ONE YEAR AGO
• Red Deer hit a new low Monday morning when the temperature dropped to -40.5 Celsius. The old record of -35.6 for Dec. 14 was set in 1926, according to a temperature log that goes back to 1909 for the city. “Red Deer is record-breaking territory this morning,” said Dale Macisky, Environment Canada spokesperson, on Monday. But Red Deer residents were not shivering alone.
Rocky Mountain House went down to -42.9, busting its record of -39.4 set for the day in 1927. Sundre hit -41.9, surpassing -33.9 set in 2000.
• An Edmonton man is fortunate to be alive after he hopped a freight train and nearly froze to death Friday when he couldn’t dismount the train between Wetaskiwin and Blackfalds. Const. Steve Murray of Lacombe Police Services said Monday the 29-year-old man was discovered lodged between two rail cars near Blackfalds about 3:45 a.m. He was found by Const. John Hubbard of Lacombe police and a Red Deer Rural RCMP member, Murray said.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• A Red Deer couple flew the burned tatters of a Canadian flag to protest government policies that they say ruined their Christmas. Christina and Branko Ageljic had been fighting for seven years to bring Branko’s father and mother to Canada for a visit, but the government refused to allow it. The couple received calls from residents who cursed them for the protest.
• Angry Erskine-area residents waved placards comparing Canada Post to the Grinch as they marched outside the Stettler post office. They had been forced to go to Stettler to pick up their mail since their post office had closed.
• A live chicken race to raise money for Mothers Against Drunk Driving was dropped at a Lacombe high school after a student and an international animal rights group cried foul. The race went ahead with two people dressed in chicken costumes
10 YEARS AGO
• Plans to gut and renovate Will Sinclair High School in Rocky Mountain House went on the shelf after the provincial government agreed to fork over almost $10.3 million of the $12- to 13-million cost of a new building. The plan was to build the new school on a new site a few hundred metres from the existing school.
• With deregulation looming a few weeks away, customers were in for a shock when they learned there would be no competition among power companies Jan. 1. The provincial government had expected new companies to compete and drive down prices, but Enmax Energy Corp. was poised to take over as the sole supplier to the city.
25 YEARS AGO
• Alberta Transportation approved construction of a Sylvan lake bypass, Rocky Mountain House MLA Jack Campbell announced.
The bypass completed the second leg of Hwy 11X. Tenders were to be called to build the 14-km section that would skirt the town and join Hwy 11 near Benalto, said Mr. Campbell. The province had completed the first 16 km from Red Deer to a point where it connected with Secondary Road 781, about three km from Sylvan.
• Architect Douglas Cardinal said there was not much he could do about the leaky roof at Fairview Elementary School since the public school board tinkered with his original design. “As soon as you finish the building and turn it over, it’s up to them to do with it whatever they wish,” he said from Ottawa. The school board was considering eliminating the teepee style design of the school’s roof. It had been a constant source of leaks in recent years. School superintendent Ken Jesse said it could cost $750,000 to repair the roof and replace water-damaged insulation.
50 YEARS AGO
• Few parents paid more than 10 cents an hour per child for their children’s education, the president of the Alberta Federation of Home and School Associations said. Mrs. R.V. McCullough of Red Deer was speaking at the closing meeting for the Farms Women’s Union of Alberta annual convention. Mrs. McCullough suggested that delegates examine their statement to find out what they were paying for schools and libraries. They might have found that they could afford to pay more for good libraries and they would have to pay more for education in the future than in the past, she said.
• The world’s largest mobile home, according to Riegal Trailer Sales manager George Zukiak, was a 12 foot by 74 foot vehicle which got a RCMP escort into Red Deer on its way to the new owner in Edmonton. Valued at $16,000, the three-bedroom home was built in Claresholm and sold to an Edmonton oil man who had eight children.
100 YEARS AGO
• A custom tannery business was expected to be established in North Red Deer.
• Red Deer lawyer J.L. Crawford was appointed a district court judge in Southern Alberta.