Counting down the top 20 stories of 2010

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – We’ve been tallying all your votes, and the time has come to start counting down the top stories of 2010.

Number 20: KFC’s Double Down

News1130’s Reaon Ford looks back at the grand entrance and exit of KFC’s infamous Double Down sandwich.

Imagine taking a teaspoon and digging right into a tasty pile of salt, that’s about how much sodium Canadians got with each and every Double Down eaten during the month it was available on this side of the border.

KFC really redefined gluttony with its bun-less chicken sandwich.  It packed more than 30 grams of fat and 500 calories.  There are actually worse burgers out there but the Double Down’s marketing campaign was second to none and helped make it the most successful chicken sandwich of all time.

Number 19: Biebergate

News1130’s Denise Wong is reviewing the Justin Bieber drama while he was in town for a fall concert.

It was Biebermania back in October and not just because the teenaged heartthrob was in town but because he was linked to an incident at a Richmond laser tag centre.

The father of 12-year-old who boy who was there, complained his son was assaulted by the Biebs.  Mounties never named the 16-year-old Stratford, Ontario native, but it was all the buzz with entertainment heavyweights like TMZ, which posted pictures of the night on its website.

The singing sensation took to Twitter saying he had been the target of homophobic slurs and was taking a stand against bullying.

Richmond RCMP announced earlier this week that due to “a lack of evidence,” there would be no charges against Bieber.

Number 18: BC Rail trial ends

News1130’s Lyle Fisher has a recap of the BC Rail/Basi-Virk trial.  It was a political scandal that rocked the provincial capital.  After many lengthy legal delays the trial of Dave Basi and Bobby Virk made it through the courts.

In October, the former Liberal ministerial aides surprised everyone by pleading guilty to breach of trust and accepting benefits in connection with the $1 billion sale of BC Rail.

Both received conditional sentences of two years less a day and Basi paid a $75,000 fine.

NDP House Leader Mike Farnworth called it the biggest corruption case in BC history.  Former Attorney General Mike de Jong says there would be no public inquiry and the government would cover the legal costs.

Number 17: Ray-Cam hostage taking

News1130’s Lara Fominoff is bringing back the story of a frightening hostage taking in the early evening of November 23rd, at the Ray-Cam Community Centre.

Twenty-four-year-old Kyle Hepworth Jackson held a three-year-old boy at knife point for eight hours in a small basement bathroom in the community centre. Police swarmed the area, negotiators were brought in and everyone hoped for the best. Around 2 a.m., Jackson became angry.  He slashed the little boy across the face, leaving a three-inch deep gash.

Police fearing for the child’s life stormed the bathroom and managed to get the little boy away and off to hospital. Jackson has since been charged with taking a hostage, aggravated assault, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Vancouver police says it’s a case they will never forget, and they hope never happens again.

Number 16: MV Sun Sea

News1130’s Sheila Scott is recounting how almost 500 Tamil migrants from Sri Lanka arrived off the coast of Victoria on the MV Sun Sea in August.

Many women and children have now been released, but hundreds of others remain in detention as the Immigration and Refugee Board tries to establish their identities and see if any have ties to the Tamil Tigers. The arrival of the ship spurred the feds to appoint a special adviser on human smuggling and propose legislation it says will help stop human smugglers from abusing our immigration system.

The MV Sun Sea is the second migrant ship to arrive on BC shores. The Ocean Lady carried 76 Tamil migrants to BC in 2009. There is word a third ship may be on the way.

Number 15: Vancouver hate crime

News1130’s Dave White takes a look-back at the high-profile gay-bashing case of Shawn Woodward.  It was a case that started early in 2009 and left a father of two in his 60s permanently disabled.

Woodward went into the Fountainhead Pub in Vancouver’s gay-friendly West End for a few beers with co-workers.  During a game of pool he received a gesture by a man named Ritchie Dowrie as a sexual advance.

The court heard he sucker-punched Dowrie, sending him straight back where he hit his head on a tile floor, to the shock of onlookers.  Woodward shouted, “He touched me!  The faggot touched me!  I’m not a faggot.”

Woodward was sentenced in early November to six years in jail.  His attack was designated as a hate crime.  It came as a relief to the local gay community, but the sentence is being appealed and we may not learn Woodward’s fate until the New Year.

Number 14: Wild weather

To quote our very own Meteorologist Russ Lacate, this year’s weather was a “mixed bag.”  News1130’s Sonia Aslam looks back at the high and low temperatures of 2010.

There was no snow on our mountains for the tropical Olympics.  We saw 183 millimetres of rain and record-setting temperatures in the mid-teens.  People likely won’t forget our Canadian athletes getting their medals while it was raining sideways.

Let’s fast forward to the summer, and from mid-June to the end of July, into the first week of August the total rainfall amount in the Lower Mainland was just over one millimetre.

July was the second driest on record, creating an extreme forest fire situation.  We set a summer rainstorm record on August 31st with 55 millimetres of rain.

And don’t forget November’s cold snap with hair raising wind-chill.

Number 13: Pickton Trial

News1130’s Erin Loxam takes a look back at the trial of one of Canada’s most notorious murderers.  In 2010 he had his final appeal denied by the Supreme Court of Canada.

With that, the remaining 20 murder charges against Robert ‘Willie’ Pickton were stayed.  Many of the publication bans were lifted and Vancouver Deputy Police Chief Doug LePard apologized.

“I will think about it every day for the rest of my career, if not the rest of my life, as I have every day since I started my review.  I wish we could have caught this monster sooner and saved more lives.”

Then Attorney General Mike de Jong called a public inquiry into the investigation with former Attorney General Wally Oppal at the helm.  The final report is due by the end of 2011 and Pickton is expected to remain in jail for the rest of his life.

Number 12: Record salmon run

News1130’s Andrea Macpherson takes a look at the historic sockeye salmon run.

Fishermen will remember 2010 for the largest salmon run in almost a century. We’re taking a look back at the excitement, the low prices and the money made.

Greg Taylor of Ocean Fisheries says the unprecedented run was a win-win. “Nature’s bounty was on display. It was great from an economic point of view, biological point of view, and I think from a consumer’s point of view, everybody had a windfall.”

He says it’s still a bit of a mystery. “At one time, we were wondering what we’re going to do with all the sockeye. We look now at our cold storages and they are getting empty. This product is sold throughout the world.”

Fishermen in Steveston at one point were selling fish for $15 or four for $50.

Number 11: Olympic Village fiasco

News1130’s Amanda Wawryk is recounting how an Olympic legacy is now proving to be a major headache for the city of Vancouver.

Vancouver’s gleaming billion-dollar Olympic Village turned into a fiasco and Mayor Gregor Robertson says it could take up to three years to sort out. It was designed to be a sustainable legacy along False Creek, but that’s been overshadowed by the financial mess surrounding it. After a New York hedge fund pulled out of the project, the developer Millennium had trouble selling the condos and repaying several taxpayer funded loans.

The village has since gone into receivership. The suites are set to go back on sale in the new year with steep discounts.