Former RCMP Sergeant and author of Policing the Fringe: The Curious Life of a Small-Town Mountie Charles Scheideman is back with more hilarious, tragic and outrageous stories from his 27 years of patrolling the small communities of the interior of British Columbia.
Scheideman will sign copies of his new collection of police stories, Tragedy on Jackass Mountain: More Stories from a Small-Town Mountie, at Bookland Vernon (3400-30th Ave.) today from 10:30 a.m. to noon.
This new book is full of characters such as the pilot who disappeared along with his plane on his way from Calgary to Kelowna. Or the lone officer who took on three legendary hard-fighting drunks, earning him the respect of the citizens of Prince George, including the louts he single-handedly flattened. Here too are stories conveying the sad truth and tragic consequences of all-too-common alcohol abuse, such as when an innocent man survived an alcohol-induced multi-vehicle accident on Jackass Mountain‚ twice‚ only to be taken by a determined Grim Reaper as he aided another motorist. Scheideman illustrates that “fate looks after some of us” in another story where the extremely drunk driver and passengers of a violent single car accident miraculously survive.
This book leaves the reader with renewed admiration for the men and women who uphold the law in some of B.C.’s more lawless regions.
Scheideman grew up on a farm near Stony Plain, Alta. and joined the RCMP when he was 21, serving in seven different communities in rural B.C. After leaving the force in 1989, he worked for the B.C. government in Victoria, where he still lives with his wife, Patricia.
This event was made possible with help from the Canada Council for the Arts. For more information, call Bookland at 250-545-1885.
