Written by Peter McIntyre 107.5 KISSFM Wednesday, 16 October 2013 16:00
A Vernon provincial court judge says a story he heard on the radio had him "seeing red." Mayland McKimm has delayed sentencing in the water contamination case against the Regional District of North Okanagan to clarify the comments. The District was found guilty last month of four charges under the BC Water and BC Drinking Water Protection acts tied to livestock effluent getting into the Antwerp Springs well in January 2010. McKimm has asked court staff to get transcripts of a CBC radio program he heard a day after his decision. McKimm says he heard who he thought was an RDNO official, possibly the board chair Patrick Nicol, saying the agency had "done all it could to protect people from contamination" in the case which McKimm felt was troubling and showed indifference to his ruling and the justice system. "That's a rather astonishing comment because they could have just shut off the well or used the deep well....What made it most troubling was it sounded like a public official disparaging the justice system," said McKimm in court today. RDNO lawyer Rob Bruneau said he would seek clarification on the comments, but doubted RDNO officials were showing indifference to the judge's ruling. "Any comment that denigrates your judgement is inappropriate," said Bruneau. The case will be back before the judge next Wednesday to set a sentencing date. RDNO is expected to face a fine similar to the $18,400 given to the District of Coldstream which pled guilty to similar charges in 2012. McKimm said today he was also troubled to read that Coldstream officials said at the time they plead guilty that they felt they hadn't done anything wrong.
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http://infotel.ca/newsitem/RDNO-sentencing-delayed-due-to-comments-made-by-board-chair/IT5283
http://www.castanet.net/news/Vernon/100695/Judge-delays-RDNO-sentencing
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