25 YEARS AGO: For many voters in the riding, the confirmation of registration postcard delivered in the mail brought something other than confirmation of where their familiar polling station is. It brought marching orders for a major — and, in most cases, totally ridiculous — cross-country trip to exercise their right to vote. In Clearwater, some Raft River residents will travel to the Birch Island polling station — by travelling out to the highway and doubling back the way they came to cross the river. Some in Louis Creek would bypass their own polling station and travel a half hour or more to cast their ballot in Heffley Creek.
20 YEARS AGO: Clearwater’s Medical Center was closed as part of a province-wide day of protest by members of the B.C. Medical Association. Ifor Thomas, chief of medical staff at Dr. Helmcken Memorial Hospital said it was to support the BCMA and the Canadian Health Act in calling for binding arbitration. The dispute between the doctors and the provincial government started when the government cancelled an arbitrated settlement with the doctors. Thomas said he felt the biggest impact of the doctors’ job action was probably on local residents who had have surgeries that were done in Kamloops or on the Coast cancelled.
15 YEARS AGO: Significant improvements to the emergency locator transmitter system in airplanes resulted in local residents being unaware a search and rescue operation was underway hours after they climbed from the cockpit of a private plane that had flipped over during an abandoned take off. The plane, a small two-seater Cessna 150, piloted by Ed Crombie, was being stored at Seppi Wadlegger’s field in Blackpool. Family members watched as the plane experienced difficulties and the pilot abandoned take off. It then nosed into a large burn pile and flipped over. Both occupants were in good condition.
5 YEARS AGO: A washout on the road to Clearwater Lake at Deer Creek had 40 people trapped on the other side. A flash flood from up high took out the road before Helmcken Falls, and appeared to be caused by the collapse of a beaver dam upstream following heavy rain over the previous several days. The travellers trapped at Clearwater Lake were able to resume their journeys when the road opened that Sunday.
newsroom@clearwatertimes.com
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