37 Years Ago (1981): Student enrollment numbers were expected to be up slightly in School District 27, according to Martin Hamm, assistant superintendent of schools. Hamm said his projections indicated 8,782 students would enroll, an increase of 153 over the 8,629 who enrolled in 1980. Horse Lake Elementary’s enrollment was expected to go from 352 to 405, 100 Mile from 460 to 470, Mile 108 from 305 to 335 and Buffalo Creek from 86 to 112, while Forest Grove and Lac la Hache were expected to remain static at 140 and 100 students respectively.
31 Years Ago (1987): 108 Mile Ranch residents were asked to vote on an $885,000 water system. A “yes” vote, was associated with a $75 increase in tax per parcel and a user fee of about $15 per month. “The parcel tax is much higher than we expected because of the province not supplying any funding this year,” said Al Richmond, president of the 108 Mile Property Owners Association. “We had hoped to get 25 cents on the dollar from the province but they didn’t give us anything. Now We’ll try to get funding next year.”
RELATED: 108 Mile Ranch water system up and running
23 Years Ago (1995): The Gustafson Lake saga rode a roller coaster of dramatic ups and downs in the past week, running from anticipated resolution to dashed hopes – and a new report of police under fire. Cpl. John Ward, of RCMP media relations, announced late Monday night, that a police vehicle had been fired upon at about 8:45 p.m. some kilometres from the armed encampment at Gustafson Lake at an undisclosed location. Four armoured personnel carriers were driven into the area early Tuesday morning for what Ward called defensive positioning “to protect our members.”
16 Years Ago (2002): The Internet Technology (IT) Consortium was jumping on the federal government’s recent decision to pick up the pace and bring high-speed internet to rural Canada. “The government’s program is to assist in the delivery of broadband,” said Cariboo Regional District (CRD) Operations Manager Gordon Gilette. “This falls right into what we’ve been working on.” The federal program came with a $105 million price tag, $15 million of which was allocated for rural British Columbia.
9 Years Ago (2009): School District 27 was projecting a $700,000 deficit before the start of the new school year. The provincial government cancelled the annual facilities grant, which would have been at least $1.4 million for the district. Pete Penner, board chair, said they thought the district was looking good and then, boom. The funds are used for school maintenance and facility upgrades, much of which is done during the summer when schools are closed. “It’s crazy; we thought this money was there for us.”
