50 YEARS AGO:
Half the town of Blue River, about 72 people from Clearwater, and some skiers from Valemount took part in Blue River’s annual ski meet. Highest aggregate trophy winners were Lance Miller and Nadeane Nelson of Blue River, and Laurel Messenger, Flynn Thompson and Errol Thompson of Clearwater.
45 YEARS AGO:
The Nels F. Nelson Challenge Trophy for highest points overall at the annual Blue River ski meet jointly went to Duane Gouldhawke, Leonard Sollows and Lance Miller.
40 YEARS AGO:
A meeting of the School District 26 board only ended because it had reached its three-hour maximum. Trustees Rene Havisto and Jane Smith supported holding a retreat for trustees and administrators in Kamloops, while Ed Shook and Hans Krauseneck felt it would cost too much for the value.
35 YEARS AGO:
School District 26 trustees said they were willing to listen to suggestions to re-organize elementary schools from the parents of children attending Star Lake School. However they would not consider the proposal (intended to keep the elementary school open) further unless there was massive support for the proposal, said school board chair Ed Shook.
The Loy Jim family of Little Fort won the Grand Champion of the Show and other prizes with their Hereford bulls at the annual Provincial Bull Sale.
30 YEARS AGO:
A proposal to increase the number of Clearwater Improvement District trustees from five to seven was postponed for one month at the CID annual general meeting. Trustee Don Sinclair defended the proposal by noting that with only five trustees, if one is away, and as the chair doesn’t vote, that left only three people to make decisions.
Construction was underway to lay a fiber-optic cable through the North Thompson valley, part of a cross-Canada effort.
https://www.clearwatertimes.com/news/back-in-time-76/
25 YEARS AGO:
A crew from Kamloops’ CFJC television station came to Clearwater to talk to residents about the threat to the local full-time ambulance unit chief position.
The 120,000 residents of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District were to fork over at least $54 million during the next 10 years to pay for the Regional Solid Waste Management Plan, without a referendum being held. “The Ministry has given us the go-ahead to implement this without going to the people,” said TNRD Area B (Blue River-Avola) director Steve Quinn, who felt this was “outrageous.”
Slocan Group reported record net earnings for 1993 of $61.5 million, up from $6.4 million the year before.
20 YEARS AGO:
The TNRD approved advancing $50,000 for a study on incorporation for Clearwater. The provincial government was expected to reimburse the money the following spring.
B.C. Forest Service announced that it would begin charging user fees at its campgrounds. “This is going to bail us out, give us money for maintenance, and hopefully we’ll be able to do some improvements too,” said Clearwater Forest District recreation technician Alan Schmidt.
Clearwater Midget Rep Icehawks finished second at their provincial championships. The team won the sportsmanship trophy. Coaches were Roger Mayer, Hans Wadlegger and Dusty McLellan.
Nearly 30 guests joined 30 or 40 inmates for a Pow-Wow at Bear Creek Correctional Center.
Gunter Marsch and his associates sold Brookfield Shopping Center to the Reid Group of Vancouver.
15 YEAR AGO:
Weyerhaeuser closed its Vavenby sawmill, costing about 170 workers their jobs. Of these, 100 were being placed in other Weyerhaeuser operations and 20 were to retire or were on long-term disability. The company was trying to find a new employer to use the mill-site, said a spokesperson.
School District 73 trustees were to decide March 31 which schools to close. Dutch Lake Elementary was on the list.
Clearwater’s Garret Toma won a gold medal at the national power-lifting championships in Winnipeg.
10 YEARS AGO:
School District 73 trustees voiced concern that the district’s funding from the provincial government wasn’t covering rising transport costs. “This year’s shortfall will be $530,000 in the transportation budget. It’s been frozen at the 2002 level,” said North Thompson trustee John Harwood.
Premier Gordon Campbell’s proposed Recognition and Reconciliation Act still needed more work, according to Simpcw First Nations chief Keith Matthew. Campbell’s proposed Act would recognize Aboriginal title throughout B.C. It also would allow power sharing by First Nations in decisions regarding public land. The Act would reduce the number of bands in the province from more than 200 to about 70, but Matthew didn’t see that as a problem.
The directors of Thompson-Nicola Regional District passed a bylaw to set up a services committee for Thompson Headwaters (Area B, Blue River-Avola area). The committee would oversee the day-to-day operations of cemeteries, community halls, community parks, recreation, economic development, tourism and grants-in-aid to non-profit societies within Thompson Headwaters.
5 YEARS AGO:
A letter to the editor from Dr. John Soles announced that three new doctors were coming to Clearwater soon. Dr. Mark Walton and Dr. Alice Gwyn were to begin practising in May, while Dr. Christina Liciu was expected to join the practice on a full-time basis in mid-September. Dr. Stephen Broadbent had joined Soles in working at the local hospital the previous November.
Mayor John Harwood dropped the puck to officially open the Midget Tier 4 provincial championships at the Sportsplex.
1 YEAR AGO:
A group of Indigenous people took part in a bicycle relay through the North Thompson Valley to raise awareness of Kinder Morgan’s plans to twin its Trans Mountain pipeline.
“We call it Secwepemc Run for Clean Water,” said Miranda Dick, who said the group consisted of about 20 people. The relay began in Valemount and ended in the Kamloops (Tk’emlups) Indian Reserve, with overnight stops in Avola, Chu Chua and Whispering Pines.
A school board meeting was held at Clearwater Secondary School to gather feedback from various interest groups including students from Raft River Elementary on whether the Grade 7 class should be moved to Clearwater Secondary.
newsroom@clearwatertimes.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
