Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago — Aug. 18, 2016

Aug. 15 was the first day on the job for Elizabeth Hutches, new director for the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce.

Storage units are popping up all around Holyoke and Amherst this year, almost doubling the existing number. At least four new area investors in the storage unit business — including Maury Kramer, Nick Ferguson, Hank Hassler and Chuck Ferguson — are building new storage facilities in the area.

Phillips County Department of Human Services welcomes a new director with the arrival of Penny Verhoeff.

Cherrie Brown of Holyoke was recently able to connect with her last remaining Italian relative in Pettorano, Italy.

A law signed by President Barack Obama last month will help the nation avoid a state-by-state patchwork of laws regarding package labels for food that contains genetically modified organisms.

Ten Years Ago — Aug. 18, 2011

Cindi Beavers is the new director of Holyoke Alternative High School. She has been the school’s GT program coordinator since 2000.

A dedication ceremony was held Sunday morning, Aug. 14, to dedicate the Liberty elm tree in Holyoke City Park. Aug. 14 is a historic part of this country’s liberty from the British.

The Phillips County chapter of Pheasants Forever was awarded the Chapter Hero Award from the Leopold Education project at the National LEP Conference held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The award was presented to the Phillips County chapter by Jerry Miller, Colorado LEP state coordinator, at a special luncheon held Aug. 11 in Holyoke.

Twenty-Five Years Ago — Aug. 22, 1996

Bringing 21 years of experience in the health care field and an accounting background as well, George V. Larson II of Bethel, Maine, will assume the position as administrator of Melissa Memorial Hospital in Holyoke in mid-September.

Country Shoppe will get a new face-lift in the next few weeks. The most notable change will be the name of the station. Country Shoppe, a division of Big Country and Farmland, will take the Ampride name as well as its image. In addition to the face-lift, Holyoke Co-op upgraded its underground fuel tanks to meet 1998 federal standards.

Eight youth with a love for in-line skating participated in a Roller Blade Rally on Aug. 15, sponsored by Golden Plains Recreation Center.

Holyoke Gun Club hosted the Eastern Zone Qualification Shoot Aug. 17-18. Zone qualifiers were determined for state team competition to be held in Delta Sept. 27-29.

Fifty Years Ago —Aug. 19, 1971

A free cancer clinic will be held Sept. 1 at Melissa Memorial Hospital and Sept. 2 at Haxtun Community Hospital.

The Re-1J school board, after a penetrating discussion and analysis of the former policy and its effect on individuals and groups, approved a modification in training rules for 1971 at their regular meeting Aug. 17. The modified policy does not arbitrarily state that a violator is dismissed from an activity. Rather it is designed to permit coaches, sponsors and others to stay in contact with the young person that has acted contrary to the rules and to help him or her reach the established standards.

Seventy-Five Years Ago — Aug. 22, 1946

A Veterans Administration Guidance Center was established July 1, with offices in the Sterling junior college, to serve the six counties of northeastern Colorado.

Raymond Chase Jr. of Omaha, Nebraska, a painter and interior decorator, has purchased the lot on the north of Sorensen’s Ice Cream Parlor and is building a one-story building of cinder blocks. Mr. Chase will have a retail paint store and will engage in his occupation here.

Motorcycle racing will be feature attraction at the Phillips County Fair to be held here Sept. 5-7.