Category: Crime and punishment


Bike security?

This person was in the restaurant or the pub, was the seat removed for theft prevention…

Bicycle theft is a common crime committed commonly in cities, areas with high population, as well as on college campuses. According to the Police Department at the University of Colorado Boulder, it was found that most of the bicycle thefts that occurred were due to bikes being unlocked, improperly locked, or locked with devices such as a lightweight cable or low-quality U-lock devices.

One can prevent bicycle theft by avoiding using bicycles with quick release wheels, as these are easy for anyone to take off without the use of any tools. Furthermore, one should use a strong U-lock to secure their bike. One should only lock their bike to sturdy structures and should not leave the bike in one place for too long.

The way in which the bike is locked to the structure is also important. It is important that a wheel and the frame of the bike is locked to a structure so that one’s wheel isn’t stolen and left with only the bike. Source Wikipedia

 

On this Day: August 10th 1948

Candid Camera premieres on Television.

 


The old substation off Voght is demonstrably going away with equipment on site removing the obsolete decades old transformers and structures. The new one was opened last fall and can be remotely operated from the Fraser Valley with a dish aimed at the towers on Iron Mountain.
The project occurred in the same time frame as the third 500 KV line to the Lower Mainland from the Revel stoke dam area.
The Merritt substation project includes an upgrade of a 61 KV line to the highland Valley and its biggest consumer the giant Teck, Highland Valley copper mine. The upgrade is to a 138 KV line coming from the Merritt Green Energy Project a 40 KV wood over steam electric generator that will burn green wood waste from three local mills. Sources say that the contractor is hoping to turn the keys over to the operator next year possibly March. The Merritt Green Energy Project is licensed by BC Hydro and uses public transmission lines.
The project created a lot of jobs including many members of the local First nations bands. It also generated ongoing relationships with band governments.
The lines for the green energy project are a this moment in progress to the Green Energy project including a crossing by the Osprey nest on Highway 8 coming into Merritt from the west. The ospreys returned to a cleaned off nesting platform this spring but rebuilt it in the shadow of ropes and new poles going up around them.

On this Day: May 24th 1626

Peter Minuit buys Manhattan for tools Wampum and other wares.

Kinder Morgan

Pig catcher for pipeline, File photo KDG

Pig catcher for pipeline, File photo KDG


The Kinder Morgan environmental response team is drilling this week in Nicwala park behind the local lawn bowling facility off Merritt avenue.
Different organizations are involved including Regulators from the regulator, provincial environmental responders and contracts that do the ” integrity work” on the pipeline that runs to Alberta through here to Burnaby.
Today they have a boom and collector spread out on the Nicola River in an exercise they have people stationed on the river with poles to catch anyone that may fall into the fast moving water.
A contractor from Hope that is responsible for the integrity of part of the line says ” every thing is GPS now we know where the welds are within 3 meters with our technology including the smart pig inline sensor”
Jason a person in charge of the response vans pointed out materials for sopping up oil as well as generators and small tools.

On this day: May19th 1921
The US sets quotas on immigration.

TGIF-snag abatement

Trees can be a lethal hazard in falls. File Photo KDG

Trees can be a lethal hazard in falls.
File Photo KDG

There are 20 young people at the Forest Service Training center at Saunders Field here in Merritt. One trainee says that they are doing tree intervention.
Trees along roads are sometimes dead falls and can be a real hazard to people and vehicles. An innocuous looking snag on a high road bank can quickly become a deadly spear coming in an open window of a moving Vehicle.
Cut block also expose untested timber to wind and the possibility of a falling tree. Look up and live.
A member of the group says ” we are identifying the problem trees at this point”.

On this day: April 8th 1952

United States President Harry S. Truman calls for the seizure of all US owned steel mills to stop a national steel strike.

Filled in swimming pools are less of a risk to personal liability. File photo KDG

Filled in swimming pools are less of a risk to personal liability.
File photo KDG

Attractive nuisance is a liability owners, hazards open to view need a certain amount of diligence.

The attractive nuisance doctrine applies to the law of torts, in the United States. It states that a landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by an object on the land that is likely to attract children.[1] The doctrine is designed to protect children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed by the object, by imposing a liability on the landowner.[1] The doctrine has been applied to hold landowners liable for injuries caused by abandoned cars, piles of lumber or sand, trampolines, and swimming pools. However, it can be applied to virtually anything on the property of the landowner.

There is no set cut off point that defines youth. The courts will evaluate each “child” on case by case basis to see if the “child” qualifies as a youth.

If it is determined that the child was able to understand and appreciate the hazard, the doctrine of attractive nuisance will not likely apply.[2]

Source Wikipedia:
The regional district is having a free dump day for the rural dump transfer stations of the 11 communities this month. There is a schedule of days at the local library.
On this day: April 6th 1869
A Patten is issued for celluloid.

 

Dan Albas MP Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola Photo: KDG

Dan Albas MP
Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola
Photo: KDG

Budget from an opposition side of the house…

An action plan is the same as a budget it just expresses the activity in dollars and cents.

The first action plan of a strongly mandated new government comes down today, expressed in dollars and cents the closing of some offices and the change of direction discussed in the recent election including…..

Refugees

Pot

Deficit funding

Infrastructure spending

Global warming intervention

ETC:

 

On this day: March 22 1987

Born: murdered environmentalist Jairo Moro Sandoval.

Not polluting at crime scene investigation

Well away from crime scene to keep from contamination of evidence.

Well away from crime scene to keep from contamination of evidence. File photo KDG

A news person waits for info and pictures in the public interest, at an alleged murder in Merritt. Voght park in Merritt saw evidence collecting  people in full white coveralls scrutinizing the scene. RCMP constable Collin Brant( a former editor at the Merritt Herald) was on the John Collet Memorial Bridge, in his maroon un-marked car on the other side of the park keeping people out of the marked off area.

The 20 year old victim in this 2002 crime lay off one of the tracks used for school track meets and trace evidence of hundreds of people lay all about. This crime was solved however many are cold and details of the crime are kept secret for interviews and investigation for years.

The fewer  that know the details the better making the  chances of finding the guilty party who also knows the exact details.

Chief justice of the BC Court, Thomas Crabtree and entourage were in Merritt on Tuesday and met with local First Nations elders and had a public conversation with students and those interested in aboriginal engagement with the court. Topics that came up were restorative justice and culture.

Bigger pools of people making for a bigger circle of those that might pollute a serious crime investigation with numbers of people! Leaving their trace evidence and muddling of details.

In our view restorative justice  may have some value for those already convicted of lessor crimes but the involvement of the unprofessional and those not in the justice system is can be counter productive.

The justice heads the Student Journalism Education Program for the court and there was little interest coming up at the meeting, publication bands and restraints of criminal evidence collection by journalists and the public is important to not polluting the case however it remains that anything in public view can be openly commented on even to the end of being a case public.

The disposition of evidence remains on the professionals….

Investigation should be an exact science as liberty is really all free people have and needs to be safeguarded. Debacles with chains of custody  and information are intolerable.PP

A vehicle used by palin clothes Mounties at a 2002 murder. File Photo KDG

A vehicle used by plain clothes Mounties at a 2002 murder.
File Photo KDG

On this Day: March 3rd 2005
An around the world airplane navigation is accomplished by Steve Fossett, the trip was solo and nonstop.

Notice of an application of herbicide

Notice of an application of herbicide,applicator said it included mosquito resolve. File Photo: KDG

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File Photo: KDG

There is an advertised opportunity for input into mosquito /nuisance control coming up.
Lower Nicola:
Place Lower Nicola Hall,382 Aberdeen Road
Day: March 7th 2016
Time 6:30 to 8:30, presentation 7:00 to 7:30
Place: Nicola Lake Area, Quilchena Hotel highway 5A
Day: March 8th 2016
Time 6:30 to 8:30 Presentation 7:00 to 7:30
The open house and presentation is hosted by the TNRD Thompson Nicola Regional District.

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File Photo: KDG                             

Helicopters doing work can be an overhead hazard File photo KDG

Helicopters doing work can be an overhead hazard, applying spray from above.
File photo KDG

On this Day: March 2nd 1995
Researchers at Fermi Lab discover the Top Quark.

Budget discussions

Budget discussions are coming up for Merritt. Policing ,is a number one cost and results matter.
The City has in the past taken retreats for discussions. There is a drop in session at the city with the Mayor on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month they are advertised for times in the city page of the local Newspaper The Merritt Herald.

Mayor Neil Menard says he’s available for inputs…

low tech,

Old technology is heavy ! A nighttime attempted heist ended with the goods abandoned on the sidewalk. Coldwater Hotel, Merritt. File Photo KDG

 

Old technology is heavy !
A night time heist ended with the goods abandoned on the sidewalk.

Coldwater Hotel, Merritt.
File Photo KDG

On this Day: January 26th 1911

Glenn Curtiss has the first successful flight of a seaplane.

The Nicola Naturalists are having their January presentation meeting on the 21st of the month. Frank Ritcey of Wild Safe BC will talk about safety about wildlife and in particular bears.

Frank Ritcey is the Provincial Coordinator for WildSafeBC, based in Kamloops. Run by the BC Conservation Foundation this program focuses on how we can minimize our impact on the wildlife we observe and keep ourselves safe at the same time. Frank was raised in the wilds of Wells Gray Park by his pioneering mother, Clara Ritcey, and Park Biologist father Ralph Ritcey. Frank’s love of nature has been with him his whole life and he still spends much time filming and studying nature. Frank often contributes to CBC’s popular North by Northwest show.

The meeting starts at 7PM and is open to the public (membership or donation requested) , no food or drinks allowed in the NVIT lecture theater, however there is free parking. NVIT is a local community college founded in part by Grand Chief  Gordon Antoine ( deceased) , Gordon was a member of the Coldwater Indian Band and promoted education for his people, he is survived by his wife Janice a principal of the Coldwater Indian Band K -12 school.

The Nicola Naturalists use the lecture theater at NVIT as a non profit and provide a bursary to natural resource students as a matter of consideration for its use.

On this day: January 12th 1959

The Caves of Nerja are rediscovered.

 

 

 

Wild Tales

The Toronto International Film Circuit and the Nicola Valley Film Society will be starting up for the second half of their season on Monday January 18th with the film Wild ones. According to Terry Frizzel the societies Vice President posters will be up soon for the film, a full poster is usually displayed in the public library.
Screening time is 7PM at the NVIT lecture theater,free parking and no food or drink in the theater. 5 dollar admission at the door for members
Membership available at the door.
For a look at the trailer and trailers for the rest of the season go to:https://nicolavalleyfilmsociety.wordpress.com/
On this Day: December 30th 2006
Iraq leader Saddam Hussein loses his life for crimes against humanity.

Stolen car

 

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Culture Day at Baillie House Constable T Dunsmore File photo KDG

 

 

CFJC News is reporting that there was a standoff in Merritt this afternoon. According to CFJC in an interview with Merritt’s Constable Tracy Dunsmore two men were taken into custody from the proximity of Funks Road Runner Motel on the east end of Merritt leaving town. A weapon is said to be being searched for. A stolen car is alleged to be at the center of the trouble.
Editors Note: This is a rare occurrence in this town and is not our normal expectation.
On this Day: November 26th 1476
Vlad the Impale r ( Dracula) defeats Basarab Laiota and becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the 3rd time.

Today in History November 26th 1789
Thanksgiving made an national observance in the US by the Congress.