Peekin’ into the past

Five Years Ago — May 23, 2013
    Holyoke Elementary School teacher Mary Austin is retiring at the end of the school year after 20 years of teaching that spanned 44 years.
    Almost a year to the day after breaking ground 2 miles west of Holyoke, construction for the new Seaboard Foods feed manufacturing facility has been completed.
    Starting June 3, the weight room at Holyoke High School will be open to the public through Aug. 7. The public will be allowed in from 5-6:30 a.m., and the weight room will be reserved strictly for student use from 6:30-8 a.m. New equipment was purchased for the weight room in February, and new mirrors and audio/video equipment were added recently as well.
    
Ten Years Ago — May 22, 2008
    HHS sophomore Kyle Carper turned in his personal best performance of 22 feet, 4.5 inches in the long jump to claim the gold medal in the 2A State Track & Field Championships in Pueblo on May 16.
    After setting up recycling bins in the school at the beginning of the school year, the HHS Student Leadership class has collected 4,500 bottles and 280 cans over the year.
    Rita Kleve’s book on the Old Testament family tree, “The Cast of Characters as Recorded in the Old Testament,” was recently published by CrossHouse Publishing of Garland, Texas. It is intended to be an educational reference guide for Bible study.
    Phillips County Healthcare Foundation has obtained a new trade name, Melissa Memorial Hospital Foundation, effective July 1.
    
Twenty-Five Years Ago — May 27, 1993
    One year ago, a small, unoccupied house with fading paint and a sagging porch stood on the northeast corner lot of Campbell Avenue and Emerson Street. Today, that lot is home to Holyoke’s newest commercial building — a handsome tile-roofed two-story brick structure called Holyoke Office Building. Open house festivities are scheduled for May 29.
    A standalone automated database system for the Phillips County Enhanced 911 Service may be part of the County’s plan sooner than expected, thanks to a proposal by Nine One One Inc. for this county to serve as a test site. By serving as a test site, the County’s cost for the automated database system would be close to half the cost of what the system would otherwise cost.
    The local Colorado Plains Home Care program staff will be moving out of its current office space in mid-June, taking them from Apartment No. 23 at SunSet View Homes to Apartment No. 22, a recently expanded unit located just 30 feet southeast of the present home health care site.
    
Fifty Years Ago — May 23, 1968
    The well irrigation area of Phillips County, along with Chase County and part of Perkins County, Nebraska, is rapidly becoming a major sugar beet growing area. Officials of The Great Western Sugar Company announced this week that slightly more than 5,100 acres of sugar beets were planted in Phillips County this spring. These beets are on 52 different farms and are being raised by some 25 growers.
    The Phillips County commissioners have announced that Furry Street along the south side of the Holyoke ballpark will be closed to parking at all times. The street terminates in a dead end at the southeast corner of the ballpark. During the ball season, there is a great deal of congestion in that block of Furry Street and little space in which cars may be turned around.
    The Department of Agriculture has announced increases in minimum wages for sugar beet field workers, effective May 20 in all sugar beet producing areas. The department has increased the minimum wage rate from $1.40 to $1.50 per hour. The new piecework rates include $12 per acre for trimming and $9 an acre for weeding.
    
Seventy-Five Years Ago — May 27, 1943
    Purchase of the electric lines of Sedgwick County Electric Company by Highline Electric Association of Holyoke was completed this week. Included in the company’s holdings were 40 miles of lines serving 356 patrons in Ovid and Sedgwick and rural patrons in the communities surrounding the two towns.
    George Rober, county Extension agent, was elected coordinator of the Phillips County civilian defense council at a meeting at the courthouse last night when Harold Soderlund from the state office of the civilian defense council explained the setup for a county organization.
    Otto Fulscher, Holyoke Hereford breeder, last week sold his prized 14-month-old bull calf, Compressed Prince 2nd, for $15,000 to B.S. Oles of Kingsville, Maryland. This is the highest price ever received by Fulscher for any animal, and it is claimed to be the highest price ever obtained for an animal of that age.