Looking Back — Feb. 12, 2024

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/02/2024 (584 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SIXTY YEARS AGO

The Sun learned that at least nine Manitoba banks — five in Brandon — were defrauded of about $2,500 after a man, thought to be a member of a gang, passed worthless “wage” cheques to tellers and received $270 at each bank.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

A tragedy was narrowly averted near Ninette yesterday when a snowslide trapped four school children. Students from Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 were on a field trip enjoying relatively warm weather when the slide occurred. Three of the students were quickly recovered from the snow, but 12-year-old Vicki McDonald had to be dug out and a passing motorist administered artificial respiration to revive the girl. All the children are in good shape today.

FORTY YEARS AGO

The federal government will sell the Rivers air base to a private St. Malo firm, ending months of speculation over the fate of the 1,224-hectare former Canadian Forces base. The base, put up for sale on Oct. 14, will be sold to Brookdale Design and Distribution Ltd. for $711,000.

Robert John Saunders Reid, a seven-week-old premature baby, is the result of the first successful in-vitro fertilization achieved by a team of doctors at the University of British Columbia.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

Three Brandon citizens received certificates of appreciation from police Chief Brian Scott yesterday. Jodine Bagot and John Szabo rendered assistance to a neighbour who had been assaulted and Abraham Tahhan assisted police by acting as an interpreter.

Brandon’s summer fair has been named the top fair of its size in Canada. The Canadian Association of Exhibitions announced this week the 1993 Provincial Ex was named the regional fair of the year.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

Tom Keep expects the cheque will still come in the mail, even though scandal-ridden government agency Communications Canada has been shut down due to federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s damning report on the agency’s spending practices. The Lieutenant-Governor’s Westman Regional Winter Festival, held this past weekend in Brandon, was one of the last public events sponsored by the federal government’s shamed advertising arm.

TEN YEARS AGO

The Conservative government’s plan to expand broadband Internet in rural areas came as welcome news to local officials yesterday, but a lack of detail regarding the New Building Canada Plan left them disappointed following the federal budget announcement. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tabled the 2014 federal budget, which includes a $305-million investment over five years to improve broadband coverage in rural and northern communities.

The cause of a deadly plane crash that claimed four lives and left Waskada devastated remains unknown as the village marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic event. On Feb. 10, 2013, Darren Spence, 37, a crop duster based in southwestern Manitoba, was at the controls of the plane when it crashed just north of Waskada, killing him, his sons — 10-year-old Gage and nine-year-old Logan — and a friend of the boys, nine-year-old Dawson Pentecost.