40 YEARS AGO:
Poor weather conditions resulted in the students attending Clearwater schools having an unexpected holiday Wednesday and Thursday.
The very heavy snow in some areas totalled from 18 to 26 inches and created havoc on local highways.
RCMP advised drivers to stay off the roads unless travel was necessary and the highway between Blue River and Avola was temporarily closed off. A snow slide blocked off traffic north of Mt. Robson.
Clearwater Secondary School suffered a power outage and students were sent home before noon. The decision was also made to close other area schools.
35 YEARS AGO:
Winners of The Times Christmas story contest were very difficult to choose as most were of high quality.
After considerable deliberation Theresa Gyger’s “A New Mommy” was selected for the prizewinner.
For the younger folk, 11-year-old Darfield resident Cory Carmichael’s story about “Nicholas” was chosen as first although all stories in this category were worthy. Unfortunately, only one prize was awarded in each grouping.
Rajbinder Gill is to receive the prize for the youngest short story grouping.
From the three entries in the poetry section Lydia Tompson’s “That Christmas Spirit” was the most appealing and was awarded first prize, although the weight-watcher’s poem is guaranteed to disturb a guilty conscience.
30 YEARS AGO:
The new board of School District 26 voted unanimously that condom dispensers be installed in both the boys and girls washrooms at Clearwater Secondary School. The board also decided that an awareness program be established at the school to enhance the existing family life curriculum.
The decision was made based on a public meeting on the subject held Nov. 26 and a report from the board’s education committee.
A survey of students and staff held recently at the school was overwhelmingly in support of the machines.
25 YEARS AGO:
The McLure ferry has taken up temporary residence at Whispering Pines.
Just four days after the reaction ferry was taken out of service for the winter, the watercraft was swept downstream when an ice jam above it broke loose.
“The river took it out sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning,” explained Ministry of Transportation and Highways Bridges and Ferries Area Manager Harvey Nelson. “There was an ice jam immediately above the ferry at the narrows. Then through the night another one formed immediately downstream and backed the water up, causing it to rise significantly — rumour has it five or six feet. The upstream jam let loose, came down, and blew the ferry out of there.”
20 YEARS AGO:
Efforts by local federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans staff and work carried out by the Clearwater Hatchery when it was operated by the federal government have helped lead to what has been called an “astounding recovery” in Upper Adams River sockeye salmon run.
“We feel good about it. We’ve put a lot of effort into the Upper Adams, both in terms of manpower and financially,” said Tim Panko, federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans habitat protection technologist for the Clearwater area.
Nearly 70,000 sockeye returned to the Adams River north of Adams Lake to spawn this year.
15 YEARS AGO:
Ricky and Dylan Hiebert got an early Christmas present last week.
Their dog, Cisco, had gone missing during a weekend snowmobiling trip to Grizzly Mountain. It turned up tired and foot-sore, but safe at their Blackpool home.
“We took our sleds up to cut down a Christmas tree,” said Rickey Hiebert. “Cisco was running with my foster dad (Chuck Bucknell). When we turned around, he was gone.”
Members of the family went back twice to see if they could locate the missing canine. Then at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning they heard scratching at the door. It was Cisco.
10 YEARS AGO:
Canfor Corporation announced that following a review by its board of directors, the company will be proceeding with a 2011 capital spending plan for its lumber business of $145 million.
Of that amount, $120 million will be for improvement projects to its sawmilling facilities. The balance will be for maintenance projects.
This is part of a three-year strategic plan that calls for total investment in sawmill improvement projects of $300 million.
“This level of investment will secure our position in the top tier of competitiveness, and marks an exciting new chapter for Canfor,” said Jim Shepard, Canfor president and CEO.
5 YEARS AGO:
Poetry is not a lost art. Astrid Ludwig, a Grade 5 student who is being home-schooled, proved that with her rhyming entry, “Christmas Traditions,” in the Times’ annual Christmas story contest.
Her poem won first place in the grades 4-7 category of the contest. It tells of a backcountry skiing trip into the Trophy Mountains and, she says, is half true, half fiction.
Second place went to Andrew Ludbrook, who proved that Christmas can not only be fun but also funny.
Andrew is a student at Raft River Elementary School, as are all the other prize-winners.
His story, “Santa Finds the Lost Pig,” tickled our judges’ funny bones and got them yelling, “Pig in the city! Pig in the city!”