ONE YEAR AGO
• Gentlemen might prefer blondes, but it appearred the cads preferred to kick redheads last Thursday. Staff at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School handed out a dozen suspensions last week, after a Facebook campaign encouraging kids to Kick a Ginger on Nov. 20 reared its head in Red Deer.
• More than a dozen police officers descended on an Eastview home after two bodies were discovered inside by family members.
RCMP Const. Sabrina Grunow said police and Red Deer Emergency Services received a call about 8:30 a.m. that the bodies of an 84-year-old woman and a 92-year-old man had been found inside a home. “We can say at this time the deaths are suspicious,” said Grunow.
FIVE YEARS AGO
• Brian Halbert, a helicopter pilot from Rocky Mountain House, received a Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General. Halbert helped to rescue an Edmonton girl who had injured her foot while climbing around the Cadomin Caves near Hinton on Aug. 14, 2000.
• A whooping cough outbreak struck Ponoka, Bashaw and Three Hills. The outbreak prompted health officials to step up their booster immunization program among Grade 9 students. Children are immunized when they’re small, but protection appears to wear off in three years.
10 YEARS AGO
• After 44 years and 17 expansions at its downtown location, the Turple Bros. Ltd. motorcycle dealership purchased a new location on Gasoline Alley on Hwy 2.
• Camille J. Lerouge School asked the Catholic school board to consider making school uniforms mandatory. Principal Ron St. Jean said the idea received the support of the school’s parent council and all but one of 40 staff.
25 YEARS AGO
• Many Red Deer Grey Cup fans congregated in local watering holes instead of churches Sunday, and restaurant owners said their collection plates were full. “It was a real happy crowd,” said Fred Classen, owner of Gasthaus Frankonia. “It was excellent — we had a full house,.” Mr. Classen said they sold out 60 tickets for the Grey Cup party at $10 each. A decision by the Alberta Liquor Control Board to give licensed premises special permission to open Sunday, “was a step in the right direction,” he said.
• Red Deer College had no immediate plans to become a “mini-university” by granting degrees said the acting academic dean. “Starting mini-universities that would grant our own degrees has to be addressed, but I think that would be further down the road,” said Jim Foote. RDC acting president Ed Luterbach said he didn’t consider degree-granting status appropriate for now. ‘The number of universities and their ability to accommodate students — based on the population base— matches pretty close, “ Dr. Luterbach said. “What we would be looking at instead is to . . . offer all the courses leading up to a degree,” he said.
50 YEARS AGO
• Almost 20 years after RCAF Station Penhold was opened in 1940 as a wartime air training base, it still is helping to produce skilled pilots for the Free World. In its peacetime function, the large base southwest of Red Deer has already played a major role in training airmen for numerous Western World countries and even today has among its trainees members of the Danish, Norwegian and Dutch air forces, as well as members of the RCAF and of the Canadian Navy Fleet Air Arm.
• A suggestion that more “Yield Right of Way” signs be used in the city was made by Ald. James McRobbie in the aldermen’s “new business” period at council meeting Monday night. Ald. McRobbie said he thought it was awkward to stop at clear intersections where no traffic was in sight and that the business of stopping and starting made more wear and tear on cars than was necessary.
90 YEARS AGO
• The new skating rink on Ross Street opposite the Methodist church, was completed, ready for the ice, and as soon as favorable weather set in, the work of making ice would be pushed forward.
The rink had an ice surface 60x150 feet and would make a good sheet for hockey as well as skating.
The Hockey Club fixed the following rates for season tickets: Gents, $4; ladies, $3; students, $2.50; and children under 14, $1.50. Special arrangements would be made for skating for the little folks both in the evening and on Saturday afternoons.
• The Red Deer Poultry and Pet Stock Association announced it would hold an annual Winter Show on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 16 and 17. Through the kindness of Judge Greene, the old Methodist church, First St. South, was placed at the disposal of the association for the Show. The prize list would surpass in attractiveness that of any show in Alberta except Calgary.
100 YEARS AGO
• Red Deer’s A. Gehrke took three rail cars of beef to Montreal to sell there. His efforts met with success.
• A gramophone concert was held at the Lyric Theatre — featuring the famous musical drama Pagliacci. Unfortunately, a snowstorm limited attendance.