ONE YEAR AGO
• High winds in Red Deer blew metal guard rails off the 12-storey building under construction downtown, and knocked out power for 500 customers elsewhere in the city. Wind gusts of up to 89 km/h were reported at Red Deer Regional Airport and gusts of up to 84 km/h were reported in Sundre, according to Environment Canada. Environment Canada issued a wind warning for Red Deer, Ponoka, Innisfail and Stettler on Tuesday afternoon.
• Red Deer was going to the — goats? Animal control officers captured a goat running through the streets. It was first spotted by Vanier Woods residents before wandering over to Lancaster and then Deer Park, where it was caught at about 3 p.m. “We get lots of wildlife come through the city, but it’s very rare we get farm animals. But we’re running into this a little more and more,” said Duane Thomas, director of enforcement with Alberta Animal Services. It was the third goat that officers have caught in recent years.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• The Safe Harbour Society pitched a new site at 5246 53 Ave., across from A&B Sound, for a 20-bed detox centre and 20-bed overnight shelter. Officials warned the project would die unless council approved it in the next couple of months.
• City councillors backed a two-year-old decision not to take a position on casinos. Parkvale residents wanted council to discuss Jackpot Casino’s expansion plans, but Mayor Morris Flewwelling and councillors Jeffrey Dawson and Bev Hughes insisted the expansion was beyond their control.
10 YEARS AGO
• The Red Deer court house was dealing with plenty of wild drivers, as a 19-year-old Red Deer man faced scores of charges from a high-speed chase, and an Edmonton man was arrested after trying to avoid a seat-belt CheckStop and colliding with a fence.
• An employee was badly burned when the aerial fire fighting company Air Spray Ltd.’s hangar caught fire and was destroyed. Seven of the company’s airplanes were also destroyed in the blaze at the Red Deer Regional Airport, and damages were estimated at $10 million.
25 YEARS AGO
• Economic development officer Al Scott was hoping the city’s first potential sale of land on a commercial strip beside the Westerner grounds was a sign of better things to come. The city was in the middle of inking a deal with a recreational vehicle sales and service business to sell about 1.5 acres of the 16-acre strip adjacent to the Westerner. If the sale went ahead it would be the first business to set up operation on the strip of commercial land, which was being sold to help recover the cost of the Westerner relocation from the downtown in 1982.
• Women should not have been afraid to give birth in Red Deer because of an unexplained high rate of caesareans here, said a spokesman for the Alberta Medical Association. Dr. Gordon Chaytors, chairman of the association’s reproductive care committee, said Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre, “practises a very good level of obstetrical care.” He made the comment when asked about a report prepared by his committee which showed Red Deer had the highest rate of caesarean births in Alberta.
100 YEARS AGO
• The local school board announced its enrolment had jumped by about 20 per cent, with 310 students registered.
• A workman at Piper’s Brickyard broke his leg when a piece of clay fell from above, and on top of him.