SaltWire E-Edition

Remember when… HANTS HISTORY

CAROLE MORRIS-UNDERHILL carole.morris-underhill @saltwire.com @CMUnderhill

Here's a look at what was making the news 15 and 50 years ago in the Hants Journal.

15 YEARS AGO (Early March 2008 editions)

Windsor's food bank was

• shutting its doors for about a month while volunteers tackled some much-needed renovations.

It was reported that the Matthew 25 Windsor and District Food Bank had been “fighting a battle against clutter, garbage and vermin” since moving into a warehouse about seven years prior. A food-safety pilot project in 2007 helped highlight the issues that needed addressing.

Brooklyn's fire chief

Mark Dearman said he was at his wit's end with the deteriorating conditions at the Brooklyn Volunteer Fire Department.

He said the 40-year-old station was crumbling around them. A portion of the ceiling came crashing down, for example, at a dance during the summer of 2007. He noted there was water damage throughout the building. The volunteers were asking the municipality to help them build a new station.

An East Uniacke home

• was destroyed by fire over the lunch hour. The 15-year-old boy who was home at the time of the fire managed to escape without injuries.

Further up the Valley, Wolfville firefighters battled a house fire on Ridge Road and New Minas firefighters battled a barn fire on the Millett land, east of the County Fair Mall.

The director of West

Hants Dial-A-Ride, Windsor's alternative non-profit transportation service, announced the service “sustained heavy losses” after Kings Transit began operating throughout the community. The organization was poised to request funding from council. It was the first time in four years the group was ending the fiscal year in the red.

Three Rhode Island Red

• laying hens — Bernadette, Captain Crochet and Chicken — that became quasi-famous for being evicted from Halifax were settling in at a farm in Centre Burlington. The hens became the centre of debate in the city after neighbours had complained the hens were attracting rats and Halifax Regional Municipality evicted the birds under the land use bylaw. It was reported that after the hens wintered at the Red Fox

Farm, they would be relocated to live at the Cole Harbour Farm Museum.

West Hants council voted

• to not contribute funds to the Women in Local Government Bursary program, saying it should not be gender-based. Meanwhile, it was noted that in 2008, women made up more than 50 per cent of Nova Scotia's population yet when it came to holding leadership positions, only 21 per cent of councillors were women and seven per cent were mayors or wardens.

The Canadian Auto

Workers Union, Local 2216 took out a full-page ad outlining how the government had turned its back on pork producers, and how the agricultural industry was hurting.

After months on the

• lam, a skittish four-year-old Sheltie was finally captured and returned to its owners in Windsor.

Christina and Jamie Guitard adopted the purebred, who was too shy for competition, and brought him home to Wentworth Road. In October, Walker bolted from the home after being spooked by a delivery person. Over the next few months, there were numerous sightings throughout Hants County, but no one could catch him. Using a roast beef dinner, Judy and Alison Atwell finally lured Walker into a humane trap and the dog was reunited with its family, a little malnourished but in good spirits.

In sports news, it was announced

• for the first time in Windsor's history, a steel cage wrestling match was set to take place in April. The show would be through MainStream Wrestling Entertainment.

50 YEARS AGO (Early March 1973 editions)

The new Windsor Mall

• officially opened on Water Street. It was noted the airconditioned mall, which boasted “32,000 square feet of modern shops and services,” would not only serve the 28,000 residents of Hants County, but would entice visitors to stop in the Gateway to the Valley.

As part of the grand opening celebrations, many sales were held. Eaton's, for example, was selling a Simmons hide-a-bed for $186.26, a Viking 30-inch deluxe range for $206.95 and a family size toploading portable dishwasher for $242.95.

Operation Snowball was

• held in the woods of Hants County. The weekend military exercise, held near Taylor Lake outside Ellershouse, saw 33 men of B Company, West Nova Scotia Regiment participate.

The provincial minister

• of agriculture announced a new fencing assistance policy aimed at helping sheep producers. The province was willing to pay 50 per cent of the wire costs, which the government hoped would result in expanded flocks.

Windsor's Bill Spurr, the

• co-ordinator of Nova Scotia's upcoming Canada Summer Games, confirmed there were going to be 252 participants representing the province that summer.

Danny Parker, of the

Dyke 4-H Club of Falmouth, won the senior 4-H safety essay competition that was sponsored by the Federation of Agriculture.

Hants West Regional

High School selected Barbara Bailey as its senior winter carnival queen for 1973 and Darlene Magura as junior queen.

Windsor Regional High

School athletes and fellow students fundraised in order to purchase a new electric score clock for the gymnasium to improve volleyball and basketball games.

Sobeys, which announced

• the grocery chain was now carrying a large variety of Weight Watchers foods, was offering a manager's special sale. For example, in early March, customers could pick up a 26-ounce bottle of Pepsi Cola for 19 cents, a onepound package of premium soda crackers for 29 cents, or a seven-pound bag of flour for 49 cents.

In the Hants Journal

• from 1948, it was reported that a large group of people attended a meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall to discuss a new skating and hockey rink for Windsor.

In the Hants Journal

• from 1923, it was reported that Curry's Corner Fruit and Warehouse Company Limited packed 10,038 barrels of apples for the season. In other business news, a fine gold nugget was mined in South Uniacke.

Editor’s Note:

The 25 years ago section is temporarily unavailable. If you have a collection of newspapers from 1998, please contact carole. morris-underhill@saltwire. com.

Go Online

For more historical tidbits and photographs, be sure to visit: https://www.saltwire. com/nova-scotia/communities/annapolis-valley/

HISTORY

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