ONE YEAR AGO
• An upgraded murder charge was laid against a young man after RCMP gathered new information. Brett Donald Jones, 19, faced a first-degree murder charge and five other charges after the body of Teagan Klein, 23, was discovered in a home in Anders.
• A community vision to transform Red Deer’s downtown into a hub of high-density housing, tourist attractions and pedestrian-friendly streets is now a done deal. After extensive work involving a range of consultants and administrative and public input, city council adopted the Greater Downtown Action Plan on Monday. Steering committee chairwoman and councillor Cindy Jefferies described the planning tool as an “exciting” move towards developing Red Deer’s riverfront and downtown core over the next several decades.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• Opponents of a 40-bed detox centre and overnight shelter asked the city’s subdivision and development appeal board to overturn the municipal planning commission’s decision to approve the project.
• A small group of Central Alberta investors announced plans to build a $7.5-million beef, bison and elk processing plant in Sylvan Lake. The state-of-the-art facility would have processed meat almost entirely for European markets. The project eventually moved to Lacombe.
10 YEARS AGO
• Preston Manning came to Red Deer to kick off his nationwide Think Big tour. The founder and leader of the Reform Party was selling the concept of a united right wing party, the Canadian Alliance.
• A spectacular blaze levelled a hangar at the Red Deer Regional Airport, destroying the Argo Trailer manufacturing business.
25 YEARS AGO
• Red Deer and District Labor Council challenged Red Deer County council to get behind the Falken Lake Nude Beach and help it grow.
“We’re looking at it from the aspect of needing more jobs in this area,” labour council president Clarence Lacombe said Friday. Resort operator Karl Wilde has told him 15 to 20 full-time jobs could be created and millions of tourist dollars spent locally if the Elnora-area resort expands into a year-round venture.
• Boasting an “I’m a curling nut” lapel pin, 85-year-old Charlie McPhee of Red Deer swung into action early Monday by throwing the official kick-off rock at the 1985 Farmers’ Bonspiel. And with a little help from his friends, the rock rolled steadily across the dreaded hog line into the red circle on the opposite tee. “It’s been 20 years since I’ve curled,” said the pioneer. “The rock seemed awful heavy to me this morning, twice as heavy as it was 20 years ago.” Mr. McPhee is the oldest surviving member of the first-recorded Curling Club Committee from 1953. “I’m the oldest of the oldsters,” he said with a quiet laugh.
50 YEARS AGO
• Mr. Justice W. Gordon Egbert due to reside at the Supreme Court hearing in Red Deer Monday failed to appear and later in the day his body was recovered from the Elbow River a few blocks from his home on the riverbank at 3616 Elbow Drive, Calgary. The Supreme Court hearing was adjourned until Tuesday when Chief Justice C. C. McLaurin of Calgary took over. A member of the trial division bench for the last 10 years, Mr. Justice Egbert would have been 68 on Thursday.
90 YEARS AGO
• On account of the expected epidemic of influenza, the Board of Health of the City of Red Deer is endeavoring to be prepared for such an eventuality. The hospital, beds, etc., are practically all ready to be put into use but as with other places, the great difficulty will be the help in the shape of nurses. The Board wishes that all citizens, both men and women, who will be willing and able to give their aid, if necessary, to send in their names at once to the Medical Health Officer.
As there seems some want of knowledge on the part of the people as to what diseases should be reported at once to the M.H.O. A list of the same is hereby appended together with the kind of quarantine required:
Chicken pox (modified quarantine)
Diphtheria (quarantine)
Infantile paralysis
Erysipelas (modified quarantine)
Measles (mod. quar.)
German measles (mod. quar.)
Mumps (mod. quar.)
Small pox (quar.)
Scarlet fever (quar.)
Septic tonsillitis epidemic (quar.)
Typhoid fever (mod. quar.)
Tuberculosis
Venereal diseases
Whooping cough (mod. quar.)
Influenza (mod. quar.)
Also Pedeculosis (lice), Ringworm, Scabies (itch).
There are of course many more infectious and contagious diseases that are notifiable; but all these will be in the hands of doctors, who will recognize and report the same.