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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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OCTOBER 30 30, 2014 | Volume 27 No No. 129
‘Strange new ground’ CAM FORTEMS STAFF REPORTER cam@kamloopsthisweek.com
NASA’s unmanned Antares rocket exploded on take-off on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
Students watch project blow up aboard rocket DALE BASS STAFF REPORTER dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
Paul Hembling was stuck in a meeting — but his attention was elsewhere. It was firmly focused on a rocket scheduled to lift off from Earth on Tuesday, Oct. 28, carrying among its cargo an experiment created by four Kamloops students and headed to the International Space Station. He left the meeting and made it to his office at Bert Edwards science and technology school, where he is the principal, in time to sit down, watch the 14-storey rocket launch — and promptly explode. The explosion destroyed a science experiment created by four boys who attend Kamloops’ McGowan Park elementary, in Sharmane
Baerg’s Grade 6/7 class. The explosion also ruined 17 other experiments chosen through the student space-flight experiments program run by the National Centre for Earth and Space Science Education in the U.S. “The first thing I thought was I want my $25,000 back,” Hembling said of the cost he and others in the Kamloops-Thompson school district fundraised to help pay for the opportunity to have their kids’ creations head to space. And, true to his profession, Hembling saw lots of teachable moments in the explosion the students — and many others who were as interested and engaged in the entire program through the competition — likely watched. See EXPERIMENT, page A6
Watch video of the rocket at kamloopsthisweek.com/rocket/
Three Kamloops boys have pleaded guilty to criminal harassment for what the Crown called “pressured sexting” in a case that garnered national headlines. The three — all 15 years of age and all appearing at a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 28 — admitted to pressuring young girls for nude photos, demands that were in some cases persistent and involved threats to share the photos with others. In all cases, the girls took the photos themselves. In return for the pleas, the Crown dropped the original charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. The sentencing was conducted under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The names of the three teens and their victims are banned from publication under a court order. The investigation began in January, after a Kamloops highschool student informed a staff member at a local school about an alleged incident. That triggered a police investigation. It prompted the KamloopsThompson school district to bring an expert from Vancouver earlier this year to talk to students about the danger of sharing too much information online. The three teenage boys attended different city schools. In court, Crown prosecutor
Teens in sexting case plead guilty to reduced charges Some of the texts These are two of the actual texts entered into court which show the three boys begging girls for nude photos Sarah Firestone said th he three the boys traded images off girls who were between 13 and 15 years of age. Three girls were named as victims on each of the indictments, some of them the same person. The exchanges of photos and texts with girls used a variety of social media, including Snapchat, Kik and iMessage. Firestone said the girls, in some instances, were under the impression the photos would disappear using Snapchat, but there are methods to retain images. “This is strange new ground,” the prosecutor said. “It comes with recent devel-
opments in technology. technol These are things that wou would never happen face-to-face. “I have a hard time thinking young men would come up to random strangers and ask them for nude pictures.” In some instances, boys sent pictures of their genitals. In sentencing submissions, the Crown asked for a period of 12 months of probation for the three, including 50 hours of community service. Defence lawyer Kevin Church told Judge Roy Dickey the three are being made “scapegoats” for what was a widespread practice among teens in the city.
See DECISION, page A4
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