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.
This week around the Cowichan Lake area…
10 years ago
“Fiery crash closes Youbou Hwy” sat embedded into a startling photo of a burning vehicle on the front of the Oct. 10, 2012 Lake Cowichan Gazette.
“At approximately 7:40 p.m., on Oct. 1, Lake Cowichan RCMP and the Lake Cowichan Fire Department along with the Youbou Fire Department, were called to a motor vehicle accident in the 9000 block of the Youbou Highway, just before the west end of Meades Creek Road. The accident involved one vehicle heading east towards Lake Cowichan on the Youbou Highway. Somehow it ended up in the westbound ditch, and exploded into flames. Three people (one male and two females) were in the vehicle, one of which was ejected out of the vehicle upon impact. Two of the individuals were taken to the Cowichan District Hospital, and one, in critical condition, was flown by helicopter to Victoria General Hospital. ‘But no-one has come forward to say how the other two were removed from the vehicle,’ said Const. Jim Preston. He adds that it is believed that two of the individuals were wearing their seatbelts. The extent of injuries of these individuals and their current condition has not been released, but all survived the ordeal.”
In other news of the day, “Solution needed to traffic volume and noise: North Shore Road needs pedestrian walkways past River Road” was a top headline.
“North Shore Road residents are not giving up on their quest to find some solution to the traffic volume and noise they have been living with. Lisa Barnes and Lorne Scheffer approached mayor and council as two separate delegations, but having a common thread: North Shore Road. Barnes was again bringing to the attention of council the heavy truck use and noise levels on the road and Scheffer wanted to voice his concerns with traffic volume and speed resulting in unsafe conditions for pedestrians.”
25 years ago
There are only two stories I can tell you about that were on the first couple of pages of the Oct. 15, 1997 Lake News so let’s get right to it.
“National conference on Co-ops held here” was the top story. Sounds exciting right? Lets read on…
“At least 14 government senior officials along with the Minister responsible for Cooperatives — Jan Pullinger, filled the Lake Cowichan fire-hall last week for a National conference of cooperatives where one of the main highlights was a presentation on the Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-operative by Mayor Jean Brown and Cowichan Lake Community Forest Co-operative chairman, Pat Foster.
The page 2 story was about that pesky arena floor. Ron Kenyon reports:
“With the arena facing an urgent $1 million face lift — expect a public meeting in November, and a questionnaire for you in the Lake News. The Arena Commission wants your personal input before deciding on how to raise the money. After all, guess who will pay. You will.
“To make matters more complicated, a provisional budget for 1998 had to be supplied yesterday to CVRD for presentation to the government. The commission authorized Bruce Tilbury, manager of the arena, to put $275,000 into the provisional budget. This can be changed later but if there should be an emergency need for money in early spring — like a sudden failure of the floor — money can be borrowed against it. The Commission considered the fact that the arena floor is buckling in the middle because of a permafrost buildup under the ice. It could become unusable at any time.”
40 years ago
Here’s the coolest story I’ve seen in a while. It comes from the Oct. 13, 1982 Lake News.
“Perfect crib hand upstages dad” was the headline atop the story that went like this:
“The cribbage-playing Hemsworth family has obviously passed on its skill to another generation. Gary Hemsworth, 15, of Youbou, scored a ‘29 hand’ while playing with his father Bob, at home on Thursday, Sept. 30. Gary’s grandmother, Nancy Hemsworth was a champion at the Legion cribbage club last year, and his grandfather is also an avid crib player.
“Gary has been playing cribbage for only about three years, much to the chagrin of his father, who has been playing for many years without achieving a 29 score.
“His perfect game occurred the same night that the cribbage club meets in Lake Cowichan so a call was put in to tell his grandparents and the others the good news.”
That’s small town news to me, and I love it.
In less cute news, but equally newsworthy, if not more, was the news about a TV station bidding for the area’s pay services.
“Lake Cowichan cable television operator has applied for a licence to bring pay TV to this area. Clarence Severson, who operates Lake Video and Youbou Television, may be able to offer pay television to the Cowichan Lake district by February, 1983, according to a spokesman. If Severson is given permission to operate the service, he would have to buy a special dish to receive the shows. Cable subscribers who wish to be hooked up to the service would have to pay an additional monthly fee of $15-$20.
