40 YEARS AGO:
On May 1 Mr. George Hughes of Clearwater reported the theft of some political signs off the Yellowhead Highway. Eight of the Social Credit election signs were plywood and the remainder were small cardboard signs taken from private property.
Mike’s Take-Out was broken into sometime April 30 to May 1. Approximately $500-worth of groceries were stolen. The case is under investigation.
A flag was stolen from the Dr. Helmcken memorial Hospital sometime during the night of April 30.
35 YEARS AGO:
Parks Minister Jack Kempf April 22 released the master plan for Wells Gray Park, “firmly establishing the park’s role as one of the province’s most important wilderness areas.”
Kempf said the plan will ensure protection of wilderness areas such as Murtle Lake and the Braithwaite Icefield.
The plan will also provide increased public recreation opportunities such as construction of new trail systems in the Goat Peaks area; provision of canoe touring opportunities on Murtle Lake; and development of backcountry accommodation on McDougal Lake and at Battle Mountain.
In releasing the plan Kempf said, “I believe it is important to approve the plan now in order to implement its recommendations as early as possible, although there may be slight modifications in the future after the government has thoroughly reviewed the report submitted by the Wilderness Advisory Committee.”
30 YEARS AGO:
Apparently there was a minor panic at a Clearwater Search and Rescue “mock search” recently when the woman who was pretending to be lost failed to report in hourly by radio as had been arranged.
She had been escorted out to a location on Mailbox Ridge near Wells Gray Park earlier that morning by a team member. Adequate food and clothing was provided and she was instructed to just stay put until the searches found her.
Other team members received a call-out at 7:00 a.m. and proceeded to the scene.
When it came time to ensure the woman was having no problems during her wait, however, she didn’t respond to the radio. The member who had escorted her out earlier had to retrace her steps. Apparently he found her having a restful snooze.
After everyone had a good laugh at the situation, the search continued. The other team members tracked her down by 1:50 p.m. without further complications.
25 YEARS AGO:
They’re afraid they’ll be left up a creek without a paddle — literally.
This week is Emergency Preparedness Week and some 15 months after the contracts of the two North Thompson PEP coordinators were allowed to lapse by the government, no replacement solution is yet in place.
“I still receive all of the mail,all of their information,” said former Barriere Area PEP Coordinator Judy Vosper as she examined the snow warning report that had just come in over the fax on the afternoon of May 2. “If we didn’t receive it, no one in this community would. Where do we stand? In a lot of water soon. We’ll be up the creek without a paddle.”
Although PEP still issues Task numbers to cover any liability that may be incurred by volunteer emergency workers, the authority to begin emergency rescue work immediately has been taken from the community.
20 YEARS AGO:
B.C.’s Forest Practices Board completed an investigation in February of a complaint from residents in the East Blackpool area.
The residents had been concerned that forestry activities above their properties were affecting their domestic water supply.
The investigation found all the complaint issues unsubstantiated.
In 1997, after conducting several watershed assessments, the Clearwater Forest District manager and Weyerhaeuser agreed to manage the area as if it were a community watershed, even though it was not designated a community watershed under the Forest Practices Code.
Despite this commitment, several residents believed that forest development plans were not consistent managing the area as a community watershed.
15 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater Secondary School has been approved for the Industry Training Authority’s new trades program called Youth Exploring Skills to Industry Training, or Yes 2 It. The program will start in the fall.
Yes 2 It is a joint program of the ITA and the Ministry of Education that allows students to learn hands-on experience of trade skills. It is a continuation of the Entry Level Trades Training from the previous year that Grade 8 students participated in.
Jim Zsednai and Brent Buck, instructors at CSS, have brought the program to fruition when they received word from ITA that CSS is approved for the $5,000 funding.
10 YEARS AGO:
Student Vote is a national programme which 536,642 students voted in 3,787 schools in 301 electoral districts prior to the federal election.
These students would have elected a Conservation minority government with the NDP in second place.
At Clearwater Secondary School, 95 students voted, with a majority of votes Cathy McLeod (Conservative), who won the seat in the official election. The students would have elected Michael Crawford (NDP) with 29 per cent of the vote, similar to that of the election results.
Twenty-one schools participated in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Electoral District.
5 YEARS AGO:
A public-assent process to determine the future of funding for Upper Clearwater Community Hall will being.
The Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s board of directors voted Thursday to authorize a public-assent process by petition in the area, which will determine if the hall’s grant-in-aid service will be determined.
At issue in Upper Clearwater is a grant-in-aid derived from property taxes — and paid to the Upper Clearwater Farmers’ Institute, the owners of the hall, annually by the TNRD.
The grant-in-aid amounts to roughly $5,000 annually and has been collected since 2005.