NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
www.pentictonwesternnews.com
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news
Structurlam gets nod for woodfirst project
VOL. 47 ISSUE 65
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Bikers and boarders do Peachfest
16 page
WEDNESDAY, August 14, 2013
entertainment Kristen Kelly brings
humour to Paisley tour
Mark Brett/Western News Evelyn and Mickey Parenteau of Penticton take off on a parasailing adventure on Okanagan Lake to celebrate Mickey’s 92nd birthday and the couple’s third anniversary recently. For the full story see Page 12.
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sports First Peachfest BMX event a
BOMB RIPS OLIVER ALLEY
NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
Joe Fries
Western News Staff
NATHAN LECLERCQ, 8, does his best impersonation of the SS Sicamous as he sails down Main Street Sunday in the annual Penticton Peach Festival Kiddies Day Parade. Nathan won first place in his age division for his boat costume. For more photos see pages 12 and 13. Mark Brett/Western News
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Investigators descended Monday on a quiet Oliver neighbourhood where a weekend bomb blast damaged a car and sent shrapnel through nearby garages. The blast went off early Sunday morning, although the incident wasn’t reported to police until a day later. The B.C. RCMP Explosive Disposal Unit was then called in to assist local investigators. Mounties said in a press release that an “improvised explosive device” appeared to have been placed under a vehicle that was parked behind a home on the 600 block of Earle Crescent. The car sustained “significant damage” to its rear wheels and undercarriage as a result of the blast. A chunk of metal from the explosion also “appeared to have been projected” through an exterior wall of a nearby garage in which it came to rest, the release added. A second garage in the area was hit with a piece of shrapnel that had “sufficient velocity so as to exit the other side.” “The damage appears to be consistent with an explosion of some significance going off under the vehicle,” said RCMP Sgt. Peter Thiessen. “The motive for this explosion and who may be responsible is not clear at his stage of the investigation.” Vanessa Lameiras, 18, lives beside the home where the explosion went off and said while she didn’t hear the blast, her mother awoke to a loud noise around 2 a.m. Sunday that she thought was thunder. Lameiras said she walked home from friend Aleesha Cooper’s nearby house about two hours before the incident and heard what sounded like a group of people near the bomb site. Cooper, also 18, said Mounties can-
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vassed the neighbourhood Monday afternoon and asked is she’d seen the group of people Lameiras had reported. “They actually seemed very calm,” Cooper said of the local police who appeared at her door. Officers were still combing over the bomb site Tuesday. Cooper believes a woman and her grandson live at the home that appeared to have been targeted by the explosive device. Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes described Earle Crescent as “a quiet residential neighbourhood” about two blocks from the town’s downtown core, and said he was shocked to learn of the incident, about which he’s been told very little. “I know as much as what’s in that press release,” Hovanes said. He noted it would be “really premature” to speculate about who might have been involved, although word of the blast spread quickly in the community. “I’m just glad (police) put out a press release because there’s been a lot of talk,” Hovanes said. “I’m very interested in the motive,” he added, and “I’m thrilled that no one got hurt.” In March 2012, a pipe bomb exploded in a newspaper box in downtown Summerland. The blast damaged a wall of the building closest to the explosion and deposited debris as much as 100 metres away. Summerland RCMP Sgt. Stephane Lacroix said the file is now closed because investigators didn’t have enough evidence to recommend charges. “We’re pretty confident about the individuals who we identified,” he said, “but couldn’t go forward.” Lacroix also said it’s too early to tell if there’s a link between the blast in Summerland and the more recent explosion in Oliver.
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