kamloopsthisweek.com kamloopsthisweek kamthisweek
KTW’s Community Leader Awards revealed! Page C1
#YKASTRONG
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020 | Volume 33 No. 39
HIGH COST OF DYING TODAY’S WEATHER
Chance of showers High 25 C Low 15 C
Get ready for rapidly rising cemetery fees
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
Friends and family of a Kamloops teenager who died last week after an apparent drug overdose are warning the community about a toxic supply, maintaining the 15-year-old girl died after smoking marijuana laced with another drug. Police are also warning marijuana users to avoid the black market, but said they have not had any seized weed test positive for fentanyl. The 15-year-old girl, whom KTW is not naming at the request of her family, died in hospital on Friday, June 19. She was rushed to hospital earlier in the week after an apparent accidental overdose at home, KTW has been told. Her death followed another apparent accidental overdose among the same group of Westsyde-area friends the previous weekend. In that case, a teenaged boy is said to have become
Every Monday, a girls’ group descends on McArthur Island
NEWS/A3
Warnings issued after teens overdose TIM PETRUK
GIRL POWER AT SKATE PARK
ill while smoking a joint. KTW was told he collapsed and began convulsing before being taken to hospital. He has since recovered. “The bottom line is, whoever the dealer is, they’re obviously selling something that’s more than just marijuana,” Bob Bridges, an uncle of the girl who died, told KTW. “Unfortunately, these teens thought they just had marijuana and that the marijuana was pure.” Fentanyl-laced marijuana is often mentioned on social media as a cautionary tale to young and casual pot smokers, but there have been no confirmed cases in Canada of someone falling ill after unknowingly ingesting fentanyl while using cannabis. Fentanyl is a cheap, powerful drug used by some dealers to increase the profitability of such powdered drugs as cocaine and heroin, with the cheaper — and deadlier — fentanyl mixed in to increase volume sold. See DRUG ALERT, A4
SPORTS/A26 Dennis Robertson has raised the state flag of Montana — along with more than 300 national, provincial, state and city banners — every day outside his Lower Sahali home. DAVE EAGLES/KTW
Flagging interest every day DAVE EAGLES STAFF REPORTER dave_eagles@kamloopsthisweek.com
D
ennis Robertson’s interest in flags began long ago, while taking part in Scouts with his young boys. He eventually installed a flag pole in the backyard of his Bestwick Drive home in Sahali, where he has lived for 43 years. Robertson had the pole made by a local welder, but due to its oversized length, getting it home proved a problem. He devised a way to fasten the prodigious pole beneath the chassis of his truck, tying it securely to the front and rear hitches for the short trip home.
That was many years ago and he’s been flying the colours ever since. At seven o’clock each morning, Robertson rises and makes his way downstairs to choose the flag he’ll raise that day. He has more than 300 from which to choose. Some are banners with a happy face logo, others represent national, provincial, state and city flags. Robertson has found an online site that gives him plenty of choices. He really enjoys hoisting a flag, then sitting back and waiting for the reaction of his friends and neighbours as they try to figure out the banner’s significance. Robertson’s daily duty began after his Bestwick neighbour, Judy, expressed disappointment that he wasn’t
hoisting the flags more regularly. Robertson took up the challenge and made a New Year’s resolution: “I will fly a flag each day for a year,” he told her. It’s a promise he has kept for more than three years. The forecast might be sunny and warm and, so, remembering fondly one of the trips he and wife, Win, took to the Cook Islands or Wake Island, Robertson will stand with the sunshine on his face as he runs up the national flag of that country in honour of their travels. Robertson likes to keep neighbours and passersby guessing as to the significance of the flags he has raised — while offering his own version of daily geography lessons for fellow Kamloopsians.
Receive $50 off
Your First Month!
250-374-7368
www.budgetstorage.ca 820 Notre Dame Dr. Kamloops, B.C.
...and use our truck to move in! Easy Access • All units are heated Monitored security Fenced compounds Open every day except Christmas & New Year’s Day
*conditions apply, cannot be combined with any other offer