91Ô­´´

Eighty Years Ago

June 16, 1938

• 91Ô­´´ council recommended a $340 tar-and-gravel sidewalk for Fort 91Ô­´´, instead of paying $1,200 for an asphalt walkway.

• Provincial authorities toured 91Ô­´´ and struck off the relief rolls any people they thought weren’t trying hard enough to find work. Meanwhile, Eric Flowerdew told council that Canada, despite its riches in natural wealth, was paying less relief to needy citizens than other countries in the British Empire.

Seventy Years Ago

June 17, 1948

• Flood relief canvassers collected $8,000.

• A $100,000 referendum to replace bridges lost to Fraser River flooding was put aside until council could study a new type of culvert that might be used in some places instead.

• Construction of a $40,000 residence for 30 to 40 nurses at 91Ô­´´ Memorial Hospital was to proceed immediately.

Sixty Years Ago

June 19, 1958

• The strawberry market was glutted by a bumper crop in B.C., coupled with imports from the United States. Both supplies were being dumped below production costs. Farmer Fruit Packers on Brown Road (240th Street) had stopped accepting berries on June 12, after American prices had dropped to 14 cents per pound.

Fifty Years Ago

June 20, 1968

• A super-stock record was set at 91Ô­´´ Speedway when Bob Bissenden of Victoria, driving a 1957 Ford 374, toured the track in 16.89 seconds.

• Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau spent an hour at the historic Fort 91Ô­´´ during a whirlwind tour of the Lower Mainland. He was joined by Liberal candidates Ed Murphy and Bill Vander Zalm, Mayor Bill Poppy, and Indian Affairs Minister Art Laing. The prime minister’;s keynote address was on national unity.

• A crowd of 500 attended an all-candidates meeting for the upcoming federal election, with candidates Mark Rose of the NDP, Bert Price of Social Credit, Progressive Conservative Warren Lohnes, and Liberal Ed Murphy.

Forty Years Ago

June 21, 1978

• A student was charged with arson after a mid-morning blaze destroyed nearly all of West 91Ô­´´ Elementary School. Disaster was averted by Grade 1 student Lori Viani, who spotted the fire while on an errand for a teacher. She raised the alarm, and the school’s 160 students and staff were evacuated safely.

• The West 91Ô­´´ school fire was just one of five fires suspected of being arsonists’ handiwork in a single week in 91Ô­´´.

Thirty Years Ago

June 15, 1988

• Protests to the Vancouver Regional Transit Commis­sion resulted in doubling of runs for Aldergrove. However, Township council’s appeal to have Aldergrove gas stations exempted from a three-cents-per-litre transit tax failed.

Twenty Years Ago

June 19, 1998

• Thieves armed with a sawed-off shotgun burst into a 91Ô­´´ City jewellery store. The man with the gun threatened store employees while an accomplice smashed a display case and made off with the goods.

• A world record was broken during Highland Games held in Douglas Park. Doug MacDonald threw a 28-pound weight 80 feet and 10 inches.

• A couple of squirrel monkeys, stolen from Greater Vancouver Zoo a couple of days earlier, were discovered in a 91Ô­´´ home by police acting on a tip.

Stephane Dion, federal minister of inter-governmental affairs and Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s point man on national unity, brought a message of hope for the future of Canada to a talk in 91Ô­´´.