JANUARY
• A group of three snowmobilers from Armstrong spent New Years Eve on the Owlhead trails after two of their sleds got stuck in a ravine. Shuswap Search and Rescue initiated a search at 8:30 p.m. Following an unsuccessful nighttime search, the men were located at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, and were picked up by helicopter. On Jan. 5, Shuswap Search and Rescue were in the Blue Lake snowmobile area after two sledders from Alberta went missing. They were located with the help of an FRS (Family Radio Service) radio in a steep ravine north of the Blue Lake cabin.
• After an eight-and-a-half hour day of deliberation on Monday, Jan. 7, Salmon Arm council reduced the proposed 4.88 per cent tax increase to 4.25 per cent. That was accomplished largely through financial tweaking and using reserves. It was later reduced again to 3.3 per cent after an accounting error was discovered .
• The Salmon Arm Silverbacks started the year with a 3-1 win versus the Penticton Vees.
• A dog died and another was missing following a Jan. 14 residential fire in Blind Bay. But the homeowners made it out alive, likely because they were alerted to the fire by their dogs’ barking, said Columbia Shuswap Regional District Assistant Fire Chief Sean Coubrough.
• The effects of floods, fires and lengthy fall rains were felt by farmers and local animal rescue groups. According to Belinda Lyall, founder of the B.C. Horse Angels, a horse rescue organization in Salmon Arm, a shortage of hay has further complicated the task of feeding and caring for the large number of horses she has rescued and seeks homes for.
• In the face of provincial government agencies steadfastly maintaining it was not its responsibility, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District board took action to mitigate the rapid and dangerous erosion of Newsome Creek’s banks. The heavy freshets in 2017 and 2018 caused the creek to change its course, putting homes and businesses along Caen Road in Sorrento at risk.
• The B.C. government’s plan to set up a cannabis retail outlet in Salmon Arm were discussed at the Jan. 21 city development and planning meeting. The outlet was proposed to go in a yet-to-be constructed building near Dollarama on the SmartCentres site.
• The B.C. Securities Commission lifted limits Jan. 15 on trading for the Liht Cannabis Corporation, the company behind a large medical cannabis growing operation under construction in the North Shuswap.
• Kenneth Robert Laforge, facing three charges in connection with a fire that damaged a 7-Eleven store in Salmon Arm, was granted bail. Laforge, 38, was charged with mischief of $5,000 or under, arson in relation to inhabited property and arson damaging property.
• More than 500 skiers started the annual Reino Keski-Salmi Loppet at Larch Hills.
