TUMBLE LEADS TO LAWSUIT
TODAY’S WEATHER Showers High 15 C Low 1 C
SHROOM SENSE
Quesnel man says city at fault
Having some can save your life when out picking
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A19
KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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OCTOBER 20, 2016 | Volume 29 No. 127
No jail time for beating dog to death CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
LOCKERS & LACES AMID THE ARTS
Grade 1 student Bella Seymour makes sure her running shoes are tight as she begins her day at Kamloops School of the Arts. After more than a decade of planning, the dream of a kindergarten to Grade 12 arts school is now a reality. STORY, PAGES A6, A7
No unanimity with $10-million plan ANDREA KLASSEN STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
The City of Kamloops will spend nearly $10 million to construct an emergency water intake on the North Thompson river, but one councillor is certain the pumps on Yates Road will never be used. “If this $10-million facility is ever turned on in my lifetime, I’ll eat my shorts,” Coun. Donovan Cavers said Tuesday as council debated awarding a
tender for the project. By a 6-2 vote, an $8.2-million tender went to Acres Enterprises, the lowest bidder for the project by a significant margin. Three other bids for the project ranged from nearly $11 million (IDL Projects) to $22 million (Kingston Construction). Joining Cavers in his nay vote was Coun. Denis Walsh, who also argued the emergency system, meant to provide water to the city in the event of a rail spill or other disaster in the South Thompson
River, is not required. “I think it’s a case of Chicken Little because I don’t recall us having a problem in the 150 years I’ve been here,” Walsh said. But, Coun. Ken Christian noted there have been rail issues in the city’s history, pointing to a CN spill in the 1990s that closed the North Thompson River from Avola to Kamloops for more than a week.
A father who beat a Chihuahua to death after it bit his daughter in the face during Thanksgiving dinner does not deserve a jail sentence, a provincial court judge has ruled. Christopher Mathes, 41, pleaded guilty in August to causing pain or suffering to an animal, an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada. Mathes, a millwright with two children, testified earlier during a sentencing hearing that he killed the dog, a Chihuahua named Jersey, out of self-defence and fear after it had earlier bit his sixyear-old daughter in the face, causing a cut under her eye. It was the latest in a string of attacks by the dog on other dogs and people. On Tuesday in Kamloops provincial court, Judge Roy Dickey gave Mathes a conditional discharge of 12 months, during which time he is banned from being in the presence of dogs. “This should not be seen as condoning what occurred,” Dickey warned, ruling the beating was an exceptional circumstance that does not require a jail sentence. Dickey said Mathes overreacted after seeing his daughter bit in the face. “I accept this type of offence is exceptional and not within in the normal range,” the judge said, noting Mathes was immediately remorseful after the dog’s death. Crown prosecutor Alex Janse argued unsuccessfully for a six-month conditional sentence, including a three-month house curfew, and a 10-year ban on owning a dog.
See OTTAWA, A4
See CHIHUAHUA, A5
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