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
- A long-burning fire destroyed the former Yelm Community Church Dec. 29, 1979, despite the best efforts of all Yelm volunteer firemen. A fire broke through the roof of the old wooden structure. Yelm firemen sent all available equipment to the fire and requested assistance from Rainier firemen. The roof was already beginning to cave in when firemen arrived. Six firemen received injuries in fighting the blaze.
- Joe and Judy Baker of Yelm were seriously injured Dec. 30, 1979, when their car collided with a former school bus near Berry Valley Road on Highway 510. Both received head and internal injuries, and Mrs. Baker was thought to have a broken ankle. The bus was returning from the skating rink and had an estimated 45 youngsters aboard, but none were seriously injured.
- A Fort Lewis soldier and his family out for a sight-seeing trip stopped an apparent suicide attempt on the military reservation Dec. 27, 1979. Private James Belcher of the 75th Rangers stopped his drive to assist a woman laying underneath a compact car a short distance off Highway 510. She was laying under her auto with the motor running and her face near the exhaust. Belcher contacted Yelm police, who assisted the county in transferring the woman to an Olympia hospital.
- The Yelm boys wrestling team defeated Ridgefield, R.A. Long and Tenino to win a tournament at the Yelm fieldhouse.
A Look Back at This Week,
35 Years Ago
- Debbie Iverson, a 20-year Yelm resident, opened a new day care at 407 103rd Ave. in Yelm called Yelm Day Care Center. The center could care for 23 children, and once remodeling of the basement was completed, it would house another 34 children.
- Plans for a new fire station in the old Lacamas School divided Pierce County firefighters and commissioners. Pierce County Fire District 17 commissioners negotiated with the Bethel School District for the property on 320th Street South and Eighth Avenue South. The school district was planning to sell the property for $103,000.
- Local law enforcement officers made five drug-related arrests over the New Year’s holiday. The main incident was when Yelm police and Thurston County officers arrested four Yelm residents in a drug bust Dec. 30, 1989.
- Conrad W. Velez, 22, 111 Queensview, was arrested for taking a motor vehicle without permission Dec. 31, 1989. Velez was arrested by Yelm police at Edwards and Stevens Street. He was involved in an accident that caused about $3,000 in damage to the vehicle and over $200 to street signs.
A Look Back at This Week,
25 Years Ago
- Thurston County residents outside city limits were warned that, beginning this month, the county is implementing a new regulation requiring that property owners with up to four junked vehicles must fence or screen those vehicles from public view. Property with more than five junked vehicles on them were defined as a junkyard, which required a special permit.
- To meet ends in the town’s hard-hit 2000 budget, the Town of Rainier hiked local garbage and water fees, increased property taxes and instituted a town sewage rate. The Town Council increased local property taxes by 12% to the maximum allowed under state law.
- When Bob Stanton, owner of Bob’s Sports Cards Locker in Yelm, started selling Pokémon cards last year, he thought it was just a passing fad and didn’t take it very seriously. “I didn’t take it seriously for about six months. But I was very, very wrong,” he said.
- The Rainier High School girls basketball team picked up a third-place finish in its annual Christmas tournament by dominating Darrington 58-21.
A Look Back at This Week,
15 Years Ago
- Fire crews saved a family’s home in the 15000 block of Lindsay Road in Lake Lawrence Christmas Eve, 2009, after their stove caught fire. The family’s wood stove and chimney caught fire, burning areas around the stove and into the attic. The damage was contained to one area.
- Santa Claus and his many friends showed up to deliver toys for an adopted family in Yelm during South Sound Harley Owners Group’s yearly toy delivery. Twenty-one riders were accompanied by a truck and trailer hauling gifts, and, of course, Santa.
- Pierce County Deputy Walter “Kent” Mundell died Dec. 28, 2009, from gunshot wounds he sustained during a domestic violence call near Eatonville. Mundell, 44, and Sgt. Nick Hausner, 43, were shot Dec. 21 while responding to a complaint of an unwanted person on Tanwax Court.
- Rod Barker, manager of Yelm Safeway, won Manager of the Year for the district.
