PROGRAM TRASHED | Former Spallumcheen mayor raises concerns about recycling changes [A6]
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Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014
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2005 CHEVROLET EXPRESS EXTENDED CARGO VAN STK# P14-315A
11,200
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BANNISTER
4703 - 27th St. VERNON • 250-545-0606
GM DL#9133
Landmark provides a century of justice ROGER KNOX Morning Star Staff
It once housed formal dances along with trials. Lawyers have been known to “rest” there over weekends. Government offices were a fixture. Prisoners were escorted up and down three floors because there was no elevator. Its library, once overflowing with law books, is nearly empty now, a victim of the electronic age. It is, today, where civil, family and criminal disputes are heard. There are hidden stairways, original wood fold-up seats in the Supreme Court gallery, empty offices, and a flooded courtroom being renovated. The Vernon Courthouse has seen so much in 100 years of service. And it could see more if much-desired expansion plans are ever approved and financed. “This used to be the only courthouse in the Interior that had a jury room so you could do jury trials,” said Supreme Court Justice Frank Cole during a tour of the magnificent facility on the northeast corner of 30th Avenue and 27th Street which celebrates its centenary this spring. Thanks to the efforts of Price Ellison, who served as Vernon’s member of the provincial legislature from 1898-1916, including double duty as minister of finance and agriculture in premier Richard McBride’s government, a decision was made to replace Vernon’s existing courthouse built in 1892. That building was a two-storey brick building, the first such brick facility in the Interior, located at the intersection of Coldstream and Barnard Avenues. The new courthouse, announced in Ellison’s budget speech in 1911, would be the second largest courthouse in the province behind Vancouver. According to Edward Mills’ historical report, plans were produced by VancouverVictoria architect Thomas Hooper, and construction was handled by John Burns and Son from Nelson. All material construction was mandated to be local. Locally quarried pink granite from Okanagan Landing was to be used for the exterior walls. while B.C. marble was employed for panelling the lower part of the walls of a courtroom, the main entrance, vestibules and corridors on the basement and main (second) floors (Italian marble, though, was specified for the main staircase steps and flooring tiling). Locally manufactured bricks were used
LISA VANDERVELDE/MORNING STAR
The Vernon Courthouse (above) has dominated 27th Street for 100 years, while lawyer Mike Yawney (below) and Sheree Marshall, court registry operations manager, check out the third floor, where Supreme Court trials are held.
for internal dividing walls. Interior wood finish and trim was made with B.C. fir. The furnishings for the courtroom and government agent’s office were to be built of white oak. Natural lighting for the court came courtesy of large stained glass windows above the front entrance and by a glass dome overhead. After three years of construction, the new courthouse opened in 1914 and housed administrative and court facilities on its three floors. Total cost: $198,876.10.
Just five years later, in 1919, several structural difficulties were encountered, so renovations were taken in order to fix sagging and settling problems. Since then, there have been a number of renovations to the facility, including the removal of the dome and the addition of the elevator. “We’re always morphing somewhere as needed,” said Sheree Marshall, manager of court registry operations, and a courthouse employee since 1977. A basement courtroom is under repair after having endured a
flood in late 2013. With a number of offices in the courthouse vacant, those in the legal profession would love to see renovations to the existing courthouse, especially with the grand old building turning 100 this year. “The most pressing need is more courtrooms so more judges can sit,” said Mike Yawney, a lawyer with Vernon law firm Nixon-Wenger. “From the bar side of it, for the clients that use this facility, that’s the No. 1 issue. And new rooms could be accommodated, absolutely. There is lots of space to create more courtrooms.” Cole, who was called to the bar on Sept. 15, 1970, started the next day with Davidson and Co. in Vernon, and spent 16 years with Davidson, 15 years with Sigalet, McGuire and Cole and the last 18 years on the bench. He is among those pushing for more space. “In addition to the empty offices, there is the large library that is no longer needed because of the electronic age and a smaller office space would be suitable,” said Cole. “Returning Crown counsel and probation to the courthouse (since moved to downtown offices), the government would save a significant amount of money.”
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