ONE YEAR AGO
• The city announced fluoride would be reintroduced into Red Deer tap water in early 2009 if a deal with a supplier could be ironed out. Fluoride had not been in the treated water supply for a year, since a shortage of the cavity-fighting chemical began. But the shortage appeared to have eased.
• Drawings were ready and much of the money was in place for an elaborate new agricultural centre in Ponoka. At an estimated cost of $8.5 million and located at the south side of town, the Ag-Event Centre and related facilities was a joint project of the Town of Ponoka, Ponoka County, the Ponoka Agricultural Society and the Ponoka Stampede Association, partnership president Charlie Cutforth said.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• Lacombe County council asked the province for a four-month extension on a deadline to decide on five Sylvan Lake development projects. Councillors wanted the time to consider a draft of a $150,000-cumulative effects assessment of the new developments.
• Xtreme Raceways, a motocross track eight km southeast of Alix, received the green light to expand its racing schedule despite opposition from residents complaining of noise and dust problems.
10 YEARS AGO
• Needy parents flared off at city council over its decision to cut back on daycare subsidies over the coming four years. Some argued losing the subsidies would require them to give up their jobs and take welfare at home to raise their children.
• The city launched a $35,000 study to see if houses overlooking Waskasoo Creek were in danger of sliding down the hill. Several Grandview homeowners had watched parts of their property, including a lawn, deck and pool, start moving downhill after downpours in July.
25 YEARS AGO
• Welfare rolls in Red Deer hit an all time high, the district manager of Social Services said. The local office recorded a jump of 13 per cent in families and individuals receiving social assistance for the period from Sept. 16 to Oct. 15, said Sandy Campbell. A total of 2,625 families and individuals were receiving assistance — an increase of 304 over the previous month.
• A partner in the American gyroplane firm that was planning to move to Sylvan Lake said some of the rumours about his company were wildly optimistic. One story — saying Norman Gyroplanes of Canada, planned to hire 200 workers immediately and up to 700 employees when the firm reached full production was pie-in-the-sky at this point, said Harold Haun, a partner in the venture.
50 YEARS AGO
• The mobile chest X-ray Clinic, operated by the Alberta Tuberculosis Association in co-operation with the department of health, was scheduled to arrive in Red Deer to carry out a full X-ray program in Red Deer and the immediate district. The start of the program in Red Deer followed a systematic registration and appointment listing that had been done volunteer groups.
• Twelve midget bantam and peewee football players were treated to the Edmonton Eskimo-Winnipeg Blue Bomber WIFU game by the Red Deer Minor Football Association for their work at selling the most associate memberships this season.
90 YEARS AGO
• Could you imagine a better way to spend Hallowe’en than to be present and hear Burnell R. Ford’s lecture and witness his wonderful electrical experiments? He appeared at the Methodist church as the first attraction on the Red Deer Lyceum Course. The boys and girls had lots of fun, and some of them took part. It was an evening of great educational value to everyone present. A few season tickets were still available for $1.50 for adults and 75 cents for children. Tickets at Gaetz-Cornet’s.
• The people of Red Deer do not object to a reasonable dose of instruction as to the Government’s legislative and administrative polices, but there is such a thing as overdoing it. When Mr. Marshal, who had never given a party political address in Red Deer that the Advocate recalls, addressed ten meetings or more in the bye-election; when the Premier, who spoke first at Red Deer, at a party convention, was billed for nearly half a dozen meetings; when the other four Ministers here were down for six to eight meetings each, then it looks as if the Government were more anxious for political exploitation that instruction. Mr. Galbraith’s committee had not been able to obtain a list of their meetings, nor was his proposal for joint meeting entertained, so he had no line on what they are telling the people save in a haphazard way.
100 YEARS AGO
• The Red Deer Advocate was incorporated as a business. The shareholders and directors were F.W. Galbraith, Fred Turnbull and Jessie Galbraith.
• Moving pictures at the Lyric Theatre proved popular with large audiences. The films were advertised as fitting even for ladies and children.