Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Lexi Bainas has been combing through oldnewspaperswiththeassistance 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 weekaround Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
10 years ago:
With the headline “DFO orders diesel clean-up to focus on fish habitat” the Lake Cowichan Gazette of July 16, 2008 followed an ongoing story.
“The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has ordered the Gas and Go service station in Lake Cowichan to stop digging at the Palmers’ property on Stanley Street, in the diesel leak clean up, until it deals with protecting fish habitat in nearby Oliver Creek.
Willi Jansen, a DFO officer in Duncan, said, “We’ve issued a serious order. We want someone who’s up to snuff on fisheries habitat issues to be working on this. Despite everything that’s been done, diesel is still getting into the creek. Our legislation allows us to speed up the process.”
Work began immediately after the order, with a fish biologist hired, to install a pipe from the culvert to divert the diesel flow away from the creek and the fish.
The plan had been to leave the contaminated soil on the gas station property and on Palmer’s property, to break down over time through a process called bio-remediation, but that is now unacceptable to DFO.
Don Palmer, whose property beside Oliver Creek is nothing more than a big hole in the ground as Thow Contracting tries to clean up the contamination, said he’s glad DFO has stepped in.
25 years ago:
The headline in the July 21, 1993 edition of The Lake News was “$One-million-plus renovation makes LCSS a leader”.
MLA Jan Pullinger visited Lake Cowichan Thursday to tour the $1.366 million renovations of the Industrial Arts building at Lake Cowichan Secondary School.
“More than the renovations of a building, this is the renovation of education,” Pullinger said after the tour.
Along with Pullinger, School District #66 trustees Rolli Gunderson, Buck Hollingdrake, Barb Olson, and Wilma Rowbottom joined Instructor of Education John Clark and Secretary Treasurer of School District #66, Lawrence White, on the afternoon tour.
Coinciding with Pullinger’s visit, the school district was also holding its annual auction. Up for auction was a good portion of the industrial arts machinery.
White sees what was once the industrial arts now the arts building as probably the best in the province.
“Of all those we looked at before embarking on this project, this will be the most up-to-date, and will have state of the art technology,” he said.
White explained that a big move needed to be made to provide more trades-based education.
“There has been a 20 per cent gap between what schools are teaching and what is needed on the job provincially,” said Pullinger, and she added that this type of major upgrading bridges that gap to prepare students fully for careers.
40 years:
Waterskiing used to be a big deal on Cowichan Lake.
“The biggest waterski tournament on Vancouver Island this year will take place this weekend at Lake Cowichan,” said The Lake News of July 12, 1978.
The event, sponsored by the Lake Cowichan Waterski Club, will determine who will represent Vancouver Island at the BC Summer Games in Penticton in August.
Club spokesman Rick Lamb said the best skiiers on the Island will be here for the tournament which gets underway Saturday morning…Entrants will compete in three areas: tricks, slalom and jumping. There are categories for boys, girls, men, ladies, and senior men.
“Two tournament boats will be provided for the event and spectators will be admitted to the club’s ski area free of charge. Between events, there will be trick skiing demonstrations and a kite-flying demonstration.”
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In another front page story demonstrating that 40 years is a long time, we learn “Hydro won’t replace serviceman at Lake”.
What? you ask.
“The Duncan manager for BC Hydro says the decision not to replace Lake Cowichan patrolman Bob Weismiller on his retirement won’t cause a hardship in the community. Al Harrison said the fact that Hydro problems in Cowichan Lake area will be handled through the Duncan depot will result in about a 45 minute delay in getting service techinicians to the scene of trouble spots.
Weismiller, a long-term BC Hydro patrolman who lives at Lake Cowichan, will retire at the end of this week.
Some local resident had expressed oncern that the failure of BC Hydro to replace the serviceman would result in unnecessary inconvenience for residents and costly delays for business.
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And finally, in a photo unfortunately too dark to print, the front page of that same issue showed where “a wayward log on a Canadian Pacific flat car” caused a chain of events near the Greendale Road level crossing. “A protruding log apparently struck the bridge…bunks on the flat car then released and a number of logs rolled off wiping out signal lights, switch box, and even a water main down the bank”.
Hoo boy! Not a fun clean-up there.
lexi.bainas@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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