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
- Kenneth Grover Sr., of Taholah, picked up the state checkers championship for the seventh time in a row in Yelm Sept. 2, 1979. Harry Koff of Seattle took second place. Contests were held in the Carlson Scout Cabin.
- The Yelm school board adopted its operating budget for the year, and the total expenditure was expected to top $5 million before the school year ended the following August.
- Three people suffered minor injuries in a single-vehicle accident near Yelm Sept. 3, 1979. The vehicle failed to make the curve near the Don Anderson farm, ran off the road, and clipped the power pole off at the base.
- Happy Skipa Snip, a Palomino gelding horse owned by Gladys Doidge of Rainier, completed a successful show season. The team, which included riders Tami Sigears and Pattie Burns, brought home high point awards from Salem, Oregon; Langley, British Columbia; and at the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver, British Columbia.
A Look Back at This Week,
35 Years Ago
- Yelm High School’s new stadium and classrooms moved another step forward as support concrete pillars and foundation walls were poured. The fence around the field was installed with the field to be used for football games in the 1989 season.
- Members of the newly formed Clean Prairie Association met to form its steering committee and to address what it saw as the most pressing threat to the area: Seattle Metro’s sludge-spraying proposal for its property on Bald Hills Road near Yelm.
- The Little Hustlers 4-H club won first place in club herd and third place in herdsmanship at the Thurston County Fair and placed first in herdsmanship at the Southwest Washington Fair.
- Stacy Roe, of Yelm, won the hot dog-eating contest between Everett Giants and Bellingham Mariners games at the Everett ballpark Aug. 29. Roe won two round-trip airline tickets on TWA to anywhere in the U.S., $400 spending money and a year’s supply of Pepsi and hot dogs.
A Look Back at This Week,
25 Years Ago
- Roy City Council members were stunned when the city received a bill for $21,233 for dispatch services from Pierce County’s Law Enforcement Support Agency, known as LESA. The LESA bill was more than double the amount the city paid for the same service during the previous year.
- Some residents and visitors to Nisqually Pines, a gated community of about 2,000 people, claimed the security firm that patrolled the development got out of hand. One man whose son lived in the residence claimed Capital Security Enforcement wrongfully detained his vehicle inside the community after he refused to allow a security officer to copy information off of his driver’s license. When the man refused, he was told by security officers at the gate that he could not enter the community. He responded by driving through the gate and into the Pines.
- Rachel Willemsen and Becki Riches of the Yelm FFA Chapter were finalists in the National Proficiency Award program. Willemsen was a national finalist in equine science-placement, while Riches was a national finalist in floriculture.
- The Labor Day version of the Roy Pioneer Rodeo galloped into town for three days of ridin’ and ropin’ fun. Winners included the local team-roping duo of Brad Atkins and Jeff Ketter, who had their calf roped and tied in a mere 5.07 seconds.
A Look Back at This Week,
15 Years Ago
- The Rainier School Board and Superintendent Dennis Friedrich likely violated the Freedom of Information Act and Open Public Meetings Act by hiding public documents and taking board action in secret. After denying that former Rainier High School Principal Jeff Weeks was pressured to resign, meeting notes signed by Friedrich and School Board member Jerry Sprouffske showed that Friedrich told Weeks that the meeting was to deliver “unfortunate news” and that the district would exercise its option of not renewing Weeks’ contract.
- Kimberly Woods-Loyd, of Roy, was surprised to find claw marks on her daughter’s horse, Honey, the same day she heard a horse was attacked by a cougar three miles from her home.
- Thurston County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a malicious mischief call after someone allegedly poured gasoline on two vehicles and set them on fire.
- The City of Rainier broke ground on its $464,215 Minnesota Street overlay and enhancement project Aug. 31, 2009. Construction on the project was projected to last 45 days. The project was designed to improve traffic and pedestrian flow through a core street in Rainier, including repaving and widening Minnesota Street and adding sidewalks and landscaping.
