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Former Mountie signing at Black Bear Books

Former RCMP sergeant and author of Policing the Fringe: The Curious Life of a Small-Town Mountie, Charles Scheideman, is back with more hilarious, tragic and outrageous stories...
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The cover of Charles Scheideman's new book.

Former RCMP sergeant and author of Policing the Fringe: The Curious Life of a Small-Town Mountie, Charles Scheideman, is back with more hilarious, tragic and outrageous stories from his 27 years of patrolling the small communities of the interior of British Columbia, including the Kootenay region.

Scheideman will give a book signing for his new collection of police stories, Tragedy on Jackass Mountain: More Stories from a Small-Town Mountie, at Black Bear Books in Creston on June 23 from 10-11 a.m.

This new book is full of characters like the 14-year-old from Creston who escaped from a youth detention centre near Nanaimo in 1963, travelled from Vancouver Island to the mainland and through the Okanagan Valley, then the West Kootenay, before stealing an airplane from the Salmo “golf-port” and inevitably crashing it in his brave, untrained attempt to fly over the mountains back home to Creston.

Or the lone officer who took on three legendary hard-fighting drunks, earning him the respect of the citizens of Prince George, including the louts he single-handedly flattened. Here, too, are stories conveying the sad truth and tragic consequences of all-too-common alcohol abuse, such as when an innocent man survived an alcohol-induced multi-vehicle accident on Jackass Mountain — twice — only to be taken by a determined Grim Reaper as he aided another motorist.

Scheideman illustrates that “fate looks after some of us” in another story where the extremely drunk driver and passengers of a violent single car accident miraculously survive.

This book bristles with unforgettable stories about the author’s 27 years working on the RCMP’s frontlines and leaves the reader with renewed admiration and wonder for the men and women who uphold the law in some of B.C.’s more lawless regions.

Scheideman grew up on a farm near Stony Plain, Alta., and joined the RCMP when he was 21, serving in seven different communities in rural British Columbia. After leaving the force in 1989, he worked for the British Columbia government in Victoria, where he still lives with his wife, Patricia.

This free event was made possible with help from the Canada Council for the Arts. For more information on Charles Scheideman’s book signing, please contact Black Bear Books at 250-428-2711.