2001 - 10 YEARS AGO
• More than 70 restaurants across east central Alberta will become smoke-free for the day in support of the 23rd annual Weedless Wednesday campaign on January 17.
• This year the honour of Stettler’s Volunteer Firefighter of the Year goes to Candace Kunstman who joined the department in May of 1999. Stettler Fire Department town chief Mark Dennis had this to say about Candace: “She’s always willing to jump in there and volunteer. Pretty much everything we’ve thrown at her, she’s stepped in and done it. To me, that’s showing something extra.”
1991 - 20 YEARS AGO
• Local retailers woke up with a headache New Year’s Day, but it wasn’t caused by local celebrating. Jan. 1, 1991 marked the first day of the federal government’s goods and services tax. Some Stettler merchants were pulling out their hair as they grappled with what many call a poorly though-out system.
• Stettler’s first baby of 1991 is Kristen Adelle Nixon, daughter of David and Lynne Nixon of Byemoor. Kristen was born at 1:26 a.m. Jan. 1, 1991, in Stettler General Hospital, a sister for Gregg.
1981 - 30 YEARS AGO
• Northern Alberta Ladies’ Curling Playdowns will be held at Stettler and Erskine rinks Jan. 16 to 18. About 30 teams are expected to play in the blue-ribbon event, and two of them will advance to the national finals.
• There are 17 4-H clubs operating in the Stettler district this year - five beef clubs, five clothing clubs, four horse clubs, and one each of a leather club, a pheasant club and a power snowmobile club.
1971 - 40 YEARS AGO
• Two complete video tape TV sets and a camera are revolutionary teaching aids now in use in Stettler elementary and junior high schools. The equipment is used to tape special programs of Alberta Department of Education, to be shown at appropriate times.
• A special committee has been considering suggestions for use of the Stettler Municipal Hospital building when the community takes over its new active treatment hospital this spring. It would cost about $300,000 to bring the building up to a standard required for such purposes as a nursing home or school dormitory.
1961 - 50 YEARS AGO
• A large number of parents, pupils and teachers attended a meeting to discuss standard school dress, and to see some of the uniforms modelled by children. After much discussion, the majority seemed to be against standard school dress.
• Twenty-two rinks entered the first round of the Massey-Ferguson Curlorama, sponsored by Starling and Innocent of Stettler. Len Brown of Erskine had the winning rink, with Ches Miller, Allen Brown and Fritz Bauman.
1951 - 60 YEARS AGO
• $1,200 in prizes will be offered at the 42nd annual bonspiel of Stettler Curling Club, which begins Jan. 16. Prizes will be given for six competitions and will include the Stuckey Trophy for the grand aggregate winner.
• Mr. Archie White and his son Ray of Red Deer have taken over the Stettler Hatchery from Mr. R. Bond. Both are enthusiastic golfers, and Ray was the Calgary Herald champion a few years back.
1941 - 70 YEARS AGO
• Doris Lagore and Oris Lyster, both of Red Willow, are the winners of the Olds Scholarship for 1939, as a result of the Stettler School Fair.
• Starting next week the Independent will be published on Wednesdays, through the co-operation of the merchants who were willing to prepare their advertisements a day earlier.
1931 - 80 YEARS AGO
• Messrs. Bissett, Walters, Ellerington and Clegg formed the Halkirk contingent of male voices which met at Gadsby to organize a male chorus of at least 12 voices, including Messrs. Cockcroft, Woodway, Farnalls, McDavid, Rushton, Samuals, Drinnan and Erickson.
• “In low-spirited moments, we visualize the time, not far distant, when men will have to organize and campaign for equal rights.” The Toledo Blade
1921 - 90 YEARS AGO
• The provinces of Alberta, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan will be bone dry after Feb. 1, as the Dominion of Canada is prohibiting the importation of liquor. The government proclamation follows plebiscites recently taken in the four provinces.
• It is hoped that Stettler School Board will be able to open night classes here in January. For a fee of $2 the students can study English, arithmetic, motors, engineering, business and sewing.
1911 - 100 YEARS AGO
• The new Act making attendance at school compulsory throughout the whole year will work well in two directions. It will go far toward abolishing child labour in the province, and will secure for all the children in the province a better chance of school training.
• With the funeral of Mr. Lentzinger Jan. 3, the Gadsby Cemetery received its first tenant. It is a good thing for the growing town to have such a place, much as we might wish to be without them, and it is hoped that something will soon be done to make it a little more attractive to the eye.