Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old newspapers with the assistance of the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives so we can jog your memory, give you that nostalgic feeling, or just a chuckle, as we take a look at what was making headlines this week around Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
10 years ago
“Driver anxious after recent rock incident causes death on Hwy. 18” was a headline on page 8 of the Dec. 5, 2012 edition of the Lake Cowichan Gazette.
If I recall, a great many people shared the driver’s concern after the fatality on the highway.
“’It happened so fast he couldn’t react,’ says Lake Cowichan resident David Svendsen. On November 23, Svendsen was driving on Hwy. 18 when his windshield was hit by a ball of mud that came flying off a logging truck. ‘I saw it the same time it hit the windshield,’ Svendsen told the Gazette.
“‘A logging truck was heading east as I was heading west, and a mud ball flew onto my windshield.’ Svendsen says by the time he saw the truck coming and at the speed it was coming at him, he had no chance to stop his vehicle.
“South Island Traffic Services (SITS) and Transport ministry staff are checking into who, if anyone, is legally responsible for checking log loads on logging trucks and removing debris that can be dangerous to drivers, following the death of a driver near Skutz Falls turnoff on Nov. 7. A brick-size rock fell off a logging truck heading east on Hwy. 18, which ricocheted off the road and hit the windshield of a westbound pick-up truck. The driver of the vehicle was seriously injured and died later in Cowichan District Hospital.”
Also on the same page of the same edition, “A regular town council meeting of the Town of Lake Cowichan was held on Tuesday, Nov. 27, at the town hall. Bylaw No. 919-2012, a bylaw to regulate use of parks in the municipality was adopted with an amendment to Section 3.4 of the original bylaw. It states ‘Notwithstanding Section 3.3, no person shall permit a dog to enter any public beach area owned and operated by the Town. This Bylaw repeals the Town of Lake Cowichan Parks Regulation Bylaw No. 890-2010.’”
Sorry pups.
25 years ago
“Another Successful December Madness” declared the Lake News of Dec. 10, 1997. Of course, the paper was talking about “the third successive year, Lake Cowichan held its December Madness sale Friday and, for once, the weather cooperated. It was fine and frosty. Stores usually closed, were open for evening trade until 9 p.m.
“Dot Lungall at the Footwear Centre, reported excellent sales with a lot of people crowding into her tiny store for bargains. Janice Brooks, at Maureen’s Family Fashions, also reported an excellent turnout of people to shop in her store…
“With the economy on a downturn due to the strike at Crofton and slow timber sales in Japan, December Madness went about as well as could be hoped.”
In a less community-togetherness vein, “three schools hit by vandals — damage is in the thousands” was the page 2 story and Elvin Heddon, principal of A.B. Greenwell school was not happy.
“‘Give me a baseball bat’ [he said] after looking at some of the damage to the playing field and chain link fence caused by someone who drove a truck all over the school grounds.
“At Yount School, the playground slide was damaged by fire, deliberately set. Two youth have been apprehended, say Sgt. Gerry Poitras, RCMP. Their names can’t be released because they are young offenders.
“Damage was caused at two schools where — coincidentally — two different vehicles were driven over the grounds by different people, churning up playing fields and wrecking chain link fences.”
“At Lake Cowichan Secondary School, a Volkswagen was used to cause the Damage. At A.B. Greenwell School by someone doing doughnuts in a stolen pickup truck.”
40 years ago
“Recount confirms election” topped the Lake News headlines on the front of the Dec. 8, 1982 edition.
“A recount of ballots Monday confirmed the results of the Nov. 20 school trustee election: Jean Brown and Bill Routley have been elected. The final tally gave Brown 771 votes, Routley 617 votes, and Buck Hollingdrake, 586 votes in the hard-fought race for two seats.
“Both Hollingdrake and Routley had sought recounts — Hollingdrake because the initially posted number of ballots didn’t tally with the votes cast and Routley after a discrepancy in the number of ballots accounted for was discovered.
“When the result was known Monday afternoon, Routley said ‘I’m happy it’s over’, adding that the result was ‘crystal clear now.’”
In other news of the day, “1983: not much to play with” was a secondary headline. But isn’t this always the case with budgets?
“Village councillors are reviewing the expenditures of the past year and planning for the budget they will have to operate the Village of Lake Cowichan in 1983, but they won’t have much to play with.
“Mayor Ken Douglas said at Monday’s council meeting that ‘if we receive what I think we are going to receive next year things are going to be very, very tight.’
“He said he thought the best way to approach budget planning would be to determine what the village will pay into wages to its permanent staff, what other ‘locked-in costs’ must be met and then see what is left over for ‘discretionary expenditures’.”
