Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Lexi Bainas has been c ombing 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…
10 years ago:
The dream of bringing a frequent and affordable commuter rail service to the Cowichan Valley has hardly hit the end of the tracks, readers of the Lake Cowichan Gazette read on April 11, 2007.
“Even though the Malahat Corridor Study eliminated rail as an option to improve the stretch of highway, the ghost is not gone,” the main story said. “Jack Peake, Cowichan Valley Regional District board chair [and Island Corridor Foundation co-chair], is very optimistic that a reliable and affordable rail service will be brought to the Valley in the foreseeable future. Right now, members of the Island Corridor Foundation are looking at ways to provide a rail service that would run from Nanaimo to Victoria several times a day.
“At the end of the day, if both organizations like what we see, we’ll be implementing that service within the next year,” said Peake.
For him, “a rail service would be the “simplest, easiest” way to address the issue. Almost every day, he hears from people interested in seeing a rail service here. ‘It’s an incremental service,’ he said. ‘This isn’t a big cost.’”
25 years ago:
“Keep your eyes on the sky” warned The Lake News of April 8, 1992.
The fear was that “Fire season could be early this year”.
There was reason for concern, too, according to the story.
“‘We need a good rainfall to combat the hazard,’” said D. J. Eastman, operations manager of the Duncan Forest District…” Last Friday, the Duncan office had already responded to the ‘prescribed’ slash fire carried out the previous week by Macmillan Bloedel, which had re-ignited.
“According to Eastman, charcoal had caused further burning in the 80 hectare area, fanned by strong winds. At about the same time, a water bomber had been dispatched to a fire on Canadian Forest Products property. A Lake News reader reported that a water bomber had scooped up water in front of her house to douse the fire.”
40 years ago:
“Youbou vigilantes confront bikers, shotgun blast wounds man” was the eye-catching headline in the April 13, 1977 issue of The Lake News.
According to reporter Tony Kant, “A police spokesman said the man was shot in the foot during an alteraction about 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The shooting victim was with a group of 12 members of a bike club attending a party…The Lake News learned from an observer who wished to remain anonymous, a vigilante group entered the house at the request of someone who feared the gang was assaulting and attempting to rape a local female resident who had gone into the house earlier. The observer said a group of five ‘concerned citizens’ went to the house with shotguns and rifles to confront the motorcycle gang. By the time the vigilante group got to the house, members of the motorcycle club were the only remaining occupants. According to the spokesman, an altercation developed between one of the vigilantes and a motorcycle gang member and a gun discharged.”