Peekin' into the Past

Five Years Ago
Sept. 12, 2013
    After volunteering at the Sterling Correctional Facility for five years, Dan Kafka has begun the first prison ministry with roots in Holyoke as he heads the Holyoke Church of Christ prison ministry.
    Progress has been steady and the end result thrilling as the community of Holyoke enjoys a new all-weather track around the HHS football field. Final details are tentatively expected to be completed by Sept. 12, at which time the track will open for public use.
    Holyoke eighth-grader Anna Jelden defended her overall intermediate grand champion honors in clothing construction at the 2012 Colorado State Fair when she was named grand champion again during this year’s competition Aug. 23-Sept. 2 in Pueblo.
    Holyoke’s Sgt. Delmer Moss was one of approximately 100 veterans to be honored at a commemorative reunion for the 60th anniversary of the Korean War.
    
Ten Years Ago
Sept. 11, 2008
    Holyoke General Store officially opened its doors to customers on Sept. 8. The new store is located at 128 S. Campbell Ave. in the building that used to house Pix Super Foods. The store, owned by Tim Bartels, is part of the Do It Best Corp. hardware chain.
    On top of a busy bean harvest, Jack’s Bean Company is trying to complete construction on six new bins it recently put up near the plant site. The company lost four of its bins southeast of the cemetery in a bad storm in July 2006.
    Changes to Colorado’s law on boating under the influence went into effect Aug. 5, decreasing the legal limit for blood alcohol content to 0.08 percent and expanding the reach of the law to operators of any waterborne vessel. Previously, the BUI law applied only to operators of motorboats or sailboats whose BAC was 0.10 percent or above.
    
Twenty-Five Years Ago
Sept. 16, 1993
    On his fourth day in America, Filipino Arden Bongco began his duties as a medical technologist in the laboratory at Melissa Memorial Hospital in Holyoke on Sept. 7.
    After a 96-degree day Sunday, Holyoke residents experienced an extreme cold front Monday, Sept. 13, as the high for the day was only 39 degrees. Rain turned to sleet and then to snow during the day Monday.
    Although some details in the formal agreement remain to be settled, the Holyoke City Council has tentatively agreed for the City to accept temporary ownership of the Peerless Theatre building so the Peerless Center renovation project would be eligible to apply for Impact Assistance grant money.
    Seven Holyoke youngsters have qualified to participate in the National Pedal Tractor Pull competition as a result of their efforts in the Colorado State Pedal Pull in Yuma Sept. 12. Those qualifying from Holyoke include Bryan Pocock, Daniel Koch, Ashley Porter, Larissa Koch, Jennifer Adams, Holly Ferguson and Aaron Schlachter.
    
Fifty Years Ago
Sept. 12, 1968
    Five Holyoke youths were recently apprehended by Holyoke law officials for damages which they admitted doing on the night of Aug. 2. On that night, damages were done on the guardrail on the south side of the Holyoke park and a window was broken out of the rest room there; at the Holyoke Gun Club, it was reported that they broke a large number of windows; and at the Phillips County Fairgrounds, they had kicked several boards loose from the judging arena just south of the cattle barns.
    The Venango (Nebraska) Panther gridders open their season tomorrow in Wallace, Nebraska.
    
Seventy-Five Years Ago
Sept. 16, 1943
    The Gold Coin Creamery company will open a branch in Holyoke next week in the building formerly a cream station, across the street from Garland Auto Company. Bob Allen of Denver has spent this week in Holyoke making final arrangements for the opening.
    The manpower shortage in automotive establishments and a limitation on hours of gasoline sales has created a serious problem for the motorist who ventures away from home or who uses the highway at night, according to Rocky Mountain Motorists, the AAA automobile club. Service stations are not always able to make service calls at any great distance from their establishments and cannot remain open at night, and a motorist may search for mechanical help in vain.