Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago
Sept. 13, 2012
    Holyoke City Council members voted to purchase four Tasers for Holyoke Police Department during their regular meeting Sept. 4. Doug Dirren of Taser Inernational attended last week’s meeting to talk about Tasers and field any questions the council had.
    Mike “Woody” Woodhead was appointed by East Phillips County Hospital District board members during their Aug. 27 meeting. Woodhead will serve the remainder of Steve Deaver’s term, who resigned from the seat July 24. The term will end in 2014.
    A new business opened earlier this spring, offering services to northeast Colorado. Prairie IT LLC, located in Haxtun, specializes in virtual desktop solutions for small and medium-sized organizations. Mark Oman and his son Adam cofounded the company, and Adam serves as the president. Susan Markle, of Holyoke, is the vice president of marketing and support. Vickie Ferrin, project manager, lives in Fort Collins and joins the business through web conferencing.
    
Ten Years Ago
Sept. 13, 2007
    Global weather woes and strong worldwide demand for wheat rocked the wheat market the last couple weeks, pushing prices to contract highs. Last week’s rally pushed local cash prices above the elusive $6 mark, hitting an all-time high of $7.35 upon closing Sept. 11.
    Thanks to the installation of a new WeatherBug tracking station, the community will soon have access to instantaneous, accurate weather reports straight from Holyoke. This new tracking station will be mounted on top of the auditorium at Holyoke High School.
    Megan Colglazier, an HHS sophomore and 10-year member of the Challengers 4-H Club, competed in the dance division on Pepsi Stage at the 2007 Colorado State Fair. She earned champion and blue ribbon honors for a cheer dance with poms, titled “Dragon Mix,” in the senior division of the competition held Sept. 1.
    Under the direction of baseball lover Jerry Sonnenberg, two area teens are participating in a fall wood-bat league out of Sterling. Holyoke senior Austin Tharp and Haxtun senior Kendall Kroeger will be competing with the team that also includes five Sterling players and three Akron players.
    
Twenty-Five Years Ago
Sept. 17, 1992
    Since the ultimate goal of attendance is to practice responsibility, HHS students who have excellent attendance will be rewarded with a responsibility award day at the end of each semester. The award day is included in the new attendance procedures implemented at the high school this year.
    Martin and Patti Bremmer of Venango, Nebraska, have established a new business known as Bremmer Organic Commodities. During the past year, they have been experimenting with greenhouse production of herbs and limited field plots. During 1993 they plan to try single-acre plots of sage, baby’s breath, red clover, fenugreek and black caraway.
    District wildlife manager Jack Wieland noted last week that 280 channel catfish were placed in the Lions Club Fishin’ Hole near Holyoke on Sept. 3 by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
    With only two gymnastics meets to her credit, Holyoke’s Jessica Koch has already qualified for the Colorado High School Activities Association state gymnastics meet. Koch, a freshman at HHS, is practicing with the Sterling High School gymnastics team and competes at meets under the HHS designation as a one-person team.
    
Fifty Years Ago
Sept. 14, 1967
    Officers of the Holyoke Auto and Hardware Company announced this week the purchase of Holyoke Auto Parts (NAPA) from two Denver businessmen. It is the intention of the corporation to combine the parts business with a complete line of hardware. During the past weekend, the auto parts store, formerly located one-half block west of the Sterling Savings and Loan building, was moved to a location just across the street to the building formerly occupied by Holyoke Bakery. The bakery has been moved to the rear of the building to make room for Holyoke’s newest business.
    Holyoke’s official low Tuesday night was 38 degrees, and colder readings were reported in some parts of the county. This was “too close for comfort” for many farmers with fields of corn and sorghum crops that would be damaged by frost.
    Walter Hinck of Holyoke has been hired by the town council as a member of the Holyoke Police Department. Others on the force are Willard Bolen, chief, Paul Plummer, Fred Kropp and Walter Wheatley.
    
Seventy-Five Years Ago
Sept. 17, 1942
    Present indications are that in 1943, industrial alcohol distillers will use 136,000,000 bushels of grain, saving over a billion pounds of sugar for human consumption, reports Dewey J. Harman, chairman of the Colorado USDA war board.
    Phillips County’s probably last fair — until the allied fighting men win the war — closed Saturday night, a success in every way except financially. Good crowds attended the program both of the last two days, but the entertainment was too costly for the receipts to equal the expense.
    Among the organizations which have taken measures toward defense is the Holyoke Grade School, which yesterday practiced its first air raid drill.