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20 YEARS AGO: Clearwater hospital gets green light

Back in time: A snapshot of history
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This home on Raft River Road was fully engulfed when Clearwater volunteer firefighters arrived at the scene. This image originally appeared in the Feb. 20, 1996, issue of the Times.

40 YEARS AGO

A CNR freight train derailment occured on “unlucky Friday 13th,” 17 kilometres south of Blue River.

At approximately 9 a.m., 28 cars jumped the tracks. Twelve cars were carrying automobiles — six remained on their feet, three turned on their sides andthree slid down the bank. Eight of the derailed cars were transporting lumber and the remaining three were empty.

A total of 1,500 feet of track was ripped up, unfortunately closing the line down for a 36-hour period.

All eastbound trains had passengers airlifted from Kamloops to Edmonton and westbound passengers were flown from Edmonton to Kamloops.

35 YEARS AGO

An accident at the northern junction of Highway 5 and Clearwater Village Road just before 8 a.m. backed up traffic for miles both ways for a period of more than two hours until a tow truck, caught in the line up, was able to remove the battered remains of one vehicle and allow single lane traffic.

An unloaded southbound logging truck was approaching the intersection where a vehicle was said to be turning off the highway when it was believed it was struck from behind by a heavily-loaded freight truck. The logging truck was turned around by the impact ending in the opposite lane facing north with the passenger side of the freighter’s cab attached to its back end in the same lane.

The trailer and its load of grain remained upright and completely blocked off the other lane.

30 YEARS AGO

North Thompson residents were invited to make their input into a joint program to shape the parks and wilderness system in B.C. in a series of open houses and meeting held in Blue River, Clearwater and Barriere.

The purpose of the gatherings was to inform the public about Parks Plan 90 and Forest Service’s Wilderness Area draft system plan.

Under the two plans over 100 areas in B.C. are proposed as possible new parks or forest wilderness areas.

At the meeting in Clearwater local doctor and kayaker Ifor Thomas said he was disapointed that the Clearwater River corridor was not included in the proposed study areas.

25 YEARS AGO

Less than eight hours after Clearwater firefighters mopped up the fire that destroyed a home on Raft River Road, Regional Fire Commissioner Bob Hickey of Kamloops was on the scene to examine the charred remains.

Clearwater firefighters arrived at the residence at 1090 Raft River Road at approximately 9:45 p.m. to find it fully engulfed. Bob Broderick, the lone occupant of the house at the time of the blaze escaped uninjured.

RCMP at the scene believed the fire to be suspicious and turned the matter over to the Office of Fire Commissioner for investigation. Actual cause of the fire will not be released until that investigation is complete, say police.

20 YEARS AGO

Clearwater’s long-awaited multi-level health care centre is just one of about $60 million-worth of capital projects underway within the Thompson Regional Hospital District.

That was the report made by Thompson-Nicola Regional District financial director Sukh Gill at a TNRD townhall meeting held Tuesday in Clearwater.

The $5.5 million Clearwater hospital went to tender Feb. 7, with March 9 the deadline for bids to be received.

“Hopefully, (the bids) will be within budget, and we’ll soon be in the ground,” said Gill.

15 YEARS AGO

A North Thompson Valley Spirit of BC committee’s photo depicting local officials with Jerry the Moose was one of three winners chosen in a province-wide “Show your Spirit” contest sponsored by the SOBC in Vancouver.

The winning photo, along with three links to the NT Valley will be published in one of the daily “fresh sheets” in the British Columbia - Canada Place newspaper in Torino, Italy, during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Exposure for the community’s participation in SOBC week will be international.

“As we watch the excitement of the (Olympic) Games in Italy and mark just four years to go until 2010, it’s exciting to see the phenomemal growth SOBC week as a reflection of the growing excitement in communities across the province,” said the Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier of B.C.

10 YEARS AGO

Canfor is reopening its Vavenby mill. The company announced Feb. 11 that it intends to invest its Vavenby operation in the third quarter of this year; putting up to 140 unionized and non-unionized staff back to work.

The Vavenby sawmill and planer mill, as well as most asociated logging operations, were shut down during the summer of 2009.

The decision by the Canfor board to reopen follows a meeting by local Steelworkers members the previous weekend that agreed to proposals from the company.

5 YEARS AGO

District of Clearwater property taxpayers likely will pay 5.5 per cent more this year than last.

That’s according to information released during an open house held Feb. 11 to discuss the municipality’s budget.

Inflation according to the consumer price index is about 2.5 per cent and the municipal inflation rate is about one per cent above that, said director of finance Wes Renaud.

Since incorporation in 2008, the residential mill rate has gone up by 27.5 per cent or less than 3.5 per cent per year.



newsroom@clearwatertimes.com

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