By Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck

During the past week Columbia Valley RCMP responded to about 85 calls for service.  The following is an interesting sample of those calls.

Impaired in Fairmont

On August 15, at about 10 p.m., Columbia Valley RCMP was conducting speed patrols on Highway 93/95 in Fairmont Hot Springs when a black Dodge Ram was travelling through the 80 km/h zone at 96 km/h.

When the driver saw police he immediately tried to slip into Fairmont; police quickly followed. When police performed the roadside stop the RCMP member spoke to the driver and immediately noted a strong odour of liquor emanating from the driver.

The driver was demanded to provide two samples of his breath in an approved roadside screening device and both of those samples resulted in a ‘FAIL’ reading.  Consequently he is prohibited from driving for 90 days while his vehicle was seized for 30 days.

Power line hooked to the ground by semi

On August 17 at about 2:30 p.m. Columbia Valley RCMP was dispatched to a downed power line near the Pharmasave in Invermere that was caused by a semi-truck that had hooked the line and broke the residential mast from a nearby house and pulled the line across the street and onto a sidewalk. Police immediately attended and found the live line adjacent to the street on the asphalt sidewalk. BC Hydro personnel attended soon after and dismantled the line. The semi-truck and driver did not remain at scene.  BC Hydro is working with the homeowners to reacquire electricity back to the affected residence.

$1,150 fine for having fire

During the evening hours of August 19 Columbia Valley RCMP received a request to assist the Invermere Fire Department with an open bonfire someone was having in their backyard, located in the Pineridge Estates area of Invermere.

Police responded to the report and once on scene spoke with Invermere Fire Department members who confirmed that they had just extinguished an open wood fire that a group of people had been using to cook.  As the fire had been lit within five feet of a large block of forest during a fire ban, police and firefighters agreed it was an extremely dangerous situation. The group confessed that they were unaware of the fire ban and had not observed nor heard any of the signs or radio information advising of the complete fire ban in the Columbia Valley. The homeowner was provided a violation ticket for Failure to Comply with Fire Restriction, Sec 10(4) of the Wildfire Act: a $1,150 fine.

Search on for liquor store window smasher

On August 20, at about 7 a.m., RCMP received a complaint of an alarm activation at 510 13th Street, Invermere, otherwise known as the BC Liquor Store.

RCMP members attended to the scene and found the front door glass broken from a rock being thrown through the window.  It was obvious that entry to the store had not been gained and nothing appeared to be missing or broken inside. As police obtained some available video surveillance in the area it showed an unknown male dressed in all black walking by the window. The male then returned and threw a rock through the window before fleeing on foot. Columbia Valley RCMP is asking that if anyone has any information about this crime they call the detachment or Crimestoppers.

– Sgt. Bob Vatamaniuck is commander of the Columbia Valley RCMP Detachment

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