Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter James Goldie has been combing through old newspapers with the assistance of the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives so we can jog your memory, give you that nostalgic feeling, or just a chuckle, as we take a look at what was making headlines this week around Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
This week around the Cowichan Lake…
10 years ago:
The Lake Cowichan Ratepayers Association held a public meeting to discuss the future of the J.H. Boyd School and ways to stop the school board from selling the property. Spokesman Rod Peters said it would be crazy to sell when so many new houses are being built in and around Lake Cowichan. Mayor Jack Peake said council had received some proposals suggesting partnerships with the town to purchase the property jointly, taking advantage of a contract between the town and School District 79 that sets the price at $765,000.
“We won’t go any further on this until we hear from the school district,” said Peake.
25 years ago:
Construction on the new fish hatchery has begun on Oak Lane, near the School District 66 headquarters.
It will have a poured concrete foundation and basement areas alongside Beadnell Creek, which will be used as a source of salmon.
The hatchery is being built by volunteers and is funded by a GO B.C. grant. It is situated on village property, unlike the last hatchery; Lake Cowichan has been without a hatchery for three years because the previous facility was on private land that eventually sold.
The facility is operated by the Salmonid Enchancement Society.
40 years ago:
A group of Youbou residents is seeking to halt a commercial development on Saseenos Point and have brought a petition to the CVRD expressing their concerns. The group represents the majority of lot holders on Saseenos Point, and is asking the CVRD to rezone the property — owned by Fred Lubin and adjacent Ben’s Marina — from commercial to residential.
Lubin is planning to turn the land into a campground.
The citizen group is seeking an injunction from the CVRD to halt Lubin’s construction, arguing the 58-lot subdivision is under a covenant preventing the use of the land for commerce or industry.
“Trailers with wheels and trailers without wheels are equally objectionable,” said Stan Oakes, a spokesman for the group.
Compiled by James Goldie, Gazette
