Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago
Oct. 3, 2013
    At the Sept. 24 East Phillips County Hospital District board meeting, Melissa Memorial Hospital Administrator John Ayoub discussed the possibility of bringing a rural residency program to Holyoke.
    Congress plunged the nation into a partial government shutdown Oct. 1 as a protracted dispute over President Barack Obama’s signature health care law reached a boiling point, forcing some 800,000 federal workers off the job.
    Phillips County commissioners adopted a new weed and junk regulation, as reported at their Sept. 30 meeting. This is a brand-new amendment to zoning regulations that will now allow the county to address problems with weeds and junk within the county.
    Characteristics of turnaround pastors is the topic of a new book in the works by local pastor Gordon Penfold, D.Min., who is partnering with veteran writer Dr. Aubrey Malphurs, Ph.D., a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary.
    
Ten Years Ago
Oct. 2, 2008
    Taking with them only a small backpack containing a change of clothes and a couple of cameras, Holyoke High School graduates Jason Reynolds and Brendon McCarthy crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on foot Oct. 1. With only a timeline of two years, Reynolds and McCarthy began their trek that is supposed to take them through Central and South America, Africa and Asia. The focus of the trip is to discover cultures in areas not normally traveled.
    College student Brittney Ferguson, a 2007 HHS grad, remains in critical condition at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland following an auto accident Sept. 25 in Laramie, Wyoming.
    On Sept. 27, 5-year-old McKenna Edwards took first place in this year’s junior division of the regional Pumpkin Weigh-Off, sponsored by Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers. Her pumpkin, carried in with a forklift, weighed in at 171.5 pounds, beating the next heaviest pumpkin by 30 pounds.
    
Twenty-Five Years Ago
Oct. 7, 1993
    Expressing encouragement for the direction being taken with regard to the Phillips County Communications Center and also citing personal reasons, Phillips County Sheriff Richard Potter submitted his letter of resignation to the Board of County Commissioners last Tuesday. The resignation was effective immediately, at 4 p.m. Aug. 30.
    The Holyoke City Council is once again seeking a new city treasurer following announcement of the resignation of current treasurer Randy Hale last week.
    Holyoke Office Building’s face-lift to the Holyoke business community gained the Mailander Family Partnership the Pride and Progress Business Award last week, sponsored by HR Inc. and Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, with cooperation from the City of Holyoke.
    Duane and Melissa Stroh of Holyoke were recently named area distributors for Van the Nut Man products. Based in Rapid City, South Dakota, Van the Nut Man is owned by Bill and Kristie Pelle, who purchased the business last fall. Since their recent move to Rapid City, the Pelles have named the Strohs as the local distributors, effective Sept. 30.
    
Fifty Years Ago
Oct. 3, 1968
    The economics class of Holyoke High School took part in a telelecture to the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 30. The class talked via an amplified telephone installed by the Phillips County Telephone Company to Dr. Allen O. Felix, formerly a teacher in Yuma.
    The harvesting of sugar beets in the Holyoke area got underway Tuesday when the first beets were dug. Delivery of beets to the Great Western Sugar beet dump at Holyoke was made early Wednesday morning.
    
Seventy-Five Years Ago
Oct. 7, 1943
    The Phillips County War Production Board met here Tuesday night and made plans for the county scrap drive. The committee believes a scrap holiday should be held about Oct. 22, when schools and business places would be asked to close to allow everyone to gather up scrap metals. The county quota is 100 tons.
    In an effort to harmonize whole milk and butterfat production with the increasing strains of wartime economy, payments will be offered to dairy farmers for the last quarter of 1943, opening Oct. 1. The payments will cushion the increased cost of dairy feeds, which have been on the upgrade since September 1942.