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THE KELOWNA FALCONS hope new coach Billy Clontz will bring his winning ways, first as a player and then as a coach, to the baseball club.
COLUMNIST Maxine DeHart says it will be time to celebrate for the local 4-H club this weekend, as the organization marks its 100th anniversary in B.C.
SOMETHING very interesting has been happening in Lake Country as art seems to pop up overnight, the latest being several well-dressed dolls contemplating on a sandy beach in the Central Okanagan community.
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THURSDAY June 5, 2014 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
▼ COURT
▼ TEACHERS’ LABOUR DISPUTE
Man charged with 1993 Kelowna killing granted bail
Students send a message with protest
Kathy Michaels STAFF REPORTER
The man charged with the 1993 killing of Jennifer Cusworth could soon make Lake Country his home. Neil George Snelson, 47, was ordered released from prison Tuesday morning on a surety of $75,000. If that amount is posted, a Kamloops judge ordered that Snelson move into his sister and brother-in-law’s Central Okanagan home, under strict conditions. Among the limitations he’s facing are a curfew that will see him in the house from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., as well as supervised excursions. His interim lawyer, Wade Jenson, said that there’s a publication ban on evidence heard in the bail hearing, but noted that the next court date is June 16. At that time, Snelson could have a new lawyer and may learn the court date for his upcoming manslaughter trial. Snelson has never been released from prison since his 2009 arrest. He remained in provincial custody throughout his 2011 trial, and went into a federal prison after his conviction that same year of manslaughter. That conviction was overturned last December when the Court of Appeal found that the trial judge was wrong to allow into evidence a statement Snelson gave police. Snelson has been out of the public sphere for a significant chunk of his initial sentence of 15 years, which may be why friends and family of the slain teen were so taken aback by the decision to grant bail. Cusworth’s friend Jennifer Watson was present throughout Snelson’s last trial, and said the news he would be released made her sick to her stomach. “Now he gets to walk the streets and live his life once more, enjoy the sunshine and feel the warmth on his face while our friend hasn’t been able to do that for over 20 years,” she said. “I shake my head and have cried today. (This) breaks my heart.” Cusworth, 19 at the time of her death, was found dead in a ditch on Swamp Road following a house party. Despite yearly pleas for evidence from her parents, the case sat cold for more than 15 years. Snelson will be tried for manslaughter in Kamloops court.
Kathy Michaels STAFF REPORTER
During her run as a student in B.C.’s public schools, Crystal Rehlinger has been forced to spend weeks at home that were designated for classroom learning. Now, in Grade 11, she’s missing classes for the third time, caught in the middle of the latest failed contract negotiation between teachers and the province. On Wednesday morning that prompted her to walk away from the table. Holding a sign reading, “We are people not pawns,” Rehlinger made a public plea to the feuding parties. Teachers and the province need to get their issues sorted “during summer or spring break” she said, so students could get the most out of their education. It was a message thousands of her cohorts across B.C. intended to get across that morning, despite warnings of repercussions from school district officials. The walk-out, organized through social media, however, did not have a tremendous pull locally. Rehlinger was one of only two students standing outside Kelowna Secondary School as the clock struck 9 a.m. Senior high schools in general had a very light showing, said School Dis-
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trict 23 superintendent Hugh Gloster. The most significant at that level was George Elliot, where students had a mid-afternoon study session to show their frustration at lost class hours. Middle schools had the biggest showing. At Rutland Middle School there were about 30 students who walked out. One lone boy walked out of his elementary class, much to the chagrin of his father, said Gloster. Overall the turnout was disappointing to Rehlinger’s partner in political activism, Grade 11 student Isobel Kirk. “I thought more students would be interested in having our side heard, and making sure that we wouldn’t be used as a pawn between (the province) and teachers,” Kirk said. For her, the stakes are high. Rounding the corner into Grade 12, she’s balancing a raft of academic courses with extracurricular activity. “I’m in four academic classes, and I can’t get the help I’d usually get at lunch,” she said. “My studies are suffering. I had to miss a few classes because I’m in theatre, and the shows are after school. Now I’ve had to do them in class time and I’m falling behind.” Rehlinger has had similar struggles and she’s frustrated. “We have a
KATHY MICHAELS/CAPITAL NEWS
STUDENTS at Kelowna Secondary School participated in a provincewide student protest on Wednesday against both the BC Teachers Federation and provincial government for the inability of negotiators for either sides to find grounds for compromise and reach a contract settlement. right to our education and we shouldn’t have to miss it,” she said. Teachers and the province may say they have
students in mind, but Rehlinger said that she has been through their tug-ofwar three times and has come to believe the only
clear lesson is that her studies have continually
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