ONE YEAR AGO
• A proposed Ronald McDonald House for Red Deer drew praise from municipal planning commission members on Monday as site development was approved for the $12-million project. “It’s a very attractive building,” said Councillor Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer, of the three-storey design. “I think it’s a fantastic use of that site, which is a very difficult one,” said city manager Craig Curtis, of the 19,127-square-foot building to be built on a sloped lot at 3908 50th Ave. east of Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
• The remains of a person discovered in a gravel pit near Prince George, B.C., are not those of a young Red Deer woman who disappeared seven years ago, a police official said Wednesday. Const. Gary Godwin of Prince George RCMP said the remains were identified as a woman but they are not releasing the identity at this time. “They were definitely that of a human,” he added. He said the remains were not those of hitchhiker Nicole Hoar, 25, of Red Deer who was last seen outside of Prince George in June 2002. RCMP conducted an intensive search of a rural property located about 50 km northwest of Prince George in late August.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• Planners recommend that city council change zoning to allow for a 40-bed detox centre and overnight shelter in a downtown commercial building. Tony Lindhout said the proposed site was close to the downtown but not in a highly visible or busy commercial area.
• Red Deer MLA Victor Doerksen advised the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission to reject a proposal to expand Jackpot Casino. Doerksen said the Parkvale neighbourhood opposed to the proposal to add 400 sq. metres for a poker room and up to 105 additional slot machines.
10 YEARS AGO
• It was a bad week for industrial accidents in Central Alberta. Six construction workers were sent to hospital when an outdoor storage tank at Nova Chemicals leaked hydrocarbon vapours, three men went to hospital after an oil rig burst into flames and toppled near Rocky Mountain House, and a man died at a Drayton Valley trucking company inside a tank truck.
• The Central Alberta Pregnancy Care Centre gained national infamy after an investigative report by CTV’s W-Five. The news program aired footage of a staff member strongly exaggerating the health risks of abortion and referring to a common abortion instrument as a “barbecue fork.”
25 YEARS AGO
• Red Deer could hold a world-class agricultural fair in 1989 if key conditions were met, Westerner Exposition Association chairman Margaret McPhee said. Mrs. McPhee said a study in the feasibility of holding the fair pointed to several strengths and some weaknesses Red Deer would face if it decided to go ahead with the international event. The biggest problem identified in the study would be the lack of covered exhibit space at the Westerner Park.
• Rural hospitals needed to start buying computers instead of typewriters if they were going to meet the health-care needs of the future, a California futurist said in Red Deer. Dr. William Gallagher said even small hospitals would benefit from the use of computers. In addition to getting paperwork done more quickly, computers could keep track of hospital bed use, compile patient medical information and keep track of the latest treatments. “I’m going to encourage them to make the inevitable decision now to not buy any more typewriters. Buy personal computers,” said Dr. Gallagher
50 YEARS AGO
• Establishment of a meat packing plant with a weekly processing capacity of 1,000 head of cattle and 1,500 hogs is “definitely projected” for the city’s Riverside Industrial Park by Red Deer Packers, Ltd., a private company. The decision to proceed with the major industry was reached during a four-hour meeting of the principals of the company Friday afternoon and was announced to The Advocate by its auditors, Mackenzie Sheridan and Company. “Construction will be started in the spring, provided suitable arrangements can be made with the city,” an official announcement stated.
• The 90th birthday of one of the city’s well-known residents, Mrs. Ernest Greig, was marked in Red Deer Saturday by a social gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs, R. A. Little where around 25 friends dropped in to pay their respec5ts. Mrs. Greig’s late husband was manager of Horne and Pitfield for many years before his retirement in the early 1950s. Mrs. Greig, who is now a guest at the Twilight Lodge, was a former director of the Red Deer Fair Board, later the Agricultural Society, and she was the recipient of a congratulatory message from the Society on Saturday. She also is a former member of the Central Alberta Pioneers and Oldtimers Association.
90 YEARS AGO
• It looks as if Red Deer Provincial constituency will have one of the biggest liquor importation prohibition majorities in the Province as a result of the vote Monday. The majority here will run about 1,100, as compared with under 700 in 1915. The Red Deer Prohibition Committee worked hard in their organization, holding weekly meetings, and they are well satisfied with the result.
In common with other towns and cities there was a good deal of trouble in Red Deer in locating the proper polls, which affected the vote to some extent.
• At the last meeting of the Red Deer Poultry and Pet Sock Association, Mr. T. S. Stanway, president in the chair, and Mr. W.E. Trueman, secretary-treasurer, it was decided to hold a Winter Show on February 1 to 4, and Building and Prize List committees were appointed. The Secretary will write Mr. J. H. Hare to arrange for an address.
100 YEARS AGO
• Former Red Deer resident William Chamberlain, who came west with the first detachment of Mounted Police in 1872, was reported to have shot himself at Erskine, dying instantly.
• The Red Deer High School football (soccer) team successfully defended its Rutherford Cup title, defeating Edmonton by a 1-0 margin.