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Year in Review: A look back at Observer headlines from September 2024

September

With the start the new year, the Salmon Arm Observer is taking this time to share some of the stories that made headlines throughout 2024.

September

Salmon Arm’s 67-year-old arena is to be demolished. The city announced via social media Tuesday (Sept. 3) that a decision had been made to demolish the SASCU Indoor Memorial Sports Complex. “There is wide consensus that the useful life of the building has passed and the cost required to bring the building back to a safe standard is prohibitive,” said the city social media posting, noting no date had been set for the building’s demolition “but planning is underway to do so as soon as practicable.”

Artificial intelligence and a high-profile celebrity name were used to defraud a Salmon Arm woman out of several thousand dollars. On Aug. 9, a woman reported that she had lost $3,000 in an “Elon Musk” scam, in which the victim explained she had received a phone call from the tech mogul stating that AI was going to help her invest money. “The victim provided $250 via credit card, and also provided her personal information such as her date of birth and banking information,” Const. Andrew Hodges said in a September media release. “The scammers showed the victim her initial investment had grown to $1,700, but they would not let her withdraw the money.” The woman then noticed $2,600 had been withdrawn from one of her bank accounts, and reported this to her bank, which was investigating. 

“It was awesome!” Organizer Carly Procyshyn summarized the UCI Pump Track World Championship Qualifier after the Sicamous track’s debut event was successfully staged on Saturday, Sept. 7. Procyshyn, also the district’s tourism and economic development coordinator, reported an audience of 450 to 600 throughout the day and a total of 55 competitors registered, though only 47 actually competed.

A zoning amendment to accommodate the construction of two six-storey residential buildings on the Salmon Arm SmartCentre’s property received three readings from city council. Salmon Arm Shopping Centres Ltd. and Calloway REIT (SmartCentres) seeks to amend the current comprehensive development zoning (CD8) for their property at 2991 9th Ave. SW to accommodate the development of residential multiple family dwelling buildings.

“You can take the man out of the fire department…” These words prompt a laugh from Gary Lebeter who, sitting at Salmon Arm Fire Hall #2, gets up to respond after being paged for a call out. This is just days after his fellow Salmon Arm firefighters held a celebration in honour of the former deputy fire chief and his retirement. “Seeing as I’m here I’m actually going to go and respond to this call,” said Lebeter, who began his Observer interview commenting on some of the perks of retiring after 33 years with the fire department.

The smallest city to host the 55+ BC Games did so with flying colours. This was evident among glowing comments shared by Games participants via social media including: “This was one of the best games ever." Another person very impressed by this year’s Games: Diane Murphy, the recently elected president of the BC Senior Games Society who was in Salmon Arm throughout the Sept. 10-14 event. “The Salmon Arm Host Society, all the volunteers and everybody that worked on the Games, as far as I’m concerned they knocked it out of the park,” said Murphy. 

Fundraising got underway to replace a prominent fixture along Salmon Arm’s Foreshore/Raven Trail. A city crew was on the trail Monday morning, Sept. 23, to demolish the remaining bird viewing platform. Trail users were warned closures may be required during the process. The Salmon Arm Bay Nature Enhancement Society plans to replace the unsafe structure with a larger platform with seating, capable of hosting school groups or nature enthusiasts. To do the work, SABNES is asking for support from the community as it works to raise $250,000. 



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