Wednesday February 24, 2016 www.saobserver.net $1.25 GST INCLUDED
Sturgis lawsuit dropped By Martha Wickett OBSERVER STAFF
The legal action launched by Ray Sasseville, Joan Hansen and Sturgis North Entertainment Inc. involving motorcycle events they put on in the North Okanagan-Shuswap appears to have rolled to a stop. On Tuesday, Feb. 2, Salmon Arm lawyer Rod Chorneyko, who represents defendant Renée Charbonneau, the publisher of a blog and newspaper for the motorcycle community, appeared in court in Vancouver. There he brought an application to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims against Charbonneau, for “want of prosecution” – or for doing nothing or very little to advance their claims. It was in December 2013 that Sasseville and Hansen launched the lawsuit and, three months later, in March 2014, they began the process to drop the court action against six of the seven defendants. Charbonneau was the seventh and last defendant remaining, and was named for allegedly publishing defamatory and libellous statements. The other six were Steve Hammer, site manager for the 2011 Sturgis North motorcycle rally; the Sicamous and District Chamber of Commerce; the municipality of Sicamous and former mayor Darrel Trouton; Bernie Aubin, an entertainment provider; and camping provider Vincent Lewis from Vernon. Sicamous was named in the lawsuit because the initial claim stated that Sturgis North entered into an agreement to hold an annual event beginning in 2011 called the Sturgis North Burn-out and Festival. Before dropping their court action, the plaintiffs claimed it was wrongfully taken over and called the Summer Stomp Burn-out. Chorneyko says he met with Sasseville and Hansen, who were representing themselves, on Feb. 2, prior to the hearing, where an agreement was reached that the claim against Charbonneau would be dismissed without costs. That means each party would pay their own. “We attended in court and we spoke to that application,” Chorneyko told the Observer. “The judge granted the order be dismissed without costs.” See Commission on page A4
EVAN BUHLER/OBSERVER
View from the hoop
Salmon Arm Golds’ Brandon Sanford holds off a PenHigh defender as he drives to the hoop in the last regular season game of the year at the Sullivan Campus gym on Saturday, Feb. 20. The Golds finished the season in third place in the Okanagan AAAA division and will play Mt. Boucherie in Kelowna in the semifinals on Thursday.
Teacher to serve suspension By Tracy Hughes OBSERVER STAFF
A Shuswap Middle School teacher will be serving a suspension in May for failing to comply with safety regulations in his shop class and repeatedly using inappropriate language with students. As part of a resolution agreement with the BC Commissioner for Teacher
This week A hearing has been set to determine if trial delays should overturn Leon Reinbrecht’s conviction. See A4. It was a rough weekend on home ice for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks. See A16 for details.
Regulation, Karl Roderick Emde agreed to serve the five-day suspension of his teaching certificate. He will be suspended without pay from May 2 to 6. Emde has previously been suspended twice by the school district. In the first case, Emde allowed one of his students to operate a sander in a Grade 8 Material Explorations class in
February 2014, while she was wearing a scarf and without tying back her long hair. He also allowed the girl to operate the sander prior to having her complete the sander-specific safety training for that school year, which is a district safety requirement. In that case, Emde was suspended for two days without pay on March 31 and See Safety on page A2
Index Opinion ....................... A6 View Point .................. A7 Life & Times ............... A8 Sports................A13-A15 Arts & Events ... A16-A19 Calendar................... A23 Vol. 109, No. 8, 40 pages