BLAZERS IN CPR EMERGENCY
WEATHER Sun and clouds High 6 C Low 0 C
SUN PEAKS SNOW REPORT Mid-mountain: 116 cm Alpine: 144 cm Snow phone: 250-578-7232
FAMILY LITERACY WEEK JAN. 24 TO JAN. 31
Coach Hay, trainer Robinson tried to save woman’s life
UNPLUG AND PLAY THIS WEEK All the information is in today’s edition of KTW
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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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JANUARY 27, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 12
Crow feeder has fines dropped
TONGUETIED TWOSOME
Two-year-old Solange McLean touches a lizard for the first time during a family visit to the Big Little Science Centre on Saturday, Jan. 24. The centre at 655 Holt St. on the North Shore is a big part of Family Literacy Week and has plenty of Unplug and Play events through next weekend. For a detailed schedule, go online to kamloops thisweek.com/unplug andplay.
ANDREA KLASSEN STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
Toby Jackson and his feathered friends have something to celebrate this week. The Valleyview man was scheduled to head to bylaw court this week to dispute the $300 in tickets he received for feeding neighbourhood crows while walking his dog. Instead, Jackson told KTW, staff with the City of Kamloops bylaws department have agreed to drop charges against him in advance of his Thursday, Jan. 29, court date. In an earlier interview with KTW, City of Kamloops bylaw-services supervisor John Ramsay said the issue wasn’t that Jackson feeds crows, but that he routinely attracts birds to the neighbourhood, where they may leave droppings on the homes or cars of others. Jackson said that issue appears to now be resolved. In return for the dropped charges, he has agreed not to feed crows on MacAdam Road, where he and the neighbour who initially complained about his bird feeding both live. However, Valleyview’s crows won’t be going hungry. Jackson said he’s been told he can still dole out peanuts or dog treats while walking up Valleyview Drive, as he has for several years in the company of his dog, London. Jackson said he’s “shell-shocked” by the sudden reversal of fortune, but grateful for the support he received after news of his dispute with bylaw services was first published in KTW at the beginning of the year. An online petition calling on the city to drop the charges against him racked up more than 17,000 signatures and residents around the city pledged to join Jackson at bylaw court in a show of support. “All the comments that people made on yours and other articles that were done, it made me feel that I’m certainly not in a minority,” Jackson said.
ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW
PATIENT BRAINDAMAGED, HEARING RESUMES A disciplinary hearing into the actions of Kamloops dentist Dr. Bobby Rishiraj has reconvened this week following three days of hearings in November. Rishiraj is being investigated for inappropriate use of anesthesia that led to an 18-year-old Kamloops woman suffering brain damage. The hearings are expected to continue to Jan. 30 in Vancouver. In November, the panel heard of the case that left the woman brain-damaged, one of 23 instances cited when deep-sedation or general-anesthetic services were done at the Kamloops Oral Surgery Implant Centre. The hearing heard the woman, who was having four wisdom teeth removed, went into cardiac arrest during the procedure. When paramedics arrived about five minutes later, there was a period
of pulse-less activity. The woman was in Royal Inland Hospital for months and is now permanently braindamaged. The 23 incidents cited were from Oct. 4, 2012, to Nov. 7, 2012. Anita Wilks, senior manager of communications for the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C., said in November Rishiraj “has changed his practice to ensure the safety of the public and the College is confident no other patients are at risk.” Jerome Marburg, registrar and CEO of the College, said that, after the Nov. 7, 2012, incident with the teen, the college inspected the clinic and Rishiraj made changes, including employing additional medical staff. The College is holding the hearing into allegations Rishiraj broke the professional
body’s bylaws by: • using the anesthetic procedures, although the clinic and Rishiraj himself were not approved to do so; • failing to recognize the cardiac arrest in a timely way and, as a result, resuscitative measures were delayed; • advertising his clinic online as “an approved non-hospital and certified IV facility,” when such was not true. • not having the required training to use propofol, a sedation anesthesia drug that has been linked to the deaths of comedian Joan Rivers and musician Michael Jackson; • failing to monitor adequately sedated patients during surgery. A ruling is not expected until the spring and, if it is rendered against Rishiraj, there will be a penalty hearing afterwards.
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