Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago

March 17, 2016

After a 26-year lapse, pole vault is back at Holyoke High School for the 2016 track season, which will open March 26 at Yuma.

The first step to building a reservoir or dam to capture millions of gallons of water flowing down the South Platte River won unanimous approval last week at the state Capitol. Millions of gallons of water flow into Nebraska, far exceeding the amount required under the Colorado-Nebraska compact that governs South Platte water use. And Colorado wants and needs to keep that water.

Ten Years Ago

March 17, 2011

HHS senior Mallory Bennett was notified last week of her selection as a 2011 Boettcher Foundation Scholarship recipient. Each year, the Boettcher Foundation grants 40 merit-based scholarships to superior young persons from Colorado high schools.

Daniel Palic of Julesburg has been promoted to the position of Natural Resources Conservation Service district conservation manager for Phillips and Sedgwick counties.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

March 21, 1996

Closely eyeing the mandate to co-locate the two United States Department of Agriculture offices in Phillips County by Oct. 1, local representatives met with the state Food and Agriculture Council at its regular meeting in Denver on March 12. Farm Services Agency in Holyoke and Natural Resources Conservation Service in Haxtun are the two Phillips County offices which have been mandated to combine into one as part of governmentwide downsizing and reorganization of the USDA. The state committee agreed to recommend to the national FAC to allow both county offices to remain open for one more fiscal year (to Sept. 30, 1997).

With close to 11 years in the electrical field, Brian Tufts has recently moved to Holyoke and will be joining veteran electrician Jim Comer in his established business. While the business transaction from Comer Electric to Comer & Tufts Electric will officially be effective April 1, the two started working together earlier this month.

A concert featuring well-known Imperial, Nebraska, organist J. Gordon Christensen is scheduled for March 24 to showcase the new digital, custom Johannus organ at First Christian Church in Holyoke.

Fifty Years Ago

March 18, 1971

The porta-press has been set up and is in operation at the old Holyoke town dump, 1 mile west of town. The junkers are first stripped of anything other than metal, then they are burned so that when they are pressed they will not expand again. The junkers are then placed in the press and compressed to a thickness of about 25 inches, then they are loaded on trucks to be transported to Denver where they will be shredded before being shipped to processing mills.

Forest fires burned 8,534 acres of nonfederal forest and critical watershed lands in Colorado during the 1969-70 fiscal year. State forester Tom Borden says the number of fires that occurred on the 9.4 million acres of nonfederal land was 499.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

March 21, 1946

Several active civic-minded persons of Holyoke have through their efforts obtained a Civil Air Patrol squadron. This unit is a part of the Army Air Forces and has a definite job to do. It is designed to train adults as well as boys in the national air program. Our unit has as its leader Charles F. Brown.

Atomdragon, the mascot of PCHS, was christened at an assembly given by the Dragonettes, who had put a box in the hall for suggestions pertaining to a name for our mascot. During the mixup, “Atomdragon” was not put on the ballot, but due to an unforeseen circumstance (a filibuster) it was voted to be the name of our mascot.

State Senator Walter W. Johnson of Pueblo has written the regents and president of the state university at Boulder asking for the establishment of a branch of the university at Pueblo.

Dr. Florence Sabin, chairman of the subcommittee on health of the governor’s postwar planning committee, has filed an extensive report with the governor in which she advocates the establishment of a tuberculosis hospital to be run by the state.