KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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APRIL 28, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 51
DID YOU BOOGIE THE BRIDGE? TODAY’S WEATHER Sunny Hig23 C Low 7 C
A record 2,600-plus laced up their runners. For photos and more, go online to kamloopsthisweek.com
A20
United States origin of threatening calls
LOCAL NEPALESE URGE NEIGHBOURS TO HELP AFTER MASSIVE QUAKE
KAMLOOPS SCHOOLS TARGETED ANDREA KLASSEN
CAM FORTEMS AND DALE BASS STAFF REPORTERS cam@kamloopsthisweek.com, dale@kamloopsthisweek.com
More than 4,000 people are confirmed dead as of KTW press deadline yesterday. Saturday’s 7.8magnitude earthquake in the Himalayan country toppled many buildings and triggered an avalanche on Mt. Everest. KRISH DULAL PHOTO
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
The city’s small Nepalese community is in constant contact with relatives back home as the earthquake-ravaged nation struggles to provide the basics of life. “Many people are sleeping outside because they’re afraid of their homes collapsing,” said Ivan Somlai, an international consultant in Kamloops whose wife is from Nepal. The 7.8-magnitude e earthquake on Saturday h taken the lives of has 4 4,000 people so far. Government and a agencies are struggling in its aftermath. Much of Somlai’s e extended family lives in greater Kathmandu, w where a powerful afters shock was felt Monday m morning. They are using c cellphones for comm munication, powering t them with car batteries o solar panels. or Renuka Sapkota, o owner of Vyanjan rest taurant on Seymour S Street, said she has f family in Nepal who are sl sleeping outside, worried about aftershocks. Her family lives in the western part of the country, away from the epicentre between major cities Kathmandu and Pokhara. “Lots of people are sleeping on big ground, not in the house,” Sapkota said. “Lots of people are scared right now. They say there could be aftershocks for three more days.” She said her brother-in-law works in Kathmandu and has been trying to get back home. See TRU GRAD, A6
Tracking down the callers who prompted lockdowns at three Kamloops schools this month could mean looking to the U.S. Kamloops RCMP Supt. Brad Mueller told the city’s co-ordinated enforcement committee on Monday that calls in the city and across the province appear to have originated in the United States. “It’s very difficult to trace,” Mueller said. “The level of technology of the young people who are involved in that, they’re able to route the calls through the Internet using various servers.” Mueller said it’s not clear why callers would be targeting schools in Canada, but noted it could limit what
police can do to prosecute whoever is making the threatening phone calls. Both Westsyde secondary and David Thompson elementary were disrupted by an anonymous phone call last week. A week before that, Summit elementary was threatened via phone. Mueller said the calls are a drain on police resources and difficult for the schools, but added Kamloops isn’t alone in dealing with the problem. In at least one case, Mueller said, the same caller made threats to three schools in the province. “It’s an incident that’s happening right across the country,” he said. “The only good thing that’s come out of this is that we’ve gotten very good practice of our emergency plans in our schools.”
Paul probe continues TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
It’s been nearly a year since Samantha Paul’s remains were found in a rural area outside Kamloops — and police still aren’t saying whether her death is
considered suspicious. On June 1, bones and a skull found near White Lake, south of Barnhartvale, were determined to be those of Paul, an aboriginal woman who had been missing for 11 months. She was last seen on Sept. 9, 2013.
See FOUR, A7
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