43 YEARS AGO (1980): Jim Olson of Perkins Road had a close call with a train one morning back in 1980. He had dropped a load of dirt on the west side of the crossing and was heading east over the tracks in his dump truck when the incident occurred. He said he had stopped before crossing and hearing nothing proceeded when a BCR train rounded the curve. He sped up and the train engineer applied the brakes. The two actions together prevented a serious accident and only the rear of the truck’s box was clipped.
33 YEARS AGO (1990): Elections were held at the annual general meeting of the Bridge Lake Women’s Institute. Doreen Coyle was elected president, Willa Craig - vice president, Mary Schuurman - secretary, Irene Barcley - treasurer and Ella Bishop, Will Fayers, Jean Jobling, Marion Mickelson and Jean Strait were elected as directors. The focus for the upcoming year was education, social and community services. The first program was to be held on Oct. 10 at the home of Joanne Levick. Recycling and environmental affairs were the scheduled topics.
23 YEARS AGO (2000): A 100 Mile House resident was upset after finding a dead dog and five starving puppies at the Exeter Road landfill. Melvin Woodcock, a dog owner himself, was shocked that anyone would do such a thing. “If they want to dispose of dogs they should do so in the proper way,” he said, adding that the German Shepherd had been shot. The pups were hungry and thirsty for milk. He eventually found homes for all of them. While he did not report the event to authorities he urged dog owners to treat their pets with respect and like they are part of the family.
13 YEARS AGO (2010): A fire at Chasm Sawmills kept members of the 70 Mile VFD and the Clinton Fire Department out until after midnight. They found flames had fully engulfed a hog fuel pile when they arrived on the scene. They poured water on one side of the pile to keep it from spreading into nearby stacks of higher-value timber. 70 Mile Fire Chief Derek Edwards said the pile had already been smouldering for two weeks and believes it was caused by internal combustion. This made it useless to try to douse so it was monitored by a mill fire watch crew.
