Snippets from September 7 and 8 Lakeside Leaders
1977
School had started again. E.G. Wahlstrom School was the biggest in Slave Lake. Before the semester started 653 students had registered. It had 11 new teachers. C.J. Schurter Elementary school was expected to have 245 students. It had four new teachers. Roland Michener Secondary School was expected to have around the same number of students as the year before, around 300. It had a new principal, Barry Stangeland and three new teachers. Aaron Lehman was returned to teach biology after a sabbatical.
The Alberta Aspen Board plant was still closed. The newest idea in the saga of trying to get it back open was to start a local development co-op. The Chamber of Commerce hosted a meeting which 28 people attended to hear what this would take. At the end of the meeting, the Mitsue Development Co-op was formed, with an interim board of directors. The board had seven members. The following three were named in the article: Leo Jantzi (chair), Roger Halfhide (secretary), and Joe Mouallem (membership). Everyone at the meeting became a member.
David Banks, an Olympic swimming hopeful out of Ontario, was in Slave Lake visiting his brother, an RCMP officer. He helped the local swimmers. There were at least 30 of them doing laps in the outdoor pool. Banks agreed with the local sentiment that Slave Lake should have an indoor pool.
The RCMP report included mention of a bear spotted by a child near the “swinging bridge located behind the Burger Baron,” and the theft of an eight-track tape deck from Doug Baird’s car parked by Woodland Place.
Angie Seguin was the president of the Oil Wives Club of Slave Lake. An ad about its upcoming meeting said it was mainly a social club, as oilfield workers and their families often moved a lot. Anyone whose husband earned 85 per cent of his income from the oil industry could join.
The Canyon Creek School was to be moved from one Slave Lake school (Roland Michener) to another (C.J. Schurter).
The lumber industry was considered one of the most volatile in North America, with product demand and prices fluctuating wildly.
A rock festival was held at Widewater Ball Park. No details were mentioned, but at least one attendee was caught, charged, and convicted of illegal possession of alcohol.
Another item in the Court Report involved a man cutting wires from the radio, siren, and something called a ‘loud hailer’ in four RCMP cars parked at police headquarters in Slave Lake. A patrolling officer spotted the man in the fourth car at 4 a.m. The man was given the choice of paying an $800 fine or spending 22 days in jail. The convictions were for willfully causing damage to government property.
It appears people were stealing road signs, because they thought it was ‘fun.’ Alberta Transportation took out an ad explaining it was a crime with a $1,000 fine or time in jail. Also, that if people wanted a STOP sign, they could cut out the coupon in the ad and mail it in for a STOP sign poster.
A cup of coffee cost 30¢. Alberta Power Limited (APL) was using this to explain how much electricity different appliances used. With 30¢ of electricity, a colour TV would run for 24.04 hours, electric kettle four hours, and a clock radio would run for 1,202.4 hours, etc.
Slave Lake Jewelers opened in the Potpourri Mall and 18 local businesses took out an ad to congratulate Bob on opening his store.
Slave Lake pitcher Dale Gillis joined the Provost team for the Canadian National Midget Baseball finals. He brought home a bronze medal.
The sports section included a flag football league, a commercial hockey league organizational meeting, and the Winterhawks hockey schedule with the men’s Central Hockey League.
It was a chilly August. The average temperature in Slave Lake in August was 12.4°C. The average high was 17.8°C and the average low was 6.9°C. The hottest day was 23.1°C and the lowest was -0.3°C. However, there had been a good deal of rain (70.5 mm), so the plants were green and the fire danger was low. There were 242 hours of bright sunshine.
1994
Slave Lake had recently spent $3 million on downtown revitalization. However, some local business owners had noticed that at certain times of the month the park benches were mostly used by people drinking, doing drugs, or sleeping.
Two people from Slave Lake were appointed to the Keeweetinok Regional Health Board. However, one stepped down. In response, the Town of Slave Lake council decided that the community of Slave Lake would hold an election to place two people on the board. However, the minister of health who appointed the original members and Alberta Health was not willing to accept these people.
“People no the board are not there to represent towns,” said the Alberta Health communications director. “We’re trying to get away from people representing narrow interests.”
Paul Sinclair, from Wabasca, was interviewed by The Leader in response to an article in the Athabasca Advocate. The issue was the timeline for him needing to choose between an appointment on the Athabasca Health Unit board and the provincial mental health board.
The Slave Lake Native Friendship Centre was holding a four-day fall festival. Events included pageants from little maiden/little brave to kookum/mosom, a family dance, and a talent show.
Slave Lake was hosting a three-day RCMP conference. Fourteen detachment commanders were going to be involved in a community policing workshop, talking with the local Youth Justice Committee, community advisory committee and Victim Services.
The second annual Lesser Slave lake traditional powwow was to be at the Widewater Recreation Complex. Vina Auger, president of the Lesser Slave Lake Indigenous Society, organized the event. The first one a year earlier was to promote the United Nations’ International Year of Indigenous People. It was at the Sawridge Recreation area.
Two men and two women were caught stealing wire from an Alberta Power yard near Swan Hills. Slave Lake and High Prairie yards were also robbed.
Kindergarten was not mandatory. In the spring, the High Prairie School Division had decided to continue offering 400 hours of Kindergarten despite the provincial government only paying for 200. A recent court decision found that it was illegal for school boards to use tax-generated funding from mandatory classes (Grade 1 to 12) for non-mandatory courses. The school board was going to have to decide if it was going to charge parents, go down to 200 hours, or find non-tax income to make up the difference.
The Flattop Motorsports Association held a motocross competition on its track south of Slave Lake.
In baseball, the Slave Lake Cardinals were chosen to represent Alberta at the 1995 Canadian senior ball championship.
The Slave Lake SPCA was having trouble with two things. First people not tagging their pets for identification. Second, people driving to Canyon Creek, Smith or elsewhere in the Improvement District (I.D.) to dump their pets. The SPCA said that spaying and neutering were the only long-term solutions, but that it was going to have to start putting animals down. Adoption was going well, but there was only so many people who could take abandoned pets.
Over the summer, the Town of Slave Lake Community Services did a review of the various recreational programs for kids in the area. Over the summer, 672 kids in town and 124 in the I.D. took part in programs. This was a big jump from the year before. Outdoor programs were the most popular. These included Summer Splash, put on by the Northern Lights Aquatic Centre, a kids walleye tournament (with 46 kids), a vacation Bible school at the Alliance Church, and a swim camp in Canyon Creek. In total 11 agencies held events.
St. Mary of the Lake Catholic School (K to 11) had added Grade 11. It was expecting around 550 students, but was only built to hold 500. The year before it had 470.
E.G. Wahlstrom Elementary School had 408 students. The year before it had 427. Roland Michener was expecting around 600 students. It had 628 the year before.
Slave Lake Koinonia Christian Schools’ enrollment was also up (number not given). It had added another grade (unspecified).
2005
The Town of Slave Lake’s new tobacco bylaw was in effect, but the town didn’t have a bylaw officer to enforce it. An anti-smoking group Slave Lake Tobacco Coalition was keeping an eye on the situation.
