Ten years ago (2004): The Upper Columbia Valley and the rest of the East Kootenay regional finally got regional 911 service. “Test calls have been placed from throughout the region and all were recieved and transferred correctly,” said Regional District of East Kootenay chief administrative officer Lee-Ann Crane. The service came after three years of planning and preparation. “The RDEK is confident we are offering a cost-effective, reliable service to the residents and and visitors of the East Kootenay region,” said Ms. Crane. Previously, those phoning in the event of emergency needed to juggle calling the numbers of the specific services (firefighters, police, and ambulance) individually.
20 years ago (1994): British couple Arnie Wilson and Lucy Dicker hit the slopes at Panorama on January 30th as part of their unique around-the-world quest to ski every day of the entire calendar year in 1994. The pair would go on to acheive their goal 11 months after their stop here in the valley, managing to maintain an average of 16 vertical kilometers worth of skiing per day, even when that meant repeated runs on a single, small, hard-packed snowpatch, hitting the slopes at sunset after nearly 24 hours of planes and other transport, skiing by snowmobile headlights at 4 a.m. on the closed runs of Mammoth Mountain, skiing in the rain and dark in Chile, or lapping an indoor ski dome in Tokyo. The couple skied at more than 240 resorts on 13 different countries on five continents as part of the mad-cap plan.
30 years ago (1984): Canal Flats resident Jim Fleming had a heart-warming reunion with his family from Ontario after a 21-year separation. Mr. Fleming moved to Vancouver from Manitoulin Island, in Ontario, in 1963 and then developed amnesia. He eventually moved to Canal Flats in 1967, but never gave up trying to track down his family, finally succeeding in early 1984. In late January his overjoyed mother and brother flew out to meet him.
50 years ago (1964): Invermere council and staff sent a letter to the Minister of Highway suggesting an alternate entrance to the village from Highway 95 instead of the crossroads. They cited heavy traffic volume on the highway as the reason for their request. They proposed the alternate access be leave the highway about a kilometre and a half north of Shuswap Creek and join the Athalmer-Wilmer road before heading to Invermere.