ONE YEAR AGO
• Thanksgiving had an extra special meaning for Kyle Cariou of Red Deer. Home a couple of weeks now from a seven-month tour in Afghanistan, Cariou spent the weekend visiting family for turkey dinners. “We had turkey dinner at my parent’s place on Saturday and we went to Ellesse’s uncle’s place yesterday (Sunday), he said. The 24-year-old bombardier says assisting with Canada’s mission in Afghanistan was well worth the effort. “I’m very happy to have served my country.”
• A former Red Deer Advocate managing editor and member of a well-respected Red Deer family died in Calgary. James Edward (Ted) Bower, 75, died late last week following a lengthy battle with cancer and a failing heart. Bower was managing editor in the early 1970s before leaving Red Deer around 1977 to move to Calgary.
• A Sylvan Lake wire walker didn’t win the world title but he did accomplish the feat of a lifetime Saturday. Bob Palmer, also known as Flyin’ Bob, crossed the Han River in Seoul, South Korea, negotiating a three-cm thick cable stretched 22 metres above the ground and water. The one-km walk called the Extreme Highwire Walking World Championship took Palmer about 44 minutes.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• Lou Soppit’s reign as mayor of Rocky Mountain House ended after 29 years. Veteran councillor Jim Bague defeated Alberta’s longest-serving mayor 901 votes to 650. Soppit, who was first appointed mayor in 1975, was going for his 10th straight mayoral victory.
• Morris Flewwelling defeated Ray McBeth, Diana Rowe and Darrell Bedford take Red Deer’s mayoralty race. A four-term councillor, Flewwelling praised his predecessor Gail Surkan and expressed disappointment with the 25 per cent voter turnout.
10 YEARS AGO
• After spending $15 million on computers and medical equipment, the regional hospital was ready for Y2K. Fears of computer failure when the date changed from 1999 to 2000 prompted the changes.
• Local auctioneers Bud Haynes and Linda Baggaley headed for England to auction some war medals at Christie’s auction house. They were the first Canadians ever to appear as guest auctioneers at the longstanding institution of auctions.
25 YEARS AGO
• Non-residents of Red Deer would find themselves digging into their wallets to borrow books from the public library if a proposal for a common borrower’s card would be rejected by Parkland Regional Library. John Gishler, director of the city library said a meeting of the Red Deer library board’s bylaw committee discussed the issue of implementing out-of-town borrower’s fees. “Consideration is being given to charging non-residents between $5 and $10 per year if the proposal is turned down,” he said. Non-resident library users were charged $1 per year.
• The high accident rate and poor use of the Via Rail service through Edmonton-Red Deer-Calgary would be given priority at a Canadian Transport Commission review of the service in the following year. “The Via service on the route accounted for 15 per cent of all railway accidents in Alberta so far this year,” said CTC safety manager John Gehring. “From August 1981 to October, 1984, the Via service was involved in 28 accidents. Fourteen people were killed and 69 injured in the collisions.” Via public relations spokesman Mike Williams said the service is in a high accident rate corridor and “it’s causing us great concern.” “The territory is very accident-prone.”
50 YEARS AGO
• Red Deer Community Savings and Credit Union celebrated its 15th anniversary. A dance was held in the IOOF Hall. There were fourteen credit unions in Central Alberta Leo Alain, who was president of the Sacred Heart Parish Credit Union and a director of the Alberta League of Credit Unions representing the Central Alberta zone, said that the Red Deer area had not yet reached its potential in growth of membership. He pointed out the Red Deer’s first branch was formed during the war and the public generally did not seem to know very much about it at first.
• Central Alberta farmers were anything but happy over the reduction in the federal government floor price on hogs, but they were not planning to rush out of the important hog operation they had developed through the years. A survey by The Advocate revealed that while some farmers intended to trim their herds of hogs, most of them were continuing to regard hogs as a major pillar in their agricultural pursuits and hoped to continue producing just as many bacon hogs as they had been doing the past years. In many cases, the disappointment over depressed hog prices had been tempered by a growing feeling on the part of farmers that it would be more advantageous for them to market much of their 1959 grain production through hogs rather than as cereal grain. These thoughts among farmers could be attributed largely to the adverse harvesting weather which had been prevailing for weeks
90 YEARS AGO
• The annual Public and High School sports were again favoured by a delightful afternoon, which brought out a large attendance of parents and friends to witness the events. The presence of basketball teams from Innisfail, Lacombe and Olds brought teachers and friends from those places and altogether there was a most gala day. The basketball games were most interesting, the Red Deer girls winning out in all their games while the boys lost out by a narrow call in a brilliant and hard fought tie game.
• According to a recent order from the military service branch in Ottawa, all members of Class 1, possessing exemption as farmers which is expiring and who wish to remain exempt, should communicate with the registrars under the military service act of their respective districts requesting an extension of time of such exemptions.
100 YEARS AGO
• A medical doctor named Rowntree turned too sharp with a team of horses and was thrown onto a pile of tile. He was knocked unconscious but soon recovered.
• The Department of Education in Edmonton sent medals to Red Deer for students scoring 60 per cent or better on departmental exams.