With the new year around the corner, the Salmon Arm Observer is taking this time to share some of the stories that made headlines throughout 2024.
May
Since January Salmon Arm RCMP saw a spike in calls for public use of drugs, and a rise in criminal activity in the area of 30th Street NE and Highway 1. At its April 22 meeting, city council received a quarterly report, spanning Jan. 1 to March 31, from Staff Sgt. Scott West, who included with his report a map pointing to crime hot spots in the city. He pointed out one spot in particular, in the area of the Trans-Canada Highway and 30th, where incidents had been on the rise. “All of our members are paying attention to that and conducting increased patrols,” said West.
Salmon Arm RCMP were pursuing charges related to recent incidents of shoplifting. On Sunday, April 28, an employee at a store in the Mall at Piccadilly reported a shoplifter had stolen merchandise valued at $1,000. Video surveillance was provided and police were able to identify the suspect. On Monday, April 29, RCMP received two more reports of shoplifting, including one from Uptown Askew’s Foods.
Swim coach Barry Healey believes the time is right for local sport and culture organizations to pool resources towards a collective voice. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Shuswap Selkirks Swim Club coach was advocating for a sports council that would be formed by, and a voice for various sport organizations in the Shuswap. “The whole goal of that is to try and bring all the sports groups under one umbrella,” Healey told the Observer.
A cancer diagnosis hadn’t diminished Rob Froud’s passion for firefighting and giving back to community. The Silver Creek firefighter of seven years had been undergoing palliative chemotherapy since February, when he learned he has cancer in his esophagus, stomach and lymph nodes. Froud was told he has a year to 14 months to live. He was hopeful chemotherapy would extend that. A husband and father of three young adults in their 20s, a big part of Froud’s focus right now is spending time with family and friends – while endeavouring to stay positive. “It helps to talk about it… I like to put a positive on it so people aren’t so bummed about it,” said Froud, who was keeping busy working with his son and continuing to be an active member of the Silver Creek Fire Department.
A Salmon Arm property owner paid $55,000 in fines for removing trees without a permit. In June 2023, City of Salmon Arm bylaw enforcement responded to complaints about a large number of trees having been cut down from an approximately six-acre property at 2391 26th Avenue NE. City staff told the Observer at that time that the city had received applications for a tree cutting permit, rezoning and subdivision application for the site on March 7, 2023, but none of the permits had been approved. “When staff attended the site on June 5, 2023, the contractor cutting the trees was instructed to stop work, which they did immediately,” said the city in a May 24 post on social media. “Over the next few weeks, the extent of the cutting was further reviewed, evidence collected and compiled, and the number of trees cut was determined to be 167.”
The City of Salmon Arm’s paid on-call firefighters could expect a bump in their remuneration this year. At its Monday, May 27 meeting, city council voted unanimously in support of a three-year remuneration schedule and related budget amendments that will see the hourly rates for paid on-call firefighters increase by $1.50 to $23.50 in 2024, and by $1 in 2025 and 2026.
One person was pronounced dead at the scene Tuesday night after a two-vehicle collision closed the Trans-Canada just west of Salmon Arm. At approximately 5:45 p.m. on May 21, emergency crews responded to the scene of a collision on Highway 1 near 3rd Nations Road where a westbound pickup had collided with a semi truck headed east. The driver and lone occupant of the pickup was declared deceased at the site, while the semi-driver was uninjured
