LOOKBACK — July 25

Smaller city grocery stores are upset about a decision by Canada Safeway Ltd. to open Sundays starting this weekend. They say it might drive small corner stores out of business. At least on other large grocery store — Red Deer Co-op — is considering Sunday opening. Sunday opening of both Safeway and Co-op contravene a city bylaw which says stores more than 1,674 square metres must close one day a week. Stores smaller than that, including Super Sam and IGA, may remain open seven days a week.

25 YEARS AGO

• Smaller city grocery stores are upset about a decision by Canada Safeway Ltd. to open Sundays starting this weekend. They say it might drive small corner stores out of business. At least on other large grocery store — Red Deer Co-op — is considering Sunday opening. Sunday opening of both Safeway and Co-op contravene a city bylaw which says stores more than 1,674 square metres must close one day a week. Stores smaller than that, including Super Sam and IGA, may remain open seven days a week.

50 YEARS AGO

• In two weeks a Red Deer Family will be taking a slow boat to China. For 23 glorious days Norman Gish, his wife Joan, and son David, will relax on the Arcadia until they arrive in Hong Kong. Once in the crown colony, the young family will stay for three years. A year ago Norman joined the Canadian foreign service in the trade division under the department of trade and commerce. He is going to Hong Kong as an assistant Canadian government trade commissioner.

• Central Alberta’s agricultural front was assessing the enormous damage left in the wake of two major and some lesser hailstorms that smashed stands of bumper grain crops around the countryside with hailstones up to the size of baseballs. The Alberta Insurance Board described the storms as the most severe on record. It estimated damage to 200,l00 acres of crops at $2,000,000, with only 20 to 30 percent of crops being insured.

• “This one belonged to a cousin of Louis Riel. It went through the Duck Lake massacre and the entire rebellion.” Ned O’Connor Brown was explaining his collection of 350 old guns, on display at the entrance to the Arena at the fair. The oldest gun is a flintlock pistol dating back to 1669. Some of the others are quite rare, there is a tiny derringer with a percussion cap and hidden trigger. Even a double-barreled revolver is on di8splayl It also has a hidden trigger.

90 YEARS AGO

• On August 4, there will be a basket picnic at the new bridge east of Red Deer, under the auspices of the Hillsdown Valley Women’s Institute, and the Brooksley Women’s Club. There will be races for the kiddies and some for the grown-ups, tug-of-war, between the two women’s organizations, a ball game and a grand pie-eating contest. Basket lunch at noon. All come.

• Mr. Oscar Kjellberg, single, aged 31 who has been working with Mr. C. Bergstom, cartage, Sylvan Lake, for a couple of years met with an untimely death on Monday morning, about 8:30 by being pinned under a Gray-Dort car when it went over the bank on the road up the hill opposite Ed Erskine’s place south of the Blindman, and 25 miles northwest of Red Deer, and being suffocated before the car could be lifted off him.