40 YEARS AGO:
An enthusiastic crowd was on hand to congratulate the 1980 Citizen of the Year — Buddy and Earl Johnston, at the annual Chamber banquet and dance.
This year there were six nominations recieved by the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce from community clubs and organizations — Phyllis Bucknell, Hans Krauseneck, Keith Hanna, Lloyd Strickland, Robert Gledhill in addition to Mr. and Mrs. Johnston.
Chamber president Vi Mayer made the presentations to the honoured guests, noting that 1980 was the 20th anniversary of the event.
35 YEARS AGO:
The winter issue of Beautiful British Columbia featured an article on Wells Gray Park written by former park naturalist and long-time Times columnist Trevor Goward.
Titled “The Winter of Wells Gray,” the article gives an extremely graphic description of life in the park during winter months.
Promoting Wells Gray Park has been Goward’s aim for many years and his efforts appear to be paying off. In addition to the Beautiful B.C. article, one if his contributiuons can also be found in the September-October issue of The Rancher, a farm-oriented newspaper.
30 YEARS AGO:
The season has ended with the top graduates all receiving their just rewards, in the dog obedience classes. Hopefully owners were also impressed with the performance of their favourite pooches.
Beginner and advance classes were conducted by trainer Emile Woodruff of Windvane Kennels. There were 12 graduates from a class of 17 which began the course.
Outstanding dog in beginners was Magnum owned by Cheryl Morhart. In the final, Magnum was tied for points with Jasmine Ludtke’s Truffles, forcing another test which saw Magnum and Cheryl Morhart winning by one-half point.
25 YEARS AGO:
Under the reality of an ultimatum issued by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, local parties interested in obtaining the Clearwater Fish Hatchery for the benefit of the community are finally working together.
Representatives of School District 26, the Clearwater Improvement District, the North Thompson Indian Band, North Thompson Community Skills Centre, the University College of the Cariboo, the Grizzly Anglers and Calgary businessman Blaine Mersereau met at the invitation of the CID.
At that meeting, “some agreement was made for everybody to have a look at the SD26 proposal that the school district own it and the rest of the users see if that’s viable now,” reported CID Chairman Dave Smid, following the meeting that was closed to media.
20 YEARS AGO:
Donations of time and equipment by local loggers and contractors have netted nearly $32,000 for Clearwater’s proposed new multi-level health care facility. The loggers challenged other businesses and individuals to do the same.
Three representatives of M.W. Sharke Contracting —Kelvin Arndt, Wade Elliot and Rob Sunderman — recently presented a cheque for the Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital Auxiliary to hospital executive director Linda Comazzetto and Berni Easson, coordinator of community health services.
The money came from the sale of logs harvested while clearing the land for the proposed new facility. The loggers and contractors did the job for no charge, with all proceeds except fuel costs going to help the new hospital.
15 YEARS AGO:
Canfor plans to make significant investments in its Vavenby operation, but has not yet reached a deal to acquire Interact. Those were two of the messages forest company CEO Jim Shepherd delivered to about 50 business and community leaders at a lunch meeting on Thursday at the Wells Gray Inn.
“Vavenby, for us, is one of the keepers,” said Shepherd. “This particular valley has extremely good quality timber. I look forward to a long relationship with the North Thompson.”
The pine beetle epidemic may mean the operation will produce a lower volume than at present, but the intent is to keep it operating, he said.
10 YEARS AGO:
Local governments should lobby together to get natural gas and more electrical power in the North Thompson valley.
That was one of the outcomes of the second community-to-community forum held in Chu Chua, according to a review from District of Clearwater chief administrative officer Isabell Hadford.
High speed Internet, cell phone service and Shaw cable to all areas of the valley should also be priorities the forum felt.
Those taking part also agreed to work together to keep employment center offices and ambulance stations in Barriere and Clearwater.
Simpcw First Nation and Thompson-Nicola Regional District agree to enter into a protocol agreement to share mapping resources in order to obtain more accurate geographical information.
5 YEARS AGO:
Kamloops proved itself to not be a bellweather riding in the election, returning Cathy McLeod to office while the Liberals stunned a nation by sweeping to a majority.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals won 184 of 338 seats — 14 more than is needed to form a majority government.
The Conservatives were second with 99 seats, followed by the NDP at 44 seats, the Bloc Quebecois at 10 seats and the Greens at one seat.
In Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo the much-hyped strategic voting initiative failed to succeed, as McLeod held onto her seat with 24,444 votes (35.2 per cent of the vote).