Enjoy these snapshots of articles written in past issues of the Nisqually Valley News from 45, 35, 25 and 15 years ago, respectively.
A Look Back at This Week, 45 Years Ago
• Two separate auto accidents claimed the lives of two drivers on Highway 507 on Oct. 2, 1978. In the morning, an auto carrying three Yelm High School students crashed head-on into a pickup and camper. In the afternoon, a man was ejected from his speeding vehicle after colliding with a gravel embankment.
• John Thomas, a Scout in Troop 268, Yelm, sponsored by the Yelm Lions Club, earned the New World Conservation Award. The award, made by the World Wildlife Fund of Washington D.C., recognizes achievement in environmental improvement, natural resource conservation and understanding of world conservation problems.
• Following a 54-6 loss by the Yelm High Football football team to Longview on Sept. 29, 1978, a wanted ad was posted in the Oct. 5 edition of the Nisqually Valley News asking for “school spirited young men to help build a football team.” The ad requested “fleet-footed individuals or broad-beamed, muscled, mean characters who hate the world.”
• Two horses died on Bald Hill Road about a mile east of Yelm when struck by a Jeep on Sept. 29, 1978. The driver of the vehicle was traveling toward Yelm when four horses were standing in the road. He was unable to stop in time to keep from hitting the animals and killed two of them.
A Look Back at This Week, 35 Years Ago
• The Washington State Department of Licensing selected Thurston County for the pilot implementation project regarding the conversion of all licensing agent and subagent offices to a computerized system.
• At the Oct. 5, 1988, Yelm Town Council meeting, water Superintendent Don Barnard reported a mysterious problem that was troubling the controls on the town’s water tank. The tank had a tendency to overflow, usually in the middle of the night, in a haphazard sequence.
• Livestock Protection Association established new laws in the state of Washington. As of the fall of 1988, it was a criminal offense to neglect the welfare of any animal and a person could be subject to large fines and possible imprisonment.
• The Yelm High School football team fell short against Washington High School, 20-7, in a game played in the Tacoma Dome. The Tornados recorded as many turnovers (seven) as points in the loss.
A Look Back at This Week, 25 Years Ago
• A Yelm couple made headlines after welcoming quadruplets in August of 1998. The first was born naturally, while the other three were born by a Cesarean section three days later. After being told that a C-section was a sure thing for all four babies, their doctor said that the natural birth of the first baby may have been the first-ever natural birth of a quadruplet.
• Shortly after the U.S. Embassy bombings took the lives of 11 Americans in Africa, Nisqually Valley News employee Debbie Baird, as well as five others, traveled to Kampala, Uganda, to preach the gospel. Baird said that only one day after the group had left Africa, two grenades were set off in downtown Kampala.
• Salon Careers College opened in Yelm and began accepting students in October of 1998. The school was owned by Claudette Hill and located in her home in the Nisqually Pines. Hill ran a beauty salon in Tacoma for three years after earning a combined Ph.D./N.D. in natural health and naturopathy.
• Thurston County’s first conviction of an internet predator took place on Sept. 29, 1998, when Superior Court Judge Gary Tabor convicted Clearwood resident Ronald Dean Stellman, 44, of one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, nine counts of dealings in child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
A Look Back at This Week, 15 Years Ago
• Former Roy Mayor Kim Eldridge was charged with first-degree theft nearly a year after being booted as Roy’s mayor. She allegedly stole more than $11,000 from the McKenna Meadows Homeowners Association between February 2003 and September 2007.
• Scott Petersen, from the Reptile Zoo in Monroe, brought a variety of reptiles to McKenna Elementary on Sept. 26, 2008. Some children squealed with delight, and others were so frightened they left the assembly in tears. Petersen’s mission was to lessen the fear of reptiles.
• Yelm High School honored the 50th anniversary of its 1958 State B basketball championship team. The team was the first — and at the time only — basketball team in Yelm history to win a state title.
• Yelm High School’s 26-member jazz line team was invited to perform at the Seattle Seahawks game against the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 12, 2008, at Qwest Field. YHS was one of six schools invited to perform with the Seahawks cheerleaders at halftime.
