38 Years Ago (1980): A $50,000 rest area was developed at the 108 Mile Ranch. The driving force behind the project was the 100 Mile House Historical Society, which recognized the potential of the donation by 108 Mile Ranch of several acres of land along the highway. The $50,000 was earmarked to construct a new building with restrooms, a sceptic field and, in a later phase, a fully landscaped site. It was called the 108 Mile Lakeshore Historic Site and bordered the lake.
31 Years Ago (1987): Mayor Donna Barnett said she enjoys a well-crafted April Fool’s joke as much as anyone but that the Hollywood movie hoax that had businesses and would be extras calling the village office for appointments had gone too far. “I’m disappointed that someone would have gone to this extreme and all this extra work to build up false hopes about jobs in a place with so much unemployment,” she said at the time.
26 Years Ago (1992): A BC Rail train was forced to make an emergency stop in the Lac la Hache area after two teenage boys were spotted placing spikes onto the tracks. “It was potentially a very dangerous situation,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Cliff Lindsay at the time. “This is just the most recent. We have ad other reports, including one in the Lone Butte area. The train was delayed for about 10 minutes.
15 Years Ago (2003): Twenty-seven companies were set to be affected by the provincial government’s reallocation for logging rights. The ministry would take 20 per cent of timber held by those major licensees and put it up for auction. In return for the tenure licensees were to share a $200 million compensation package. “We’ve agreed for a number of years that there needed to be some tenure reforms, ” said Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers Unions president Wade Fisher. “I think it’s going too far.”
8 Years Ago (2010): Cariboo fire restrictions went into place a month early, prohibiting open fire larger than one metre high and one metre wide. The dry conditions after a warm winter increase the risk of forest fires, said fire information officer Kim Steinbart at the time. Then 100 MIle House Fire Rescue chief Darrell Blades said the ban would also apply to the municipality with only campfires allowed.
max.winkelman@100milefreepress.net
