GET SET FOR NOISY GAME 4
THE DAY MUSIC WAS REBORN
TODAY’S WEATHER
New piano ready to be played
Sunny High 30 C Low 14 C
Venom can win title at Memorial tonight
A3
A15
KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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JULY 23, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 88
One year after the deluge
City dentist files appeal
Rob Larson, known as “Coach” to his students, demonstrates skimboarding, a sport that will be the focus of a summer camp he has created. DAVE EAGLES/KTW
ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
PATIENT SUFFERED BRAIN DAMAGE AFTER SEDATION
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
I
t took less than a half-hour for the storm to churn its way through Kamloops, popping manhole covers, submerging cars and cratering the corner of one downtown front yard in a multi-million-dollar deluge. The storm blew through town exactly one year ago today and, while vehicles have dried out and the Sixth Avenue sinkhole is filled in, much of the damage from the July 23, 2014, downpour is still awaiting repairs. City of Kamloops drainage engineer Jonathan Welke said the slow pace of repairs is due to where they are needed. Much of the damage from the storm concentrated in drainage gullies around the city. “The problem with the gullies is they’re really hard to access because they’re very deep and very steep,” Welke said. See CLEANUP, A6
CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
SKIMMING THE SURFACE JESSICA WALLACE
STAFF REPORTER
jessica@kamloopsthisweek.com
When Rob Larson began taking his physical-education classes skimboarding at Overlanders Park Beach, students were immediately hooked on the water sport. The St. Ann’s Academy teacher — known to his students simply as “Coach” — picked up the activity about seven years ago and immediately began teaching his students.
“We’re still doing it today,” Larson told KTW. “They were just addicted to it,” he said. “Some of them say, ‘That’s the best P.E. class I’ve ever had in my life.’” The water sport, which involves gliding across shallow water on a board, wasn’t prevalent in Kamloops at the time, compared to the scene in Vancouver and other cities in the United States, Larson said. He’s been changing that. Larson has since learned
online how to make his own boards, has been teaching the sport both to students and curious beachgoers and is looking to further spread the word to youngsters in the River City. “Everything evolved,” he said. “Eventually, I was like, ‘Why don’t we just make a camp?’” Now, Larson has created what he said is the first skimboarding camp in the Interior. See CAMP, A12
Two lawsuits in B.C. Supreme Court will determine whether a city dental surgeon is liable for the severe brain injury of an 18-year-old patient who went to his clinic to have her wisdom teeth removed. Meanwhile, the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. warned its penalty hearing for Dr. Bobby Rishiraj may be delayed because he has filed in B.C. Supreme Court notice of an appeal of the college’s findings. The statement of claim for the appeal of the College’s findings has not yet been filed. Following a hearing earlier this year, the college found the dental surgeon acted incompetently when he administered deep sedation to his patient in order to extract her wisdom teeth in November 2012. The panel of experts found neither Rishiraj nor his facility were authorized to provide deep sedation. It also found he did not adequately monitor her vital signs nor take proper steps to resuscitate the woman when she went into cardiac arrest. That patient, Hamu Zindoga, has separately filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Rishiraj, as well as against his dental assistant, Sara Chalmers, in B.C. Supreme Court. It seeks unspecified damages for Zindoga, who is represented by her mother as a litigation guardian. Zindoga now lives in a Okanagan residential treatment centre for people with brain injuries. See DENTIST DENIES, A7
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