Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Lexi Bainas has been combing through oldnewspaperswiththeassistance 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 weekaround Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
10 years ago:
TimberWest came under fire in 2008 when company real estate reps Frank Limshue and Steve Bruynell told the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce that “more than 80 per cent of their 796,000 acres of private forest lands will continue to be logged.”
And that was not all, the story in the April 23, 2008 issue of the Lake Cowichan Gazette continued.
There are another 41,000 acres that are described as associated development lands whose future, said Bruyneel, would depend on what happens with the core development lands. A third category called straight land sales, includes 54,000 acres.
Lake Cowichan town council had previously endorsed a resolution to lobby the provincial government to establish private forest land reserves so that private forest land will not be lost, even if the land is sold. Councillors Pat Foster and Pat Weaver were at the chamber meeting.
“I really want that land to remain forestry, thank you very much,” Foster said.
Weaver also commented, noting that although Lake Cowichan is relying more and more on tourism, “it will never bring in the kind of dollars that logging does.”
25 years ago:
“Teachers threaten complete walkout” on the front page of the April 21, 1993 edition of The Lake News told everyone what they needed to know.
The information came to the school board and chairman of the board, Gary Gunderson and superintendent of School District #66 Brian Hoole held a press conference with the Lake News late Friday afternoon, where it was learned that “face to face negotiations have completely broken down” and the board was facing a complete walkout on April 21.
However, all was not easy on the picket front as “Parents picket against teachers’ strike” was another headline on the front page of the same paper.
In that story we learn that “a small group of concerned parents pickets Stanley Gordon School on Tuesday as teachers picket and then went to the school board office. Cindy Knight, spokesperson for the group calling themselves Parents for Uninterrupted Education, told The Lake News they were met by Brian Hoole, who said they were working “under a veil of silence”…[and] “the teachers and school board sympathize with them.”
Knight had more to day.
“The strikes are affecting us. We will be watching what happens. It is an interruption we do not agree with. We will continue to picket and should the teachers take full strike action, we will be a lot more vocal.”
40 years ago:
“Parking bylaws slackened” is a headline from The Lake News of April 1978 calculated to draw the eye even now.
So, what was it all about?
“Village council voted last week to draw up a bylaw amendment that would lower the number of parking spaces required for dwellings. A change to the village’s off-street parking regulations requires that all dwelling units have a minimum of two parking spaces. The amendment will require only 1.5 parking spaces per dwelling unit.”
The decision to make the change was made after it was pointed out that most municipalities in the province require only 1.5 spaces per resident and the requirment might make it difficult for those proposing multi-dwelling buildings in the village.
Another item we couldn’t resist from the same paper shows Herb Branting getting a “Lesson in Lifesaving”. Branting, then a captain with the Lake Cowichan Volunteer Fire Department was at the Incinerator the previous week “trying out the Jaws of Life” rescue too, which was donated to the village by the Ramcos Car Club.
Although this tool that cuts apart wrecked cars is common now, the Jaws were a new feature in those days, and the Lake Cowichan Fire Department promised to make the $7,700 tool available to ambulance crews, RCMP, and members of Youbou, Honeymoon Bay and Mesachie Lake fire departments after intensive training sessions in hydraulic tool operation.
