50 years ago
After The Northwest Herald had published a photo of a mallard duck captured in Unity, suggesting spring was nigh, Mike Gerein contacted the paper to tell them the duck had been in the area all along. It apparently over-wintered at the Sifto Salt Plant where warm water from the salt shaft keeps a portion of the adjacent lake open all year.
A Handel 4-H team won the District 24 Curling Bonspiel in Kerrobert. Team members were Dolores Zimmer, skip; Sharlene Perlinger, third; Louise Graver, second; and Betty Toner and Susan Zimmer taking turns as lead.
In a Wilkie Farmer Days hockey game between farmers and the Wilkie Chamber of Commerce, the chamber won the trophy.
20 years ago
Terry Baker of Denzil was elected president and chair of the board of directors for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Previously, Baker had served three years on the board, and six years as a delegate representing west central Saskatchewan.
Local MLAs Jason Dearborn and Randy Weekes were outraged at the provincial budget, with Weekes calling it a “full-scale-out attack on rural Saskatchewan.” The budget included the loss of 500 government jobs, all in rural areas; a one per cent hike on the PST and talk of rural hospital closures and downgrades.
For a customer appreciation day, Moody’s Equipment in Unity sponsored a trip to the Nokia Brier in Saskatoon, with some 50 farmers and curling enthusiasts boarding the chartered bus.
