Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago — Aug. 20, 2015

The summer academic project of Re-1J Foundation Inc. was just shy of reaching $35,000 for the fifth grade band instrument program — greatly surpassing its goal of $30,000. The 57 new instruments purchased for the program will be used by the fifth graders at no cost to them, freeing up the school’s other instruments to be lent out to students in grades 6-12 at discounted rates.

Jason and Misti Redman’s new business, J & M Seating, offers table and chair seating for 200, available to rent for weddings, birthday parties, family gatherings, etc.

Quilters from all corners of the country have made a pit stop in Holyoke as part of the 2015 Row by Row Experience to pick up a free row pattern unique to Holyoke that can be combined with seven other rows from shops all over the country to make a one-of-a-kind quilt from their journey. “Corn Crazy” is Creative Tradition’s featured row, designed by owner Julie Haake. This is the first year the event was opened up to Colorado shops.

Ten Years Ago — Aug. 19, 2010

Phillips County Museum hosted an antique appraisal on Aug. 15. A number of people of all ages, from both Holyoke and out of town, brought a variety of items. Lloyd Michael of Michael Auction Service in Julesburg was the appraiser for the afternoon.

Phillips County election results from the Aug. 10 primary election found approximately a 50% voter turnout in the mail-in ballot. Unaffiliated voters were not eligible to vote in the primary.

Twenty-Five Years Ago — Aug. 24, 1995

With his Colorado licensure approved by the Board of Medical Examiners on Aug. 17, Kent Roberson, M.D., began seeing patients at Family Practice of Holyoke this week.

Dave Tennant announced this week that Eric Neiman will be joining the staff at Tennant-Thompson Mortuaries in Holyoke and Haxtun on Sept. 1, serving as manager of the two facilities.

Marcia Walter was recently appointed to the director position at Dragon’s Wagon Preschool after former director Debbie Huwa submitted her resignation to accept the position of early childhood coordinator for Northeast Colorado BOCES. Huwa has served as director of Dragon’s Wagon Preschool the entire 14 years it has been in operation.

Neil Hewitt, a 1978 HHS graduate, is training for a 100-mile ultramarathon in Arkansas in October.

Honkbal (what baseball is called in Holland) and sightseeing made for a fun-filled week and a half for HHS freshman Russell Sprague, who spent Aug. 8-19 in Holland as a member of the Greg Riddoch Baseball School travel team.

Fifty Years Ago — Aug. 20, 1970

During the early hours of last Thursday morning, two break-ins occurred at Gambles and Wernet’s Skogmos. Entry into Skogmos was made through the roof, and 25 pennies and a package of men’s shorts were the only articles apparently taken from the store. The package of shorts was found behind the store. Gambles was entered by breaking the glass in the rear door. A suspect was picked up a mile south of Holyoke and was returned to Phillips County Jail where he is being held pending further investigation by authorities.

Lavina McFadden will retire as executive director of the Phillips County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service office in Holyoke on Aug. 21. She started with the Phillips County office in 1936 and became a trainee in 1937.

The brown recluse, or fiddleback, spider has been found in Colorado. According to W.D. Fronk, head of the Colorado State University entomology department, a spider collected in the Rocky Ford area has been identified as the brown recluse spider by an expert taxonomist.

Engineers of the Colorado Department of Health, in cooperation with the U.S. Public Health Service’s Bureau of Solid Waste Management, soon will be working on a nationwide program called “Mission 5000” to bring about the closing of at least 5,000 open dumps in the United States by July 1972. The largest number to be closed will be illicit dump areas. A second category is those which are so poorly located that they cannot be brought up to sanitary standards. A third part of the thrust will be to convert unsightly dumps into modern sanitary landfills.

Seventy-Five Years Ago — Aug. 23, 1945

A new feature of the Phillips County Fair is planned for the second evening or Sept. 7: the crowning of a lady as “wheat queen” of Phillips County. Substantial prizes will be given for the two classes: formal dress and informal dress. The queen will be chosen from the winner of each class. Contestants will not be allowed to wear hats, slacks, pajamas, sweaters or bathing suits.

We now have “peace” saving time, which might be given as MPT in the Mountain Time belt, instead of MWT (Mountain War Time). Daylight saving time will be in effect for another five months unless Congress takes special action to change our time back to normal.