SIXTY YEARS AGO

Douglas Halliday received the Knowlton scholarship given by Mrs. H.K. Knowlton to the most promising piano performer at the Brandon Festival of Music and Fine Arts.

The fourth Pan American Games closed with Canada winning a total of 63 medals in nine sports for its best showing ever in the sports festival.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

Janice Sangster of Killarney became the first girl to win the Turtle Derby Queen Pageant, which was held in Boissevain before a capacity crowd of 800 people on the weekend.

The 70-day confrontation between Indian militants and the United States government at Wounded Knee has ended — but the tasks of policing and cleaning up the village remain. Government officials estimate the cost since the start of the siege at $7 million.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Two Manitobans, Dennis Giesbrecht and Debra Barker, and a Saskatchewan native, Julia Jamison-Grieve, will compete for top honours at Brandon’s Eckhardt-Gramatté competition.

Fire destroyed the 100-year-old Albion Hotel in Portage la Prairie.

The City of Brandon was owed nearly $2 million in back taxes at the end of April — up by nearly 25 per cent from the same time last year.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

Skyrocketing personal injury claims have forced the Manitoba Public Insurance Corp. to follow Quebec’s lead and adopt a no-fault plan for those claims, say government spokesmen.

A Brandon woman is stepping up her campaign to get the Manitoba government to improve mammography service at Brandon General Hospital in order to reduce the delay for elective mammograms. Marg Borotsik is asking people to write their personal concerns over the issue and mail them to Health Minister Don Orchard and their local MLA.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

Diagnostic workers at the Brandon hospital say they’re ready to walk the picket line in a strike that could leave the hospital at a standstill as early as next week. The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, which has about 275 members in Brandon, is voting this week on a mediator’s report on their contract with their employers, including the Brandon Regional Health Authority. Results are expected today. Workers voted 91.2 per cent in favour of a strike last month.

Southwestern Manitoba has the most ideal seeding conditions in the province. Livestock producers are not singing the same tune, however. “They’re concerned about the pastures, the fields and the dugouts,” says John Hollinger, organic agriculture specialist. Dugouts, which are normally full of water at this time of year and used by grazing cattle for drinking sources, are only 75 per cent full.

TEN YEARS AGO

Addressing the major riverbank erosion that occurred as a result of the 2011 flood is of “dire concern,” says Lois MacDonald, manager of Brandon Riverbank Inc. The non-profit organization is facing an estimated cost of $1.5 million to stabilize the riverbank, after being denied Disaster Financial Assistance.

Coun. Stephen Montague’s attempt to withdraw support for the Strand Theatre project was quickly thwarted at the council meeting Monday night. After Montague, who represents the Richmond ward, read his motion, which also included a request for Renaissance Brandon to rescind its funding commitment to the theatre restoration project, Coun. Len Isleifson (Riverview) objected. Two-thirds of council then voted against further consideration of Montague’s motion, which meant the issue was dead.