50 YEARS AGO:
Marksmen from the Cariboo and Kamloops were among the competitors in Clearwater Rod and Gun Club’s Shootenanny. A Clearwater team of Jack Neufeld, Lawrence Giesbrecht, John Elliot, Bert Gablehaus, and Herb Green won the Team Shoot trophy.
45 YEARS AGO:
Residents from Blue River to Little Fort gathered for a meeting of the Thompson Nicola Library System Society. Much enthusiasm was evident at the prospect of a public library for the people of the area, and a bookmobile service for those living farther away.
40 YEARS AGO:
Doctors and staff at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital demonstrated much of the equipment during an open house at the local health facility. A new fetal heart monitor, Krieslman resuscitator and newborn transportation incubator were among the various types of medical equipment shown.
After over a decade of trying, Wells Gray Ball Club won the annual May Day Softball Tournament in Clearwater. Dave Madden hit a game-winning two run homer in the last inning of the final.
35 YEARS AGO:
No substantial leads were reported by RCMP following a nationwide tour with a camper truck – a replica of a vehicle stolen near Wells Gray Park from the Johnson-Bentley murder victims the previous summer. Following the route that was supposed to have been taken by two suspects, police drove the truck through Jasper to Montreal. Two French Canadian men, one aged 34 and the other 32, were being sought. A dramatization of the murders was shown on TV.
Times columnist Jack Philips said that the most difficult tongue twister is: The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick.
30 YEARS AGO:
Kal Tire Squirts won the May Day tournament in Clearwater. Team members were Lane Wurm, Jason Wild, Mark Shields, Graham Radcliff, Clayton Munro, Jacques Lam, Cory Jensen, Chris Harms, and Brad Anderson.
School District 26 received a grant of $2,000 from the Kaiser Substance Abuse Foundation and the Vancouver Foundation to assist a group of parents and educators in formation of a community task force.
25 YEARS AGO:
Five Clearwater women: Betty Johnson, Anne Krawec, Jean Hanson, Vicki Morden, and Sydney Kjenstad, were awarded Canada 125 medals for citizenship and community service.
School District 26 was only looking out for itself by hanging a “No Skateboarding” sign at Clearwater Secondary School, said secretary-treasurer Donna Fitzsimmons.
Thompson-Nicola regional District board of directors voted unanimously to give notice to end the joint library system shared between the TNRD and the Cariboo Regional District.
20 YEARS AGO:
MLA Kevin Krueger was skeptical that Premier Glen Clark’s Summit on Economic Opportunity: Southern Interior would lead to anything useful. Everyone who wanted should be able to attend the summit, Krueger felt. The event was to be held in Kamloops.
There seemed to be some embarrassment among Slocan Forest Products executives when a form of liquid asphalt being sprayed from a contractor’s truck to control dust accidentally got into Brookfield Creek.
15 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater Elementary School Concert Band came back from Music Fest Canada in Toronto with gold and silver medals, plus an individual award for one of the young musicians.
Negotiations with a third party for the use of Weyerhaeuser’s Vavenby sawmill site were still ongoing. Plans were proceeding for an auction of machinery and equipment at the site the beginning of June.
10 YEARS AGO:
Local naturalist Trevor Goward had a multi-faceted vision for Clearwater and Wells Gray Park. The Wells Gray Wilderness Institute he proposed would be a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting research in this area.
B.C. Chamber of Commerce called for a reversal of a province-wide moratorium on uranium exploration. The Kamloops Chamber believed that uranium mining should be treated like any other industry in our society. The Chamber was to meet with MLA Kevin Krueger.
5 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater town council awarded the maintenance contract for the municipality’s roads to Borrow Enterprises. “I’m happy that a local contractor is getting it. That means the money will stay in town,” said Mayor John Harwood.
The provincial Environmental Assessment Office told Yellowhead Mining to go back to the drawing board with its application for a proposed copper-gold-silver mine at Harper Creek southwest of Vavenby. The EAO provided a 60-page document with information it felt the application lacked. “The request for additional information and clarification was not unexpected,” said Charlene Higgins, Yellowhead vice-president.
A Commercial Vehicle Safety Enforcement (CVSE) officer impounded a Greyhound bus that had been traveling at 110 km/hr in a 50 km/hr construction speed zone near Blue River. About 19 passengers had to wait at a restaurant for a relief bus to arrive. The incident occurred at approximately 3 a.m.
1 YEAR AGO:
Winds in Clearwater reached 91 km/hr, the highest recorded as a storm lashed the southern Interior, but the most damage appeared to have occurred in Wells Gray Park. About 150 trees came down in and around Clearwater Lake campsite and two trailers were hit by falling trees, said park contractor Merlin Blackwell.
A meeting in Upper Clearwater Hall with Carol Schaffer, TNRD director for Area A (Wells Gray Country), looked at a variety of community issues. Upper Clearwater Farmers Institute secretary Nick Frost asked about ways the hall’s grant-in-aid might be increased.
Nearly all of Clearwater Valley Road from Highway 5 to Helmcken Falls would be re-paved that summer, highways area manager Hilary Barnett said in an email. Parking for visitors at Moul Falls was to be improved as well.
About 300 kids in 21 teams (seven in each of U8, U10 and U13 divisions) took part in the fourth annual Footy Festival at Clearwater Secondary School. The young soccer players came from Barriere, Ashcroft and Lillooet as well as Clearwater.
Wildlife biologist Mirjam Barreuto started working with Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing to study wolverines. Partnering with the ski company would enable her to set out hundreds of bait stations over the course of three seasons.
District of Clearwater reconfigured the hill on Clearwater Village Road from Wells Gray Inn to the firehall to have two vehicle lanes plus a multi-use bike lane instead of three vehicle lanes. CAO Leslie Groulx noted that the change had been recommended by the District’s trails task force.
newsroom@clearwatertimes.com
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