1986: IMPERIAL MEASURE MAKES A COMEBACK – The Review reported on an interesting development in area education. “The teaching of imperial measure will be re-introduced in County of Mountain View schools for information purposes, the school board decided last week. Trustee and county reeve Syd Vollmin, in calling for the move, said some imperial measure should be taught so that children can talk to their parents and grandparents in terms that they can understand. ‘We teach two languages, why not two forms of measure, metric and imperial?’ he said. ‘That’s what the public wants and we have to listen to them too. All we need are a few yardsticks. We don’t need books and it wouldn’t be costly.’ While no time frame was set for teaching imperial, the board said it would be carried out when the schools can find the time. Trustee Millie Lennox said that teaching of imperial measure was being carried out in other parts of Alberta and had been endorsed by Education Minister Nancy Betkowski. ‘Reality says that a lot of imperial measure is still being used in rural Alberta,’ she said.”
1987 - CRASH INJURES SEVERAL – The Review reported on a serious crash outside town. “A 40-year-old man suffered severe burns when the combine he was driving collided with a semi-trailer truck on Highway 2 three miles south of the Didsbury overpass. The driver of the truck suffered less severe burns in the fiery noon hour crash. Both vehicles were travelling south and exploded into flames on impact. Patricia Little of Edmonton, who was travelling in a car immediately behind the combine, said her husband had pulled into the left-hand lane to begin passing when he noticed the truck coming up in the right-hand lane behind the combine. ‘We slowed to let the truck into the left lane and it looked like he had lots of time and room but he kept going right into the back of the combine. The combine exploded into flames and flipped over and the truck caught fire too, swung across the road into the median and just missed this other truck coming towards it in the northbound lanes. It was horrifying. Thank God we were able to get stopped’.”
1990 - RECYCLING CHANGES WANTED – The Gazette reported on calls for changes to recycling in Water Valley. “A recycling group in Cremona is asking the County of Mountain View to take over the administration of recycling boxes at the Water Valley dump. County Reeve John Grimstead said an initial plan for take over by the Mount View Health Unit had fallen through because of budget restrictions, forcing the group to turn to the county for help. A letter from the recycling group’s spokesperson said the county could expect to pay less than $300 in running the system. Grimstead said the county’s cost would mostly come from the administration of the system, and encouraged council to consider the request. ‘This is a good stab at setting up recycling in the area,’ he said. Councillor Mel Richards believed the county should become involved in recycling. ‘We should encourage this type of project and perhaps we can get into it in a bigger scale’.”
2001 – SCHOOL COST UP – In a front-page story, the Didsbury Review reported on school division efforts to reduce costs. “Chinook’s Edge School Division will look at ways to make their utility bills cheaper. Deregulation of electricity and soaring natural gas prices have school board trustees worried about the effects of higher prices and how schools in the area will be affected. Trustee Sandi Chalmers said the problem of higher utility costs wasn’t about to go away any time soon and that it was time to deal with this issue in a different fashion. ‘The small things add up,’ she said, suggesting that pilot projects at the schools were a good direction to go in combatting the problem. At the recent school board meeting, trustees had the chance to go over a letter sent by Alberta Minister of Learning Lyle Oberg. In the letter he wrote that the government realizes that school boards are facing pressures with higher than expected energy costs and that the government was responding with $35 million in additional funding for school boards and post-secondary institutions.
