40 YEARS AGO (1980): Provincial Minister of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum, Bob McClelland announced that if may be possible to utilize the large deposits of low grade coal in the Hat Creek Valley north of Lillooet as a source of gasoline fuel. He stated that the Energy Development Agency had entered into negotiations to issue a contract for a feasibility study on producing liquid fuels from the deposit. Cariboo MLA Alex Fraser, minister of transportation and highways, commented that the process for producing liquid fuel was not new.
32 YEARS AGO (1988): A revived Lac la Hache regatta was set to start and making it happen took lots of money and a little risk in bringing the race boats. After the ice started to break, said Pat Ford, the regatta committee started to raise funds. Local clubs donated the $3,000 that was needed to bring the championship powerboat racers to town. But that money only brought the boats; it did not promise that they would race. If the weather was bad, the boats that could travel as fast as 185 mph would not race and keep the money.
25 YEARS AGO (1995): The future of the Stan Halcro Arena continued to be a matter of concern for the South Cariboo Recreation Commission, which was awaiting results of an engineering study to determine the long-term viability of the facility. “We have some concerns about whether the old ice plant can continue to handle the demand,” said Greg Sehn, spokesman for the South Cariboo Recreation Commission. Operational costs of the 25-year-old facility were in excess of $100 per hour and the maximum user fees ran about $53 per hour.
16 YEARS AGO (2004): A group of grandmothers from Forest Grove were upset enough about the closure of their local school that they spent the night at the School District No. 27 office. There were six grandmothers at the office calling themselves the ‘raging grannies.’ Three of them spent the night at the office and were accompanied by a security guard hired by the school district. Marianne Van Osch said she was worried about the school a grandchild would be attending next year, listing off a variety of problems with the Buffalo Creek Elementary School.
6 YEARS AGO (2014): Police, public safety and security were top priorities in the design of the new 100 Mile House RCMP detachment office. Local RCMP Staff Sgt. Blake Ward said the new building would be a significant and much-needed improvement. At almost triple the size of the existing building with many added features, he noted the local police force was looking forward to moving into their new headquarters.
