EAGLE VALLEY
NEWS
Summer Stomp rolls back into town this week Page 2
Sicamous a stop on Routes and Blues trail Page 5
Wednesday, July 16, 2014 PM40008236
Vol. 59 No. 29 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (GST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Body of Calgary man recovered from lake
By Lachlan Labere Eagle Valley News
The body of Kevin Boutilier was recovered last week, a year after the 25-year-old Calgary man went missing in Shuswap Lake. On Monday, the BC Coroners Service confirmed the body of Kevin William Boutilier was recovered on July 10. In a news release, Barb McLintock of the Coroners Service notes Boutilier was last seen on Aug. 24, 2013, when he and some friends were aboard a houseboat in Cinnemousun Narrows. “Mr. Boutilier and several others jumped into the lake to retrieve a hat which had fallen in, but weather conditions caused the boat to drift away from the group,” says McLintock. “Even with help from his friends, Mr. Boutilier was unable to return to the boat.” The successful search was conducted privately by Gene and Sandy Ralston of Idaho-based Ralston and Associates. The Raltsons resumed the search following an extensive effort conducted after Boutilier’s disappearance by RCMP, members of Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue #106 Shuswap Station and Vernon Search and Rescue. This involved multiple outings that stretched into October.
Star attractions: Hockey celebrities, past and present, stop for a group shot before hitting the links Friday during the Sicamous Shootout – Weber/Franson Third Annual Golf Classic at Hyde Mountain on Mara Lake Golf Course. The hockey pros were among the 170 golfers who took part in the sold-out charity event for the BC Cancer Foundation, with about 300 people, including volunteers and sponsors, attending the evening’s supper and live and silent auctions. Photo by Tia Lemieux
Sturgis organizers plan to drop suit vs district By Martha Wickett Eagle Valley News
Closure:
The body of Calgary man Kevin Boutilier was recovered almost a year after he went missing during a houseboat trip on Shuswap Lake. File photo
‘Surprisingly complicated’ is how a defence lawyer describes portions of the legal action initiated by Ray Sasseville, Joan Hansen and Sturgis North Entertainment Inc. involving motorcycle events they put on in the North Okanagan-Shuswap. After launching the lawsuit in BC Supreme Court in December 2013, in March of this year Sasseville and Hansen began the process to drop the court action against six of the seven defendants. Adding to the mix, Gerhard A. Pyper, the lawyer who initiated the lawsuit on the plaintiffs’ behalf, has been suspended by the Law Society of British Columbia. Salmon Arm lawyer Rodney Chorneyko is representing four of the seven defendants. “It’s very odd. I’ve never had so many
twists and turns simply for plaintiffs to abandon their claims so early – there’s so much complication to get documents finalized,” Chorneyko told the News. Chorneyko is representing Steve Hammer, site manager for the 2011 Sturgis North motorcycle rally; the Sicamous and District Chamber of Commerce; Renée Charbonneau who publishes a blog and newspaper for the motorcycle community; and Bernie Aubin, an entertainment provider. Also named as defendants are the municipality of Sicamous and current mayor Darrel Trouton, represented by lawyer Larry Robinson, as well as camping provider Vincent Lewis from Vernon, represented by Nick Vlahos. According to the initial claim, Sicamous is named because Sturgis North entered into an agreement to hold an annual event there beginning in 2011 called
the Sturgis North Burn-out and Festival. The plaintiffs alleged the event was wrongfully taken over and became the Summer Stomp Burn-out. The chain of events in the lawsuit includes court documents registered Jan. 3 and Jan. 14 this year, in which Sasseville gives notice that he intends to represent himself in place of Pyper his lawyer. In a June 26 letter a client forwarded to the News, Chorneyko writes: “It is not usual for counsel to cease representing a party, but it is unusual for that to occur with plaintiffs’ counsel so soon after commencement of a claim...” After the initial claim, Chorneyko filed an application to have the proceedings transferred to Salmon Arm. Next, Pyper sent documents to the defendants declaring that the plaintiffs were volunteering to abandon their claims See Debts on page 3