Welcome to Lake Flashback. Reporter Sarah Simpson has been combing through old newspapers with the assistance of the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives so we can jog your memory, give you that nostalgic feeling, or just a chuckle, as we take a look at what was making headlines this week around Cowichan Lake in years gone by.
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This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
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10 years ago
"Three incumbents and two new members elected" was the top headline in the Lake Cowichan Gazette of Nov. 21, 2014.
"On Saturday, Nov. 15, the Lake Town Cowichan elected two new council members, Lorna Vomacka and Carolyne Austin. But it seems that the town decided that a change in the head seat was not the route to go as Ross Forrest, a man who has sat in the position of mayor through three elections now, was re-elected by 593 votes while Wendy Klyne received 392 votes. Kyle Wylie, the youngest of the candidates received a total of 102 votes (unofficial numbers).
"But mayorship was not the only seat that the town residents showed they were happy with current governance as Bob Day and Tim McGonigle were also both re-elected to sit on council. Day received 649 votes, Vomacka had 565, Austin had 525, and McGonigle had 521 (unofficial numbers)."
In other news of the day, a slate of candidates took over the school board. A page two story reports that "Students First team takes control of board".
"It was after midnight before the Cowichan Valley School District publicly reported its election results. But when the smoke finally cleared, Cowichan voters had delivered a clear message in the wake of the firing of the board it elected in 2011. The Students First team won a decisive victory. Five of its seven candidates were elected (Rob Hutchins, Candace Spilsbury, Joe Thorne, Cathy Schmidt and Barb DeGroot). Independents Randy Doman and Elizabeth Croft took the other two seats. All four members of the Your Voice team — which included Ellen Oxman and Deb Foster, fired as trustees in 2012 for supporting a deficit budget — finished out of the running.
"The Students First team included former trustees Schmidt and Spilsbury, who were also fired by the provincial government despite voting against that illegal budget. The two teams represented the camps that had divided the board for years leading up to the firing."
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25 years ago
"Jack Peake is the Town's new Mayor" exclaimed the Lake News of Nov. 24, 1999.
"Jack Peake snapped a handy victory at the polls Saturday to become the new mayor of Lake Cowichan. He roundly defeated Mayor Jean Brown by more than 109 votes, 542 to 423. Richard Walton came a distant third with 88 votes. With 1,068 people casting ballots, voting was heaviest ever. That represented about 68% of eligible voters, a turnout rarely seen in British Columbia, where only about 30% usually vote in municipal elections. Elected to Council were: Coun. Pat Foster, with 618 votes, Pat Weaver, 562, Claude Ruggieri, 516, and Garth Sims, 489. In Area F elections, Joe Allan was re-elected with 257 votes over contender Lawrence Veinotte, 150. In Area I, Tara Daly was elected by acclamation.
"School Board 79 saw three elected to the seats reserved for Cowichan Lake: Wilma Rowbottom, 1163, Kristine Sandhu 1104, and Gary Gunderson, 1005.
The rest of the front stories centred around VisionQuest and it's business plan in a series of stories including: "VQ business plans states they want street people here within five years."
"VisionQuest, the group who proposes to bring an addiction recovery centre to Lake Cowichan, namely to the CLEC centre proposes also within the first five years of operation to develop a program for street people — a program where these street people would remain for three to five years. Along with their future goals, VisionQuest also would like to see a program for moms with children also at the CLEC — the same facility they hope to house those suffering from addiction problems along with street people. This is all found in VisionQuest Recovery Society's business plan, under the heading, Future Programs Extension — the same Business Plan that Council reviewed prior to agreeing in principal to lease the CLEC to Vision-Quest.
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40 years ago
The front page of the Lake News of Nov. 21, 1984 was very busy with stories. The one that stood out most was "Flu Bug Death: 'No need for general alarm' - Doctor" at the top of the page.
"Medical authorities say that there is no cause for general alarm this week as concern eases about a flu that claimed the life of one Lake Cowichan child and sent his younger brother to hospital. Dr. Peter Reynolds, medical health officer for the central Vancouver Island district, said Monday that there is no reason to 'quarantine' children for fear of the flu bacteria. The best defence against the bug — which is actually a bacterium called Haemophilus Influenzae Type B — is a regular program of immunization and emphasis on good nutrition, Reynolds said, adding that there is no specific immunization against Haemophilus Influenzae type B at the moment."
And finally, "It's even split: in with the old in with the new" was the big election story.
"One incumbent alderman was returned and one was defeated in village council elections held Saturday in Lake Cowichan. Meanwhile, the one incumbent school trustee in the race just edged out a newcomer at the top of the polls in school board elections held Saturday throughout the Cowichan Lake District. The village aldermen for the next two years are Earle Darling and Rod Peters. Eight-year alderman Hazel Beech went down to defeat.
"The school trustee seats will be filled by Bill Routley and Pat Foster, who handily defeated other candidates Dena McPhee and Lorraine Oliver. They, too, will serve two-year terms. There was no mayoralty race in Lake Cowichan this year. The only other political posts up for grabs in 1984 were the two regional directors seats and in both areas 'F' and 'I' the incumbents, Frank Walker and John Ward, were returned by acclamation."