the past few weeks has resulted in an excellent crop this year, notes Gabe Coupal of Benvoulin Road Strawberries. He’s been growing them at that location since 1987 and after 25 years there, many residents already know where to go for u-pick berries. However, there are a number of commercial growers now in the Central Okanagan, although no processing plants such as there are in the Fraser Valley. Rather than ever-bearing or day-neutral strawberries, Coupal grows the Shuksan variety which is known for its flavour and sweetness, but which has a short season. He estimates there’ll be berries ripening for the next couple of weeks. However, they won’t be open for picking when it’s raining, so people are advised to call ahead. Some local growers do not offer the option of u-pick, but you can buy fresh-picked containers of the berries from them—without having to do any stooping or bending. In the Okanagan, strawberry harvest is followed by raspberries, cherries, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, apples and table grapes. Look for local growers in the classified pages of the Capital News and at the Kelowna and District Farmers and Crafters Market. But RCMP have said nothing in the day since the death occurred. It has not been confirmed whether her death was a homicide, whether she lived in the home or had a partner. Police have not said whether anyone was

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Jacobsen will close its doors

All vehicles will be sold!!

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(We have been

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taken into custody or how the woman died. One neighbour has suggested to one news outlet that he heard a gun shot. As of Tuesday, police could be seen combing dumpsters in the area for evidence. jsmith@kelownacapnews.com

N N

The wife of Hells Angel member Joseph Bruce Skreptak wiped away tears after he was sentenced to 26 months in jail for an “unprovoked” assault on another man. The sentencing Tuesday came some six months after Skreptak pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault of the father of a boy he believed had stolen and pawned $10,000 worth of his jewellery. On Nov. 1, 2010, Skreptak went to the homes of two boys—who were friends of his stepson—to confront them about the missing items. Skreptak claimed in a letter to the court that he approached the boys— rather than go to police— to “give them a chance to come clean” and to get the parents’ help in preventing the teens from returning to his house, said

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