45 YEARS AGO:
Birch Island School District teachers negotiated salary increases of 6.5 per cent, slightly above the provincial average of 6.3 per cent. Teachers in their first year began at $3,725 under the new scale.
Mrs. S. Woods had 35 pupils in her Grades 1, 2 and 3 class in Avola. School District 26 superintendent F.T. Middleton suggested hiring an assistant as preferable to bussing the older students to Vavenby.
Birch Island highways district had four trucks and two graders working to clear snow from 200 miles of road and 60 miles of highway, according to the superintendent of highways. This was as much equipment or more than any equivalent district. Birch Island district foreman R. Switzer reported that his crews had already used as much salt that winter as they had all the previous winter.
40 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater Secondary School dormitory won first prize in the commercial category of the annual Christmas light-up contest. Sylvan Court Motel came second. Mr. and Mrs. Woodman won the residential contest, with Mr. and Mrs. Reg Small winning second.
35 YEARS AGO:
The first permit hunt for moose was to take place in Wells Gray Park. According to Harold Schmidt, superintendent of Wells Gray District, 50 B.C. hunters would take part, each were allowed one moose. The harvest of moose was far less that it could be, he said.
30 YEARS AGO:
An 1,219 meter long airstrip for Clearwater was second in a list of priorities for airstrip construction in the TNRD. A 1,615 meter strip for Blue River, capable of handling water bombers, was third. First priority was an airstrip for Ashcroft/Cache Creek.
Approximately 145 students out of 450 were absent from Clearwater Secondary School because of a flu outbreak.
25 YEARS AGO:
Natalie Rose, daughter of Yves and Anita Primeau, was the first baby of the year. She was born on Jan. 3.
The Clearwater IWA sub-local announced that it had taken over operation of the unemployment and food bank center once again. The union had run the center for about a year, then the previous fall, given up control to an independent committee. The IWA stepped back in after the committee moved to close the center.
A seven-member committee was being set up to look into the feasibility of a swimming pool for Clearwater. Under consideration was a 25-meter pool with a jacuzzi, a sauna, racquet ball courts and possibly a training pool.
20 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater Wrestling Club’s junior wrestlers helped it win first place for the first time in its own tournament. Local gold medal winners were Bowen Cooluris, Carter Russell, Jay Pickering, Ross Mackenzie and Shane Coughlin.
Trustees of School District 26 voted by a margin of three to one to continue with their honoria at $10,000 per year. The board had voted a year earlier to more or less double their wages. New trustee Jack Braaksma presented statistics that indicated members of many other school boards paid themselves between $5,000 and $6,500 per year.
School District 26 was advertising for a new superintendent. Board chairwoman Hazel Wadlegger would give no reason for the departure of previous superintendent Don Handfield, only confirming that he was no longer working for the district.
The school board decided to continue with a program at Blue River Elementary that saw each school-day made slightly longer. This was to allow one free day per month for staff and students to travel to Clearwater or Kamloops for business, doctor’s appointments, etc.
15 YEARS AGO:
An inmate escaping from Bear Creek Camp made the mistake of thumbing a ride from a police officer in an unmarked car. “He was cold,” said Cpl. Doug Hindle, who took the inmate into custody. Bear Creek staff were still unaware of the man’s escape at the time of his re-capture.
10 YEARS AGO:
B.C. lumber produces like Barriere’s Tolko-Louis Creek were watching the U.S. lumber market. Tolko area manager Vern Parkstrom said, “The price of lumber is hanging in there at about variable cost levels. If lumber prices go down anymore there’ll be down-time. It (the price of lumber) is very close to most of the industry’s shutdown cost. Given supply and demand, right now we expect to bump along for a while.”
A half dozen young North Thompson hockey players got a chance to show their stuff in front of several scouts from teams in the Western Hockey League
The six, Devin Walchuk, Danny Strobbee and Andrew Menzel of Clearwater, and Dusty Grummett, Scott Gardner and Caleb Fennell of Barriere, took part in trying out for the Okanagan Bantam team.
5 YEARS AGO:
SD 73 scrambled to spend a boon of $1,494,968. The windfall arrived as a result of savings during the labour disruption in 2005.
Ice man days, an annual fundraiser for the Clearwater Rotary Club was cancelled for the third time in five years due to unseasonably warm weather.
The post office in Little Fort moved to a new location at the Little Fort General Store after operating for 30 years on Institute Street.
1 YEAR AGO: Documents for subdividing the Blackpool Firehall property from the Blackpool Community Hall (owned by Star Lake Women’s Institute) had been submitted for final review, reported Tim Pennell, director for Wells Gray Country (Area A). This included an agreement to have potable water supplied to both halls from a neighboring system.
Upper Clearwater Farmers’ Institute volunteers had done a fantastic job relocating and adding to the Upper Clearwater Hall, said Pennell. He intended to allocate $40,000 in federal gas tax revenues towards the project.
