33 Years Ago (1985): A projected drop in enrollment for nearly all 100 Mile House area schools resulted in the transfer of several teachers, said Martin Hamm, School District 27’s director of education at the time. Forest Grove Elementary, Mile 108 Elementary, Horse Lake Elementary and Ogden Senior Secondary School all lost one full-time teacher while Buffalo Creek Elementary School lost one part-time kindergarten teacher. Enrollment in the kindergarten class at the latter was expected to decline to eight from 15.
26 Years Ago (1992): Local doctors were taking a wait-and-see attitude toward protests about the new health care legislation, while doctors in Prince George and Quesnel were planning to protest Bill 71 by closing their offices for two days. The disputes in the bill that the B.C. Medical Association and the provincial government were trying to resolve included doctors’ pensions and the limiting of doctors’ salaries. “At the moment, we don’ have any plan for action,” said Dr. John McGregor, 100 Mile Hospital chief of staff.
17 Year Ago (2001): The B.C. Ambulance Service was in the process of installing a computer-assisted dispatch system that foreshadows the future of ambulances in the province. “All ambulances will have an automated vehicle locator which will be linked to GPS,” said B.C. Ambulance Services manager of communications Bob Pearce. First on the list was the computer-assisted dispatch system, included with that was a mapping system. “Once that’s in there, the dispatch will be able to pull up a map and assist the crew,” said Pearce.
10 Years Ago (2008): The BC Ombudsman wanted cleaner drinking water throughout the province. “Our office had been receiving complaints from across the province on similar issues,” said Kim Carter. She said the Ministry of Health estimated there were over 2,100 water systems in the province. New drinking legislation had been legislated five years prior and Carter wanted to ensure the same standard applied across the province regardless of geographic differences. The report had 39 recommendations for the provincial government and regional health authorities.
5 Years Ago (2013): A stream at Canim Lake bust its banks at the Ponderosa Resort and washed out the beach and flooding the condo rental building. Owner Wolfgang Martens said he was roused from his sleep by a loud noise at 1:30 a.m. and looked out to find rushing water carrying mud and rocks crashing down a nearby hill, across the road and through his resort. “Coming down off the hillside, it was just unreal. We had one camper down there, and when I heard the rumbling of the creek, I went out to check it, and I got him moved out of there and into the higher side.”
