Looking Back — Jan. 20, 2012

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/01/2012 (5224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In 1952: Humane Society wants permanent building

SIXTY YEARS AGO

United States radiological warfare experts are investigating the war potentialities of atomic dust as a weapon to “dehumanize” enemy cities without destruction of life or property.

Representatives of the Humane Society last night appealed to city council to take some final action to establish a permanent pound in the city of Brandon.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

The Sun learned today a half-million-dollar bowling alley will be built on the northeast corner of 10th Street and Princess Avenue. Ray Savoie, spokesman for American Machine and Foundry Company, said it will be a 16-lane, 10-pin bowling alley.

Manitoba cold-weather fire damage continued to mount yesterday as a late afternoon fire wiped out a variety store, bowling alley and pool hall and an insurance firm in downtown Winkler.

Brandon’s population jumped to 28,002 in 1961, according to Chamber of Commerce figures, an increase of 576 or 2.1 per cent on the 1960 figure.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Greg Hickson, a Grade 12 student at Elton Collegiate in Forrest, was awarded the Bob Bass Memorial trophy by the Brandon Optimist Club at a banquet last night. The award, presented for the first time, is to be a yearly presentation to a young person in the Brandon area who excels in leadership and community participation.

The United States Army has testimony that twice as many Vietnamese men, women and children were killed by U.S. troops in the area of My Lai, South Vietnam, than it has so far publicly acknowledged, says Seymour Hersh, the reporter who first broke the massacre story.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

A shortage of student housing in Brandon has prompted a proposal by Sioux Valley Indian Band to replace the abandoned Brandon Residential School with housing units.

Arthur Augustus Harris, a former Brandon alderman, published author and member of numerous community groups, died this week at the age of 78.

A masked man armed with a rifle ran off with $100 after a holdup at the Rodeway Inn Motel in Brandon.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

Arm Industries will be closing its sheltered workshop, a small manufacturing operation that a decade ago employed about three dozen people. There are now only nine employees.

Jim Carr, deputy leader of the Manitoba Liberal party, resigned Monday to take a job with the editorial board of the Winnipeg Free Press.

TEN YEARS AGO

The YMCA, city and Brandon University are blocking disclosure of options for a new fitness facility that will likely involve public funds. The city has refused a Brandon Sun freedom of information request for details of a feasibility study into the facility after the Y and university also objected. The study includes cost projections of each building option. For at least two years, the Y has planned a facility to replace its aging Eighth Street home. Y and university officials settled on a campus location last fall as their primary option.

The Brandon Flying Club has hired Heather Rozmus as a full-time flight instructor. Rozmus, who relocated to the Wheat City from Winnipeg, is one of only a few female instructors the club has had since its opening in 1939.

All 11 city council seats will be up for grabs this fall, but the man who runs city hall on a daily basis doesn’t plan on going anywhere. City manager Glen Laubenstein’s five-year contract expires in August, but he says he hopes to stay indefinitely. The city’s personnel committee feels the same way and will recommend council rehire Laubenstein.