Ed Kendall, owner of Enlightened Hair and Tanning Salon, says he pulled out a baton during a confrontation outside his business on April 8, 2018.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON - REPORTER / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - A Vernon businessman says he brandished a baton in self defence during a late night confrontation outside his downtown shop earlier this month.

It was April 8, around 10:30 p.m., and Ed Kendall, the owner of Enlightened Hair and Tanning Salon on 33 Street, says he drove by to check on his business. He’d been out of town and received a report earlier that day that someone was found sleeping in the front alcove, surrounded by garbage at 7 a.m.

Kendall says when he arrived that night, there were two people standing in front of his salon.

“I said ‘guys, you’ve got to get out of my entrance,’” he says. “(They said) ‘no, we don’t have to.’ Started swearing. All of a sudden he pulls out a paring knife. Goes to stab me. That’s when I got out my baton.”

The Gateway Shelter is located immediately next door to the salon and Kendall says staff came out when they heard the yelling. He says they brought the individuals into the shelter.

Ed Kendall says this photo was sent to him earlier in the day on April 8, 2018.

Image Credit: Ed Kendall

“After that I was like 'enough is enough',” Kendall says. “I called the police and said what do we do about this? (They’re like) ‘but you had the baton’, and I was like, ‘but it wasn’t extended.’ I says, it was just in my hand, a little 10-inch club, that’s all it was. I didn’t extend it until he pulled a paring knife on me.”

The co-executive director of the John Howard Society, which runs the shelter, says they are aware of an incident between the owner of the salon and someone standing in front of his building, although they were given a different story.

“There are multiple witnesses that gave statements to our staff as to what happened which are inconsistent with his statement,” Kelly Fehr says.

He says three people — he wouldn’t say if they were shelter residents or not — were simply standing outside the building when the confrontation occurred.

“I totally understand his frustration that there’s people that don’t have homes that are forced to stand out on the street,” Fehr says. “It’s unfortunate that the situation led to an incident of violence.”

He says shelter staff went over to the entrance and reported no garbage or drug paraphernalia in the alcove. 

RCMP spokesperson Const. Kelly Brett confirmed police investigated an assault with a weapon file on April 9 that allegedly took place in the 2800 block of 33 Street. As of April 20, she said the investigation was classified as complete and no charges were laid.

Bob Sattler posted about his altercation with Vernon's bylaw department on Facebook.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Facebook

As for Kendall, he says it’s not the first time he’s had to take things into his own hands. In the past, he says he’s shot off bear bangers at people loitering around his business — which he’s had for 18 years — and says he won’t go down to his business at night without his baton.

He figures he’s called police up to 20 times since October of last year for issues of loitering, trespassing, littering and drug activity. He’s also called bylaw numerous times but says because it’s private property, there’s not much they can do. Since the April 8 incident, Kendall has hired security to make nighttime rounds around the building, something he says reduced the amount of garbage and drug paraphernalia found around the business.

Tensions have been rising in the downtown core over the past year, with numerous business owners and employees speaking out about the challenges of litter, drug use, and aggressive behaviour at a recent town hall meeting. A Safety Task Force was struck by the city to address business owners’ concerns. Social media is replete with rants, complaints, and debates about issues of homelessness and illegal activity. It even spawned a new group calling themselves the 'Polson Avengers' largely organized to clean up Polson Park of needles and trash. 

Just last week, Bob Sattler, the general manager of another downtown business posted online about finding a shopping cart full of clothes and personal items outside their back door. He took the cart over to Gateway Shelter, left it there, and was later visited by a Vernon bylaw officer who handed him a $100 ticket for dumping garbage. In an interview, Sattler says it was first thing in the morning, he was rushing, and just wanted to get the items back to their owner, who he assumed was either a shelter resident or known to the shelter. As for the shelter, Fehr says staff saw someone leaving a cart and a mattress in their parking lot and, not knowing who it was, provided the video surveillance footage to Vernon bylaw, who followed it up from there. Sattler says he now wishes he had spoken with the shelter before dropping off the items, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s fed up with having to clean up garbage, needles, overnight camping materials and feces around his business. He plans to fight the ticket.

For Fehr, the tension and animosity he sees and hears on a frequent basis in the community these days is concerning.

“There’s warning signs that this is escalating. We see these warning signs every day that people are getting madder and madder. When you see this anger growing, we know something is going to give, something is going to happen. It really takes the community to find out: how do we prevent this.”

He suggests that issues to do with littering, loitering or criminal activity are best reported to bylaw or the RCMP. 

"Violence doesn't solve any problems," he says. 

To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston or call 250-309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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