By Ron Seymour December 22, 2007 Kelowna Courier
A man who ignored fines and court orders has become the first person jailed under Kelowna‘s new get-tough approach to repeat bylaw offenders. He was sentenced to 12 days in jail after failing to pay $1,200 in fines for carrying drug paraphernalia, and for disobeying a judge‘s orders to stay out of downtown Kelowna. “Some individuals just need to understand that they have to obey the law,” Mayor Sharon Shepherd said Friday, applauding the court‘s decision to jail the repeat offender. “I hope the word gets out now that if you‘re hit with a lot of bylaw fines and you don‘t pay them, you‘re going to suffer,” added Coun. Barrie Clark, the former head of a city committee on crime and safety. In September, city bylaws were reworked to provide a maximum of 90 days‘ jail time for people who repeatedly thumbed their nose at the justice system after bylaw violations.
Without an incarceration provision, enforcement officials said they were at a loss to deal with people who ignored fines, as well as those who constantly violated bylaws prohibiting such things as aggressive panhandling or possessing drug paraphernalia. The jailed man, who was not identified in a police press release issued Friday, had accumulated $1,200 in fines. When he didn‘t pay, he was summoned to court – but he failed to appear. He was later arrested by police and brought before court. The judge gave him a suspended sentence, and the man was ordered to stay out of the so-called red zone, an area of downtown Kelowna notorious for drug dealing, for six months. However, the next day, the man was arrested inside the red zone and brought back to court. That‘s when the judge jailed him for 12 days. “This wasn‘t just some random person jailed for a first-time offence. It sounds like he had numerous opportunities to make better choices,” said John Perrott, executive director of the Downtown Kelowna Association, which supported the addition of the incarceration option to the bylaws.
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