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
- Yelm School Board members settled a contract with the district’s secretaries, awaited a decision on the school bus drivers’ contracts and started discussion with the faculty as wage negotiations occupied Superintendent Glen Nutter’s attention. The secretarial group reached a contract of $4.93 per hour.
- Steve Walton, a former top pitcher at Yelm High School, was set to receive his bachelor’s of science degree at the U.S. Naval Academy on May 30, 1979.
- The log yarder of Beano Games received an estimated $500 in damages when the dashboard area suddenly erupted into flames as the vehicle was traveling on Lawrence Lake Road.
- A new class leader record was made by Maxvales D. Emory Dulcie, a registered Guernsey cow, which placed first in milk production among all senior yearling heifers in milking in the country. Dulcie produced 20,080 pounds of milk and 685 pounds of fat in 305 days, after twice daily milkings.
A Look Back at This Week,
35 Years Ago
- Ten members of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle Council traveled to Yelm on May 2, 1989, to tour a 2,000-plus acre site on Bald Hill Road. The land was the site proposed by Metro for application of sludge as part of the agency’s Silviculture.
- Gerald Glen Dunnam was sworn in as Yelm’s new town marshal on May 2, 1989. Dunnam, 45, had the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis. He was slated to assume full-time duties July 1, when he officially was set to retire from the military.
- As Yelm Mayor Ron Lawton said he would probably not run for a second term, ex-Town Council member Mike Cooper announced his campaign for mayor. At the time, Cooper was employed by Yelm School District as a bus driver and had previously served on the Town Council from January 1985 to August 1987.
- Prairie Elementary second graders Jeff Thompson and Melina Morrow and Yelm Middle School sixth grader Karri Boyer received $3 for stories they wrote that were published in “Young Voices Magazine,” a Thurston County magazine for children’s creative work.
A Look Back at This Week,
25 Years Ago
- A 15-year-old Yelm High School freshman was charged with making a bomb threat at the school. The boy, who was not identified by police or prosecutors, was charged in connection with a bomb scare that caused the evacuation of the YHS campus on April 27, 1999. The suspect pleaded not guilty and was held on $3,500 bond.
- Following the April 20, 1999, mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, Monique Graham, a parent of a Yelm High School student, met with representatives of elected officials in Olympia to form a new group called PAVE, or Parents Advocating Violence Education.
- Students and teachers at McKenna Elementary School were stunned when they arrived at school and learned of the death of special education instructor Harriet “Sherri” McKnight. McKnight had been working in her classroom the previous night when she suffered a stroke.
- Yelm baseball defeated White River and Washington to clinch a playoff berth and was set to face North Mason in an opening-round playoff game on May 8, 1999.
A Look Back at This Week,
15 Years Ago
- With state budgets submitted to the governor for approval, Yelm stood to receive funding for several projects, including the Yelm bypass, Longmire Park facilities and railroad connections. The state Legislature approved the transportation budget, allocating $11 million toward phase one of the Yelm bypass.
- Two starving horses were seized after they were left in a pen with little food and no water. The property owner, a 74-year-old woman, said she agreed to let a man keep the horses on her undeveloped property for several days but that she hadn’t seen him in several weeks.
- An unpleasant odor permeated Rainier Middle School, and school officials couldn’t find the source. Because some faculty and students had suffered mild allergic reactions, the district hired scientists to conduct air quality tests, which found nothing serious. School officials theorized that the ventilation system was pulling stale air from the attic into the main building.
- Prairie Elementary came close to setting an unofficial puppet world record, as students made 444 puppets for their morning assembly. The Guinness record was 463. Prairie principal Debbie McLaren said the school may try again to set the world record next year.
