37 Years Ago (1981): The International Woodworkers of America union members staged a one-day walkout and shut down the Lone Butte Division of Ainsworth Lumber Ltd., Canim Lake Sawmills Ltd. and 100 Mile House Cedar Products. The work stoppage involved over 500 hourly employees of the three companies. The walkouts were said to be over a joint negotiation issue on whether or not Interior Mills should be part of one provincial contract or not.
29 Years Ago (1989): Local merchants had mixed feelings about Overwaitea and Safeway’s decision to open on Sunday. Some merchants were gauging community response before making a decision on whether to follow suit. Donex Pharmacy wouldn’t be opening on Sunday said manager Gordon Dickie, not were Fields or the Bay at the time. Dickie called shopping on Sunday “the big-city influence on a small town,” and added, “Donex has no desire to open on Sundays.”
22 Years Ago (1996): According to an early election poll commissioned by the Free Press the NDP was set to sweep 10 out of 10 seats in the Interior. In Cariboo South, 49 per cent of decided voters said they would vote NDP – 25 per cent favoured Reform while 21 per cent chose the Liberals. Four per cent stated other preferences. Cariboo South NDP incumbent David Zirnhelt was pleased with the results but said, “It’s very early in the campaign, it’s only one-quarter of the way through.
17 Years Ago (2001): Vandals ripped down strands of Christmas lights from the 100 Mile Childcare Center and smashed many of the bulbs in the yard where the toddlers play. “We’ve gotta play an Easter Egg hunt, because if there are any out here we don’t know about then the children are going to get hurt,” said employee Julie Dewsbury. She has already spent over two hours sweeping up broken bulbs from around the playground and estimated it would take a few more to finish the job.
9 Years Ago (2009): The 70 Mile House fire was 100 per cent contained with the final count of the blaze at 1,000 hectares. There were still eight firefighters monitoring the fire through ground patrols but no hot spots had been found lately. The cost of fighting the fire was roughly estimated at $243,000. The investigation as to the cause of the fire was on-going an results would be made public as soon as they were clarified, according to fire information officer Grace Pickell.
