SIXTY YEARS AGO

Manitoba has had the worst diphtheria outbreak since 1949 this year with 28 cases reported so far.

Sixteen-year-old George Todd of Neepawa was declared winner of the CKX trophy for advanced violin for the second year in a row at the windup session of the Brandon Festival of Music and Speech Arts.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

A total of 44 merchants have joined the Downtown Merchants Association, a new record. Another 14 have promised to do so.

Improved moisture conditions across most of the Prairies have allayed early spring fears of drought.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Vocalist Debra Parker, a 25-year-old from Sanford, became the first Manitoban to win the Eckhardt-Grammatté competition for the performance of Canadian music.

Brandon will take another $283,000 from its reserves to help pay for its new library-arts centre, bringing the amount taxpayers will spend on the facility to $1.4 million.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

The Canadian Mental Health Association wants Brandon residents to think recycle, reuse and restore. By July 1, the local office will open the Restore, a thrift shop full of recycled building materials that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Meagan McConnell, 13, was found today holed up with her 18-year-old former boyfriend, Jim Bridson, in an abandoned cement mixer in Flin Flon. The pair had been the subject of an intensive police search earlier in the week when a gunman killed Marjorie McConnell, 41, and her son Christopher, 18. A 15-year-old daughter, Shannon, survived a shot to the head, but remained in serious condition in hospital.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

The alternative fuel is not yet sold in Brandon, but there are at least 14 vehicles running in the city on 85 per cent ethanol. “It’s very new. We got the first fuel here two weeks ago,” says Paul McCaughey, Brandon Research Centre Beef Program leader and pasture scientist. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada wants to lead the way with E-85 vehicles — run on an 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline blend — and BRC employees have been cruising around in 14 of the federal department’s specially modified 160 vans and trucks for two weeks.

A stretch of 18th Street may not be the only city street in need of a fix this summer because of paving problems last year. Don McKibbin, the regional director for the provincial transportation department, confirms that the mix used to pave 18th Street last summer was also used at three other locations, including First and Rosser, First and Princess, and 26th Street and Victoria. Testing continues on the pavement that broke down. The pavement at intersections other than 18th Street is not being tested.

TEN YEARS AGO

As part of a weeklong blitz, the Brandon Police Service and the RCMP will be going after dangerous drivers during the nationwide Road Safety Week, running May 13-20 — including the notoriously busy Victoria Day holiday weekend. BPS said cops will be targeting “the big four killers” — impaired drivers, not wearing seatbelts, aggressive driving and distracted driving.

Parking at The Town Centre will no longer be free, effective June 1. Patrons will be required to pay $2 as they exit the parkade, which covers a maximum of three hours.