40 YEARS AGO
The first steps have been made toward beginning the renovations to Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital. Architect Ray Goldsworthy from Victoria is working on the plans to upgrade the emergency, radiology and laboratory facilities. Once complete, they will be put to tender. The renovations will cost $270,000 and will begin as soon as possible.
Mail delivery was reduced to two days per week due to a postal strike.
BC Hydro filed an application with the B.C. Utilities Commission for rate increases affecting all categories of electricity and gas customers. The rate increase is intended to cover anticipated rises in costs and would increase an average of 9.7 per cent for residential consumers on Aug. 1, 1981, and another 9.3 per cent on April 1, 1982.
35 YEARS AGO
Clearwater Secondary School logging program submitted a bid to obtain a new woodlot. The Logging 10 class, created in 1981, needs to acquire the lot to ensure a future for the program. The CSS course has provided skilled and knowledgeable labour for local contractors.
Safety Mart won the “B” bantam finals, the first for a Clearwater team, taking out Williams Lake with an end score of 5-4. The games were held in Barriere.
A 15-pound fish won top prize in Weyerhaeuser’s weekend fishing derby on Canim Lake. The fish was brought in by John Roach. John Elliot hauled in a 4-pound, 5-ounce fish which was closest to the hidden prize weight of 4 lb, 2 oz.
30 YEARS AGO
Clearwater Forest District has about 7,000 “vegetation management experts” at work this year. The experts are sheep and cattle. The district has the largest sheep grazing program int he province. The animals are being used both to prepare sites for planting, and to brush and weed after the young trees are put in the ground.
Ross Coultier, Clearwater-based professional mountain guide, and two other North Thompson residents are headed to the Himalayas to take part in the 1991 Canada Everest expedition.
A pack of dogs killed Ralph and Maureen Johnson’s pet Llama, “Babe.” The canines also took a lamb and one of the Johnson’s ewes. Two other sheep are now on medication. That same night, six geese belonging to a neighbour were killed, and a pig injured.
25 YEARS AGO
Brothers George and Art Marcyniuk have sold the Wells Gray Inn to Ray Leroux of Kelowna, who is experienced in the hotel, resort and motel business. His son will be joining him. The new owner assured he would be keeping the same staff and is planning some expansion of the business in the very near future.
A thick layer of smoke filled in the Flats in Clearwater, causing alarm for residents. Firefighters found two pails full of an unidentifiable smoldering material. After donning SCBA airpacks and hosing down the buckets, firefighters determined copper wire had been set on fire to remove the plastic covering.
A four vehicle chain reaction collision in the repaving construction zone just north of Little Fort resulted in a total of approximately $30,000 in damages. Three vehicles were stopped in the construction zone by flaggers, when a fourth vehicle, a pickup towing a large fifth wheel motorhome, plowed into the back of the line.
20 YEARS AGO
Two Clearwater residents fell victim to organized crime. One had his pickup seized by police as a stolen vehicle. The other was taken in by a fraudulent investment scheme.
Search and Rescue were successful in finding an elderly man near 100 Mile House. He had gone missing after taking a walk while visiting family. The relatives reported him missing when he didn’t return. A search plane spotted a fire, to which S&R were deployed and found the man.
A summer employee at the Clearwater Fire Centre, Kevin Christie, is developing an interface fire assessment program for the area. The information will be digitized and put on maps in a database. Eventually there will be a database covering the whole province.
DQ bantam boys softball team won silver at the Bantam C provincial championships in Barriere. They won nearly all their games at the event and placed second overall.
15 YEARS AGO
An open house brought over 300 to protest and learn more about a proposal to explore uranium deposits on the Foghorn property. Clearwater residents and visitors from Barriere, Kelowna, Kamloops and other B.C. regions gathered outside the Clearwater Resource Centre. The rally continued until 8 p.m. when the open house was ended. Those in attendance were encouraged to write to the ministry.
Local residents making trips to the local dump will notice large deposits of smelly black sludge are piking up at the Clearwater landfill. The product is Nutrifor and 1,000 tonnes is being trucked in from the Lower Mainland as part of a joint land reclamation project between the TNRD and the Greater Vancouver Regional District. The TNRD is in the process of reclaiming five landfill sites with this fertilizer.
10 YEARS AGO
The District of Clearwater will be inviting surrounding municipalities to meet with BC Hydro during the Union of BC Municipalities meeting to discuss an alternative for the valley as “we need more power,” said Councillor Bert Walker. The concern is if a proposed copper mine near Vavenby goes ahead, the present electrical system would be inadequate.
Canfor-Vavenby sawmill will re-open in September, according to a letter from the plant manager to the District of Clearwater. Approximately 50 people will be returning to work. No figures were given for loggers or contract workers. A second shift is anticipated in January. The sawmill shut down its operation during the summer of 2009.
5 YEARS AGO
Many years of effort by a Clearwater couple came to fruition with the official opening of the Dragonfly Splash Park in Clearwater. Debbie and Roger Mayer conceived of the splash park as a memorial to their son, Gord, who died tragically in an accident in 2002. According to an article in the Sept. 5, 2013, issue of the Times, they also intended it to be in remembrance of all those who helped build this community, such as bill Mattenly, Ed Buck and Bill Collison. “Nothing is happier than the sound of kids laughing,” Roger Mayer is quoted as saying at the time.
Construction of a connection from Raft River Elementary to the District of Clearwater’s sewer system is underway. The project to replace the school’s outdated septic fields is being paid for with $715,900 from the province’s School Enhancement Program and $140,000 from SD73.