Looking Back — May 21, 2024

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2024 (845 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SIXTY YEARS AGO

Four teachers who are retiring at the end of the current term were honoured recently at the banquet of Brandon Division No. 40, Manitoba Teachers’ Society. Life memberships and engraved plagues were presented to Bertha Sonford, Grade 1 teacher at J.R. Reid School; G.R. Rowe, principal of Earl Oxford School; R.V.G. Hillcox, teacher at George Fitton School; and H.V. Bell, principal of Vincent Massey High School.

Opposition to a maple leaf flag design for a Canadian flag, proposed by the federal cabinet, erupted today on the floor of the Royal Canadian Legion convention.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

French is to be the sole official language of Quebec in matters ranging from government business to bus tickets under legislation tabled in the national assembly yesterday.

We appear to be in the monsoon season. According to the weather office, Brandon has received 2.52 inches of rain since May 1, while the average for the entire month of May is 1.95 inches.

FORTY YEARS AGO

The 337 students at R.J. Waugh Elementary School in Carberry set out this week to run across Canada. Travel was confined to circling the soccer field behind the school. The entire trip was more than 21,000 laps. Technically, the children together covered the 7,270-kilometre distance from coast to coast.

The city is aiming to relocate its No. 2 fire station to improve the fire department’s ability to fight fires in the area. City manager Earl Backman said that a replacement station may be built at the corner of Queens Avenue and 13th Street, replacing the present station less than a block away at Richmond Avenue and 13th Street.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

The province will kick in $1.8 million this year to get a $10-million renovation of the Clark Hall-Original Building complex underway.

Brandon General Hospital will be using Filmon Fridays to balance its 1994-95 budget. The hospital has no choice in forcing all employees, except nursing staff, to take between five and 10 days off without pay because the province cut the salary component in the hospital’s budget by $248,000.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

CFB Shilo base commander Lt.-Col. Tom Doucette spoke this week at a chamber lunch at the Brandon Keystone Centre. Business community representatives listened to the large dollar figures involved in the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry move, which has already begun, to the local base. The base currently pays out $45 million in salaries to nearly 1,100 military personnel and civilians. After 2PPCLI completes its move from Winnipeg by the end of this year, more than 1,800 people at the base will be receiving $82 million in salaries. More than $50 million has been invested in new construction aimed at accommodating 2PPCLI, providing local employment.

After a decade with no representation in the Manitoba legislature, a member of the Storie family wants to get involved in provincial politics. Betty Storie, a Killarney-based freelance journalist, seeks the NDP’s nod in the Turtle Mountain constituency, a seat soon to be vacated as incumbent MLA Merv Tweed resigns to run in the federal election. Storie’s husband Jerry was the MLA for Flin Flon from 1981 to 1994.

TEN YEARS AGO

A plane crash at the Russell Airport sent three people to hospital on Sunday. According to an RCMP release on Tuesday afternoon, the Cessna Model 182P overturned about 500 metres south of the runway.

Prince Charles and Camilla arrived in Winnipeg early Tuesday evening to grey skies, drizzle and cool temperatures. Several dignitaries, including Manitoba Lt.-Gov. Philip Lee and Premier Greg Selinger, were bundled up in jackets and raincoats as they waited to greet the royal couple.