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.
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This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
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10 years ago
"Vote now to help food bank win money" was a simple enough request on the front page of the Lake News of Oct. 8, 2014.
"As many of you know, the Lake Cowichan Food Bank needs a new home. They’ve entered a contest called the Aviva Community Fund to win money to cover new housing costs, and they need your vote to win the contest. However, a huge obstacle, says Katherine Worsley, volunteer and Treasurer of the Lake Cowichan Food Bank Society, is that the online voting process is really complicated. 'I’ve been fielding a lot of phone calls from people who want to vote but are having trouble with the process,' said Worsley.
"'We’re at just under 300 votes since voting started on Sept. 29,' said Worsley. She looked at another registrant, the Lake Country Food Bank on the mainland. They have over 1,000 votes already, and their project budget to build a new facility is more than $1 million. Worsley believes the much smaller Lake Cowichan Food Bank doesn’t have many votes because voting is such a difficult process."
In other news of the day, "CVRD film plastic pilot project officially launched" was a page 2 story.
"Residents of Honeymoon Bay and Mesachie Lake now have access to a new option for recycling film plastic. On Monday, new collection bins were set up in Honeymoon Bay and Mesachie Lake community hall postal locations. Residents can now use the bins to drop off film plastic including grocery bags, bread bags and produce bags free of charge. The pilot program offers residents a local opportunity to recycle film plastic, which is no longer accepted in curbside recycling since the introduction of the new MultiMaterial BC program earlier this year.
“'I’m pretty darn excited,' said CVRD Electoral Area F Director Ian Morrison."
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25 years ago
It was an election year so "Ten candidates named for four councillor seats" was the front page story for the Lake News of Oct. 13, 1999.
"With the close of nominations and municipal elections nearly here, there seemed likely to be more than enough candidates for mayor, a huge selection for Council and fewest of all for the School Board and Area directors. Mayor Jean Brown announced recently that although she had said she would only stand for one term, she was now reconsidering. Last week she strongly hinted to the Lake News that she would stand for Mayor again. Pat Foster, who might have stood for mayor but now says she will stand for Council if Mayor Brown seeks re-election.
"It looks as though Brown will have Rick Walton and Jack Peake as contenders for mayor. Those running for Council and seeking re-election will be Hazel Beech, and probably Pat Foster. New comers: Kathy Edgar, Dave Gonyea, Kevin Lawrence, Susan Lowe, Claude Ruggieri, Garth Sims, Cathy Wagner and Pat Weaver."
In the same edition was a news story about how the ward system for the school board may remain.
"The School Board ward system, which was in heavy contention this year, may not be abandoned after all, says Wilma Rowbottom, SD 79 trustee and chairman of SD 66 before its amalgamation.
"When amalgamation took place, the Cowichan Lake district was given three seats on the new SD79 board. This was strongly opposed by other board members who wanted trustees elected at large. They voted for a new electoral system to be introduced for this November's elections."
The rest of the story was much deeper in the paper but the headline suggests that perhaps a new system wouldn't make the ballot, or if it did, it might fail. We'll find out in future weeks.
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40 years ago
"$5,000 grant sought to launch village revitalization" was the big headline on the Lake News Oct. 10, 1984 cover.
"Downtown revitalization, tourist-industry regeneration and renovation of recreation facilities will be the focus of efforts by the Socio-economic Planning Council (SEPCo) in Lake Cowichan this fall. An application will soon be sent from SEPCo, the Village of Lake Cowichan and the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce for a $5,000 planning grant from the ministry of municipal affairs. The money will be used to hire a person to prepare the entire proposal, which should be ready by Christmas, according to Community Services manager Tony White.
"Community Services itself is still finishing up its initial research into a tourism project that involves a paddlewheeler on the lake and an old-time logging set-up on a lakeside site."
And finally, "Meade Creek Park 'for real' despite delays" was another headline.
"The Meade Creek industrial park is finally moving from the realm of possibility into that of probability. 'In about three weeks time, we'll legally be in a position to talk about disposing of this land,' Frank Raimondo, Cowichan Valley Regional District administrator said Thursday. With a few delays due to imposition of various requirements by the ministry of highways, the plan to subdivide the seven-acre property has been proceeding fairly smoothly in recent weeks, he said. 'The subdivision plan is pretty well complete. The 'perk test' is complete. Everything has gone to highways for preliminary approval,' he said."
