Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago

Feb. 9, 2017

Friday, Feb. 3, saw closed doors at Holyoke School District Re-1J for a school sick day, a rarity in Holyoke school history. The culprit? Influenza A. Illness was by far the No. 1 reason for 56 K-12 students and two staff members out of school Jan. 30 — numbers that climbed to 88 students and seven staff members by Feb. 2.

This year’s Melissa Memorial Hospital Foundation Legacy Event will feature two very special and lifesaving auction items — a Thomas EMS pediatric pack for each of MMH’s two ambulances. Unlike other auction items that benefit the bidder, these packs provide a way for the bidder to keep on giving past the evening’s event, as they are to be donated back to MMH’s growing EMS program for use after purchase.

Dave and Vicki Tennant, owners of Tennant Funeral Homes, announced last week that Baucke Funeral Home of Holyoke and Yuma has assumed the business operations of the Tennant funeral homes in Holyoke and Haxtun.

Holyoke swim coach Aly Brinkema was voted Tri-Valley Conference Coach of the Year, and Emily Krogmeier was voted Swimmer of the Year for the conference.

A new website and mobile app for Holyoke School District went live last week at www.hcosd.org.

Ten Years Ago

Feb. 9, 2012

Conditional use applications for the proposed Williwaw Goddard Wind Farm were scheduled to be considered at a Phillips County Board of Adjustments hearing Feb. 8. The applications are for a 19.8 megawatt wind generation system with 11-12 wind generating towers approximately 6 miles southwest of Holyoke on the hills knows as Fiddler and Goddard peaks and a 96 kilovolt electrical transmission line to take the power from the wind farm to the substation on the west side of Holyoke.

Deaun Carpenter is the new family nurse practitioner at Family Practice of Holyoke and Melissa Memorial Hospital. She began orientation on Jan. 23 and was scheduled to officially begin seeing patients this week.

Twenty-Five Years Ago

Feb. 13, 1997

Citing “personal reasons,” Frank Hubp resigned his position as mayor of Holyoke at the close of the Feb. 4 city council meeting. Hubp indicated he will be moving to Florida as soon as possible.

A Taco John’s Mexpress will open in the Holyoke Kwik Stop when the facility is opened in March.

Preliminary findings of a study of Holyoke Well No. 1 were “troubling” to city council members because they indicated another well may also be in danger of contamination. Mayor Frank Hubp summarized the report, saying there is a very high probability the problems are being caused by an unreported nitrogen spill near the west edge of town in the early 1990s.

Much to the dismay of those planning to build on the south side of East Johnson Street in the near future, the city of Holyoke will not be providing any new city services outside the city limits for up to four months. At the Feb. 4 meeting, the council passed a moratorium on providing any new city services such as sewer, water and trash outside the city limits for a period not to exceed four months. This is due to the need to start and finalize an updated plan for new developments, annexation, master plan and charges for services.

Fifty Years Ago

Feb. 10, 1972

May 22 has been set as the date for northeast Colorado “Ambassadors” business drive on New York City. About 70 agricultural, business and professional leaders from this area will accompany Gov. John Love and other state officials via chartered plane to meet with business executives from the New York region in an effort to see the advantages for locating small manufacturing plants in this corner of Colorado.

A booklet that gives information on how to fill out federal tax returns is now being sold at the Holyoke post office. This 160-page booklet, “Your Federal Income Tax,” written by the Internal Revenue Service, is now on sale and costs 75 cents. Another popular IRS publication, “The Tax Guide for Small Business,” will also be available in the near future.

Seventy-Five Years Ago

Feb. 13, 1947

The Holyoke Co-op Association is this week installing a new overhead electric lift for use in dumping grain from trucks. The new lift is powered by a 5 hp electric motor and will raise the trucks 8 feet. The driveway will be reversed, and instead of driving in from the east side of the elevator, patrons will drive in from the west.

At the request of Roy Best, warden of the state penitentiary, Sen. Rogers has introduced a bill in the upper house that would authorize the warden to give prisoners who are leaving the institution $25 and a ticket home, instead of $5 as they now receive. Best says he favors the new amount. That $5 is not very much of a stake with which to start life anew.

The U.S. Naval Air Station at Buckley Field, Denver, will be commissioned with appropriate ceremonies on Feb. 16. One hundred fifty naval and Marine Corps personnel are now on duty at Buckley Field preparing the Naval Air Station for commissioning and the arrival of Navy planes.