Looking Back — Jan. 2, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/01/2023 (722 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SIXTY YEARS AGO

The first baby in the new year belonged to Mrs. Arthur Collier. The nine-pound baby boy was born at 12:45 a.m. on New Year’s Day at Brandon General Hospital.

C.W. Jamieson and Sons, a building enclosing Jamieson’s Solo Store, was destroyed by fire on New Year’s Day in Hamiota.

An event that will have a historic impact on Brandon’s civic government took place today at the inaugural meeting of the 1963 city council. Today marked the official change of Brandon’s switch from “council- mayor” to “council-manager” government. It means that from now, on the mayor and council will be primarily concerned with the formation of policy in civic administration while the city manager will be responsible for carrying out council’s decision.

FIFTY YEARS AGO

The biggest blizzard in two years shrieked across the Prairies today, causing havoc in both urban and rural areas.

A Pacific Western Airlines Boeing 707 cargo jet, loaded with purebred cattle, crashed in a blizzard just south of Edmonton International Airport yesterday, killing five employees and 75 cattle.

FORTY YEARS AGO

Brandon General Hospital’s first baby of 1983 was born at 2:22 p.m. on Jan. 1. Kristjana Estee is daughter of Janet and Conrad Thorkelsson of Neepawa.

Fire caused $25,000 damage to a home here in Brandon early New Year’s Day. Debbie Cowieson and Ron Lauder managed to escape without injury.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

Vicky Grover and George Woloski are the proud parents of Brandon’s first baby of 1993. They haven’t named the lad, who was born at 12:42 a.m. on Jan. 1 and weighed just over nine pounds.

Federal and provincial politicians announced details of a $70-million highway improvement program for Manitoba yesterday.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

Brandon’s New Year’s baby eluded 2002 by only four minutes. Rolanda Taylor delivered a nine-pound, six-ounce baby girl in the Brandon Regional Health Centre at 12:04 a.m. on Jan. 1.

The local jazz community has lost one of its greatest champions with the death of Leslie (Cham) Paine. The jazz pianist died New Year’s Day after a battle with cancer. He was 73. A longtime fixture of the local jazz scene with his Cham Paine Trio, Paine shared his love of the form with a generation of younger musicians, said Brandon University music dean Glen Carruthers.

TEN YEARS AGO

At 8:32 a.m. on Jan. 1, Brandon’s first baby of 2013 was born at the Brandon Regional Health Centre. Quinn Jonathon Naturkach weighed seven pounds, 13 ounces and is 21.5 inches long, and was resting peacefully in his parents arms when members of the media and the Rotary Club came to visit on Tuesday afternoon.

Sometime after 1 p.m. Tuesday, three empty autodeck train cars derailed in the Brandon Canadian Pacific Railway yards. According to CP spokesman Kevin Hrysak, there were no injuries and no major damage.

For the third time in two weeks, a motorist has been charged with impaired driving after a stop at a fast-food drive-thru. The latest drive-thru incident came on Sunday. Police say a passenger from a vehicle urinated in the drive-thru lane at the Richmond Avenue McDonald’s — in front of a police cruiser. The vehicle was pulled over in the 2100 block of Richmond Avenue, and tests indicated that the driver had a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit.