50 YEARS AGO:
More than 25 snowmobiles turned out to take part in the Sno-Drifters’ second Fun Day Competitions, held in Elmer Feddersen’s field by Highway 5. Len Chase, Ron Colborne and Gerald Hystad won the A Class aggregates for the day.
The Clearwater Fire Department Committee and the Ladies Auxiliary to the Fire Department held a joint meeting at the home of Mrs. Pye. Bill Mattenley showed a plan on how the tanks could be installed on the truck, and a work bee was planned.
45 YEARS AGO:
Clearwater Chamber of Commerce voted unanimously to protest changes to legislation that caused local taxes to increase by as much as 9 1/2 times.
40 YEARS AGO:
A Clearwater man who had lived in the area for several years was tackled and subdued by force when he tried to return to Canada after attempting to enter the United States. A computer check had shown that the man had deserted from the U.S. Air Force in 1970.
Birch Island Elementary School was scheduled for a $35,000 reconstruction job. Students and teachers from the two classroom school were being accommodated at Dutch Lake Elementary in the meantime.
Four Alberta men were arrested at Hope following a burglary at Clearwater’s Tamblyn Drugmart, reported RCMP Sgt. Switzer. About $3,400 worth of watches, cameras, clocks, knives and a stereo set were taken. The four were identified by footprints they had left behind.
35 YEARS AGO:
David Shearing, a former Clearwater resident charged with six second-degree 1982 murders of the Johnson-Bentley family near Wells Gray Park, waived his right to a preliminary trial.
About 20 logging truck drivers at the Vavenby Weyerhaeuser plant went off the job for a day to protest the company’s latest wage offer.
30 YEARS AGO:
Logging truck owner-operators in the Yellowhead Truck Loggers’ Association were holding talks with the Teamsters’ Union for possible assistance in negotiating with forest companies. An unconfirmed report had it that 90 per cent of local truckers had signed on with the union.
25 YEARS AGO:
Readers of the Times were encouraged to write the B.C. Ambulance Service district director to object to a proposal to take away Clearwater’s full-time ambulance attendant position. The former full-time attendant, Jack Patterson, had gone on long term disability.
Five Alberta snowmobilers were located safe and sound, but tired and hungry, after spending a night in the wilderness near Chappell Creek north of Blue River. They were spotted by a Mike Wiegele helicopter as they were walking out on Miledge Logging Road.
20 YEARS AGO:
Kimberley Ann Denise Neufeld, born Jan. 15, was the first baby of the year at DHMH. Born soon afterwards, on Jan. 17, was the first boy, Benoit Perreault.
Karen Montgomery started as the new manager of Clearwater Employment Services. “A lot of people think you have to be on Employment Insurance to participate, but in fact all of our services are open to all Canadians,” she said.
Upper Clearwater residents George Briggs and Al Henderson asked Clearwater Chamber of Commerce not to encourage visitors to Moul Creek Falls. Use of the half-mile long trail to the waterfall had skyrocketed, they said, creating trespassing and traffic problems.
15 YEARS AGO:
B.C. Building Corporation asked TNRD if it could dispose of up to 5,000 cubic meters of diesel-contaminated soil from Bear Creek Correctional Center at the Clearwater landfill. “Step one is to get the site remediated,” said a BCBC spokesperson, “Step two will be to determine the best options for the site, whet
her to sell it with the buildings or without.”
10 YEARS AGO:
Council received numerous complaints of driveways being blocked as graders removed old, packed snow from roadways. A local doctor was unable to get out and a local firefighter told the mayor that some members of the department would have had to run to the firehall if there had been a callout.
Canfor announced a one-week curtailment of operations at five sawmills, including Vavenby. The company blamed continued poor softwood lumber market conditions for the decision.
Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Kevin Krueger was appointed B.C.’s new community development minister during a mini-shuffle of the provincial cabinet. Krueger’s new portfolio included responsibilities for local governments and municipal affairs.
5 YEARS AGO:
Dave Tomlinson won Clearwater Rotary Club’s Ice Man fishing derby. John Meger took second place while third spot went to Mike Fraser. A total of 68 anglers signed up.
A lithic chip the size of a dime halted work on District of Barriere’s sewer project on Airfield Road. The chip was an artifact used in the production of tools and other items, and was taken as evidence that the Simpcw had lived in the area.
Canfor-Vavenby honored employees Steven Coburn and Percy Shymkiw, both of whom had worked at the mill for 45 years. The company also honoured the memory of Garry Ruston, who had passed away on Jan. 11. He had worked at the operation for 43 1/2 years.
1 YEAR AGO:
Simpcw First Nation Chief Nathan Matthew was the recipient of the Kamloops-Thompson school district’s Owl Award of Excellence in Public Education.
The Owl Award acknowledges an individual, group or organization that has provided outstanding service to support public education in the region.
According to a spokesperson for the Minsitry of Lands, Forests, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, the provincial government was considering an application from Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing for a lease to access and create new heli-ski trails.
The new trails would be created according to the Eight Peaks Sustainable Resource Management Plan, which was approved by the province in 2003.
