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Friday, March 6, 2015
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Bid sparks water fight
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RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff
LISA VANDERVELDE/MORNING STAR
A mobile home in Coldstream is gutted as flames roll through it and spread up onto the grassy hillside and into a woodpile Thursday afternoon. The Buchanan Road homeowner was in a workshop at the time, away from the home, when the fire broke out. The cause is under investigation. See more details online at www.vernonmorningstar.com and see Sunday’s issue of The Morning Star for an update.
Ski coach apologizes in court ROGER KNOX Morning Star Staff
His voice quivering, barely above a whisper, and fighting back tears, Jason Christopher Paur looked directly at Vernon Provincial Court judge Mark Takahashi and apologized. The 44-year-old Jason Paur former Seattle crosscountry ski coach asked to speak before Takahashi at what was to be his sentencing hearing Tuesday, after Paur earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of secretly observing/recording nudity in a private
place, and one count of possession of child pornography in connection with an incident at Silver Star Mountain Resort in December 2013. “I am profoundly sorry for all the intense pain and suffering I have caused,” said Paur. “I take full responsibility for my actions. I am struggling to find words adequate to describe the regret I have...I am totally consumed by remorse for what I did.” Court heard how Paur was the head cross-country ski coach for a private school that was on a five-day trip to Silver Star, arriving on Dec. 8, 2013. The group, which included nine girls aged 14 to 20, two boys aged 17 and 18 and two adult chaperones, were staying in a chalet.
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Six of the girls shared a room as did the other three girls. Three of the girls were in a bedroom when they discovered a video camera near a curtain, and it was recording. The girls looked at the video and took their finding to a chaperone and to Paur, who immediately said he would return to Kelowna. He was driven there by a chaperone and it was in Kelowna that Paur was arrested. The video camera’s SIM card had three videos, including two which showed Paur setting up the camera and leaving a bedroom shortly before a girl walks in. In both cases, the girls were wearing only towels and disrobed.
Emotions ran high as Greater Vernon politicians went head-to-head over water infrastructure. Director Gyula Kiss called for a moratorium on all master water plan expenditures and for those items to be removed from the 2015 Greater Vernon Advisory Committee budget Thursday. “I see this as a direct end-run around us already approving the budget,” said director Bob Fleming. Kiss argued the items should not proceed because a majority of voters did not back a November referendum to borrow $70 million for capital works. “If the master water plan has no funding, there is no master water plan,” he said. However, opposition came from director Mike Macnabb. “Everything we do to make things (water utility) more efficient came out of the master water plan. The referendum was defeated but the master water plan is still there.” Zee Marcolin, utility manager, told the committee that most projects outlined in the 2015 capital budget don’t include items from the master water plan. It was also pointed out that despite Kiss’ motion, the Regional District of North Okanagan board had already approved GVAC’s 2015 budget. “The majority of the people present passed the budget. By revisiting it now, we are rehashing something the majority has already decided,” said director Catherine Lord. Kiss had his supporters, though, including director Bob Spiers, who says the six projects in the master water plan should be stalled until the document can be revisited. “Are they completely necessary?” he said. Given the referendum results, director Scott Anderson suggested master water plan projects shouldn’t proceed, but vice-chairman Jim Garlick countered that the referendum was about borrowing $70 million. “It was not a vote on the master water plan,” said Garlick, adding the Interior Health Authority’s water quality standards must be met. Ultimately, Kiss’ motion was defeated. Also on Thursday, GVAC directors increased 2015 water rates by two per cent. “Two per cent is the lowest since I’ve been sitting here and it reflects what the service needs,” said Fleming.
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