KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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JUNE 16, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 72
TODAY’S WEATHER
Sun and clouds High 29 C Low 15 C
KELLY CUP CHAMP
REPRESENTING NG G B.C. AT BRAILLE LLE E CHALLENGE GE E
Spencer Asuchak wins ECHL title
Visually impaired Merritt student heads to Los Angeles
A13
A6
‘RECKLESS DISREGARD’
Closing arguments in houseboat trial CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
A B.C. Supreme Court justice must decide whether the man who had control of the throttle on a ski boat when it smashed into a houseboat in the pitch darkness of Shuswap Lake, killing its operator, was reckless or whether he hit a another craft that should have been lit. Defence and Crown lawyers made final arguments Monday in the trial of Leon Reinbrecht, who is charged with dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily injury. The trial comes nearly five years after the Canada Day fireworks celebration on the lake, in 2010. The Crown called more than 50 witnesses, many of whom were on the lake or shoreline. “This case is complex because of the variety of evidence. . . . It’s remarkably simple in many ways as well,” said defence lawyer Joe Doyle. He compared houseboat operator Ken Brown, who a toxicology test found was impaired at the time, to a driver of a car without headlights. “This is running into an unlit vessel that’s moving, that should have had its lights on. . . . He [Brown] shouldn’t have been out there.” The trial heard conflicting evidence from witnesses whether
Adam Miron is trying to change the medicinal marijuana game ANDREA KLASSEN STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
LEON REINBRECHT Brown’s houseboat had its navigational lights on. That conflict creates a reasonable doubt whether Reibrecht is guilty, he said. But Crown lawyer Camille Cook told Justice Sheri Donegan that 25 witnesses testified they saw lights of some kind on the houseboat, either before or after the crash. There was evidence, however, that a white mast light was not functional. Cook said Reinbrecht’s actions before the crash constitute what she called a “pattern of reckless disregard for the safety of others.” Those including drinking beer, smoking pot, planing his speedboat in the darkness and looking at the shoreline as he was lost.
See TRIAL, page A12
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A
dam Miron doesn’t look like your average pot grower. In cufflinks and a sport coat, sipping coffee and checking his smartphone, the former Thompson Rivers University student looks more like the political operative he once was, as the head of Kamloops’ Young Liberals and later as the youth wing’s national director. But, then again, Miron’s latest venture isn’t the average medical marijuana operation either. Just under 20 companies across the country are licensed to sell various strains of the drug to the public, and most price their wares at just under $9 per gram. The Hydropothecary, which Miron founded two years ago in
What we’re talking about are “demographic pockets like soccer
moms, professionals, governmenttypes with security clearances.
”
— ADAM MIRON
Gatineau, Que., with brother-inlaw Sebastien St. Louis, is aiming higher. Its strains of marijuana are priced at $15 a gram and aimed at the types of Canadians who are used to shelling out a little more for a luxury experience. “What we’re talking about are demographic pockets like soccer moms, professionals, government-types with security clearances,” he told KTW during a recent trip back to Kamloops visit family. While many of those groups are interested in using medical marijuana, Miron said focus
groups found they’re often too nervous to make the purchase. “To some people it’s scary, and it’s scary for a couple different reasons. One, what will my neighbours think?” he said. To combat those anxieties, the company has steered clear of the usual trappings of marijuana sales. Instead of Purple Kushes and White Widows, the company offers strains with names like Good Morning and After Dinner, mailed in a black and white, ribbon-tied box inspired by French fashion house Chanel.
See ‘I DON’T’, page A5
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