Archives for January 18, 2019

Words of Wayne Belleville of Oliver

“I had been shot, laying in the dirt and he (Ron Tenecyke) drove off and the thought running through my mind was ‘Holy shit, I’m not going to survive this.”

“I would love for there to be a day that I don’t think of that asshole,” laughed Belleville. “That’s what I’m working on, I have no intention of visiting him and he has nothing to tell me that I want to hear. He can rot in there, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen to him.”

Ron Tenecyke appeared today in provincial court at Penticton via video from Kent Federal Prison in Aggaziz on a new charge of sending a letter to a victim.

The charge should actually be laid with the Canadian Federal Corrections Service which appears to only protect its own interests.

Yes folks Ron loves prison and yes he loves whatever publicity you print about him.

The South Okanagan Similkameen Preservation Society (SOSPS) is pleased to present a newly commissioned poll regarding the proposed National Park Reserve.

Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen board members had long lists of roadway complaints to share with Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure representatives at this week’s meeting — issues operations manager Jeff Wiseman could only agree were problems that keep on piling up.

Wiseman and Ryan Thorpe, both with the ministry, laid out expected 2019 projects, including ongoing flood repair throughout the district and Highway 3 resurfacing and repair in a number of different spots.

Wiseman told board members to reach out privately about their concerns so they could arrange a meeting, since it was clear that there was too much discussion needed for one brief appointment.

A question came from the board as to whether a combined priority list from all the directors, especially of smaller issues like paving and potholes on side roads in rural areas that aren’t as regularly monitored, would be helpful.

“The biggest help and benefit that we can get is the identification of those, and if there are some that have a high priority, that’s fantastic,” Thorpe said. “We still have our own criteria that we’ll go through.”

Wiseman stated “I don’t want to get expectations up that if you were to provide me with a list of your top 20 roads, that would keep me going for 50, 75 years,” he said.  “We know that our side roads are in tough shape. Our highways, quite often the pavement on our highways gets no older than 30 years. We have side roads that are 50-plus years old.”

Wiseman said he shares the frustration, as a fellow tax payer, with the slow grind of the system. He encouraged all the directors to send information about problematic side roads to help with potentially buddying-up smaller projects with nearby larger re-pavings, though he said most of the contract crews already know where the hot spots are.

Source: files from Castanet

Photos:ODN

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Does the Town of Oliver get off lightly – NO this quick way of circumventing a mall and the highway should be fixed or closed. I doubt any of senior Town staff really cares much and the problem will sit for more years……

 

 

 

A sentence hearing before Judge Michelle Daneliuk Friday – turned into a confession by a crown prosecutor and arguments by the defence lawyer that the longer this situation continues the more his client has to pay and pay.

It was not long ago that a judge stated firmly this matter should be determined by November of 2018 with a statement of facts both sides confirmed. It seems the lawyers involved have not communicated well – even though they persist in calling each other “my friend”.

The arguments today: did the crown prosecutor contact the judge without consent and knowledge of the defendant and his lawyer?

Did the crown witnesses bring up the suggestion that they wanted a “quick” hunt for a black bear because of the death of a grandmother?

Most in the courtroom perplexed as to the “silliness” displayed and the patience of the court in steering the matter to a resolution.

Lawyer Kevin Church for Mr. Wiens

Lawyer John Blackman for the Queen (as in Regina vs Wiens)

The court told the participating lawyers – phone each other and reach some agreement or schedule another hearing on facts and sentencing arguments by February 4th.

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Undercover sting operation at the heart of conservation charges

November 27, 2018

A long-established Oliver hunting guide has admitted to baiting and hunting bears and could face a stiff penalty at the Penticton courts in the new year.

James Wiens, 51, pleaded guilty to three Wildlife Act charges stemming from an undercover sting orchestrated by the BC Conservation Officer Service on Vaseux Creek Outfitters.

Court heard that BC Conservation opened an investigation into Wiens in 2016 after a complaint from the public. Investigators enlisted the help of a conservation officer from Idaho and a 2nd from Washington State.

The sting saw the American officers pose as prospective clients interested in a black bear hunt.

Crown prosecutor John Blackman said Wiens told the undercover officers he had a 100 per cent success rate on black bear hunts.

“He added that they would sit and watch in the afternoons — there were some clover patches and other areas he knows the bears will come into like clockwork every day,” Blackman said.

Over the span of four days during a hunting trip in May 2016, the officers observed and in some cases, photographed, Wiens pouring fryer grease and dog food at various locations to bait bears.

Referring to 973-pages worth of disclosure from the Crown, defence lawyer Kevin Church noted that the undercover operation was intricately planned in every fashion.

The judge, Michelle Daneliuk directed the matter be set over for a date early next year for her to deliver a sentence and urged the lawyers to attempt to reach an agreement on whether the offence was an isolated one.

Photo by Stocks

Usufruct

Usufruct is a olde legal term meaning that something can be used but not consumed or harmed. Renting a field is an example of a usufruct transaction. I can plant and harvest and sell the crop but am not permitted to take away the topsoil. If you lend me a tool, it is expected that it will be returned in good working order. It is lent in usufruct

We humans have been given the earth in usufruct. Not everyone thinks so, but many do and we have groups and laws and many structures as attempts to husband the world, treat it well and pass it on in good condition. I suppose that the idea of usufruct is passed on generation to generation. By some, not so much by others. What is your thought on this?

This usufruct concept is quite weird, kind of playing on my mind. I suppose there are a bazillion examples but they are about responsibility and care and self checking. What do you think of the government acting from the principles of usufruct? Yeah, sometimes one has to wonder. If you were the government, what would you enact in order to honour usufruct?

The Fedex dude gives me my package and does not want it back. No usufruct involved. But if I send a package via Fedex and it comes back, I am expecting it to be in the original condition. I gave the package for delivery in usufruct, whether delivered to you or returned to me. Interesting that most of us have never heard this word before and, actually, not many of us care

Sustainability is one of the results of applying an attitude of  living usufruct principles. If I treat things and people with care and with the attitude that those are not mine to consume or destroy, but to nurture, then maybe I can be prouder of my legacy.

The opposite of usufruct could be selfishness.

Ouch.

How much will usufruct  guide my choices from now on?

A total lunar eclipse will take place in the evening of Sunday, January 20.

A supermoon is a full moon or a new moon that nearly coincides with perigee—the closest that the Moon comes to the Earth in its elliptic orbit—resulting in a slightly larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk as viewed from Earth.

The moon will move into Earth’s shadow beginning at 7:33 p.m. PT, with the total eclipse lasting from 8:41 p.m. to 9:43 p.m.

Clear skies needed and the forecast at the moment is for clear skies Sunday.

Going down the hill

Going up the hill