In case you missed it, here are this week’s top news items.
Okanagan Mounties turn travellers back, issue several tickets on Highway 97C
West Kelowna RCMP officers checked more than 200 vehicles travelling on the Okanagan Connector (Highway 97C) last week.
The detachment said many of the vehicles were unfit to travel on mountain roads.
Officers issued several tickets, including violations for brake issues, not having a driver’s licence and driving contrary to conditions. Some vehicles were sent back for tire-related violations like worn-out or bald tires or lack of winter tires.
The last remaining waterslides in South Okanagan are closing
The last waterslides in South Okanagan are closing permanently.
Osoyoos RV Campground and Waterslides owner Tony Slovak said the cost of running them for two months of the year is too high.
Slovak made the announcement on the RV campground’s Facebook page, and comments flooded in from people sharing their memories at the waterslides.
“We’ve come every summer for a decade,” one woman said.
“Thank you so much for all of the wonderful memories over the years,” another said.
$27 a day: West Kelowna woman challenges WorkSafeBC compensation rates
Melayna Neufeld makes $27 a day.
She was injured at work eight years ago and WorkSafeBC determined that her long-term injury compensation rate will be set at $27. Now, Neufeld wants to appeal that wage rate so it reflects the wages she would have been able to make had she not been injured and was able to finish her degree.
Right now, she’s asking the community to help her raise funds for a lawyer who can help her launch an appeal.
“As long as I make $27 a day, I’m not even qualified for re-training. I can’t move up and I can’t move on,” Neufeld said.
Spirits high for Vernon man recuperating from accident
19-year-old Sam White is learning to adapt to life without the use of his legs after a snowmobile accident in December.
White is currently at the G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre in Vancouver, where he’s learning to do the things he used to do, but this time, in a wheelchair.
He said his recovery is going well and that his spirits are high.
“I mean, I’m trying hard to do everything I could before (the accident) and it seems to be working,” he said.
‘Touchdown confirmed!’: NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient life
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance successfully landed on the Red Planet, making it the ninth spacecraft since the 1970s to land there.
Perseverance is NASA’s biggest and most advanced rover, equipped with 25 cameras, two microphones, a drill and other equipment that will try to make oxygen out of Martian carbon dioxide.
Perseverance’s mission is to find ancient signs of life on the planet.
