5 YEARS AGO (2020): In light of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as uncertainty with the forest industry, the District of 100 Mile House Council agreed to a zero per cent tax increase in 2020. In addition, they also implemented a temporary student hiring freeze, to be reviewed monthly, and also agreed to minimize travel, training, legal and other discretionary costs. They also agreed to defer $1.6 million in capital projects to ensure cash flow, with the Cariboo Trail Sidewalk project being rejected and was to be reconsidered in 2021.
10 YEARS AGO (2015): Bobbie Crane, a teacher and prominent artist from Lac La Hache, was preparing a new art show. Her show, "A Portrait of Fur and Feather" was scheduled to run at Parkside Art Gallery from May 22 to June 20. Crane said she liked to see living things in her paintings - and that the main showroom in the gallery on Cedar Avenue would feature plenty of western Canadian wildlife in acrylic form. Crane had begun painting in the 1980s and started teaching art in the Lower Mainland before she moved to the Cariboo around 2002.
15 YEARS AGO (2010): Despite a little rain, the Little Britches Parade and Streetfest came off without a hitch, with hundreds of spectators showing up to see the sizable lineup of fine floats, horseback riders, marching bands, clowns and other interesting entities. Cassidy Mellott, who had been the Little Britches ambassador, led off the parade, which included the Lake of the Trees Bible camp, the District of 100 Mile House, Work n' Play Clothing, Cheeky Lil' Monkeys and an elaborate City of Vernon parade float. Streetfest, meanwhile, had been enhanced by the hot pancake and sausage breakfast prepared by the South Cariboo Chamber of Commerce.
20 YEARS AGO (2005): simplymastery columnist Colin Campbell stated that a proposed logging of pine beetle-killed trees would be on hold while the 108 Greenbelt Commission examined how it would accommodate public objections raised at a recent commission meeting. Questions had been raised about the impact of logging on wildlife, including sandhill cranes, which returned to the area year after year to raise their young. Cariboo Regional District Area G director Al Richmond had stressed the urgency of cutting the trees down, as Forest Services had designated it as a high-risk area. Ironically, District Scouts had planted 2,000 lodgepoles on a cutblock for West Fraser seven kilometres up Archie Meadow Road.
