ONE YEAR AGO
• The Crime Prevention Advisory Committee was grappling over whether an 11 p.m. youth curfew would be enforceable and keep troublemakers at bay. The committee spent more than an hour discussing the merits of possibly changing Red Deer’s current curfew bylaw to one that was even stricter.
• The number of Albertans contracting the H1N1 virus was bound to increase in the fall, but it should continue to be a mild flu for most, said a local medical officer of health with Alberta Health Services. Predictions for fall and winter were based on the H1N1 experience in the southern hemisphere.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• Six years of planning and construction came to fruition at Red Deer Hospice. About 300 people attended the Designers with Compassion Gala to see the finished 966 sq. metre bungalow, built to ease the pain of the terminally ill.
• Police sought two males in connection with a brazen, noon-hour attempt to abduct a woman. The men grabbed the woman near an entrance to Parkland Mall and instructed her to get back in her vehicle. She escaped after a brief struggle. RCMP described the incident as “very, very, very rare for Red Deer.”
10 YEARS AGO
• An unemployed Ponoka man tried to plead guilty and insist he was insane after being charged with the murder of his ex-wife. Judge Douglas Crowe said he wouldn’t record the plea of Craig Irwin Anderson until Anderson consulted a lawyer.
• The Red Deer Public Library became the busiest library in Canada of those serving between 50,000 and 100,000 people. Figures coming in from 1999 showed Red Deer first in visitations and third in circulation among 35 public Canadian libraries. There were 685,000 items borrowed and 92,000 reference questions answered by staff.
25 YEARS AGO
• Central Alberta had been identified as a key area in a $1-billion habitat retention proposal aimed at halting the plunge of North America’s migratory bird populations. Although plans were still in the discussion stage, this region was recognized “as one of the most important areas” in the project, Kent Brace, a biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) said.
• City RCMP were calling for a tougher city noise bylaw to dampen the spirits of rowdy partiers who ignored police warnings to shut down their festivities. On that recommendation, The Red Deer Police Commission agreed persons warned more than once in one night should be issued two tickets — the second carrying a minimum fine of $300.
50 YEARS AGO
• More than 200 cock pheasants raised at the Red Deer Fish and Game Associations’ game farm southwest of the city were to be released in the surrounding area in September. Don Jellison, caretaker of the birds on his farm said there were about 450 pheasants and a little more than half were roosters. The executive voted 10-1 to release all the cocks and keep all the hens over winter to harvest eggs and release them next spring.
• Application was to be made to the provincial minister of municipal affairs by the council of the Municipal District of Lacombe for establishing a county system of local government in the area administered by the municipal council and the Lacombe School District.
90 YEARS AGO
• That a Prohibition meeting can be enjoyed as well as be most instructive was demonstrated when the Presbyterian Church was well filled by an audience that showed its appreciation of the speakers and the cause. Mr. Barton began by giving a series of humorous recitations that showed him to be a versatile and clever interpreter. When he swung in the prohibition theme, he was equally at home. The reports from far away fields showed this to be a world movement. Scotland was at present, in a great campaign and the Bishop of London said that in ten years England would be a Prohibition country.
It was no longer a matter of sentiment. It was now a matter of business efficiency. First class nations must be sober nations or soon take a lower rating. Ward debts would be paid with money formerly spent for drink.
The personal liberty cry not longer did duty. The referendum campaign was the greatest opportunity thus far to finish and banish the liquor traffic. The battle field is the ballot box and the date would be October 25.
100 YEARS AGO
• James Ross, the Montreal capitalist for whom Ross Street was named, visited Red Deer and said he was much impressed with the town’s progress.
• The hunting season for Prairie chickens was due to open in two weeks. Hunters were limited to 20 birds per day or 200 for the month of October.