A look back
Every Friday we feature Valley history taken from our back issues.
Five years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
A 13-year-old Comox student placed second out of 60 at the Vancouver Island Regional Spelling Bee in Victoria.
Seth Johnson, an eighth-grader at École Aspen Park Middle School, was successful in 12 rounds against Grade 4-8 students from all over Vancouver Island, before he was beaten by 12-year-old Victoria Lan of Victoria.
"I love to read, so that probably helps, and my Mom is really good at English, so she helped me a lot," said Johnson.
Ten years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Three Comox Valley elementary schools were on the chopping block in order to stave off declining enrolment.
Comox Valley School District assistant superintendent Bryan Morgan, who led a district enrolment task force, Black Creek, Union Bay and Tsolum elementary schools were targeted for closure.
He projected the Valley, which had about 9,000 students at the time, would lose about 1,000 students within four years.
"It's a heavier impact than I thought," said school board chair Elizabeth Shannon. "We'll do some consultation with the communities affected, then we'll have to make a decision."
Fifteen years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Courtenay Rotarians showed the community how quickly they can leap into action and help others in need.
A single mom in Courtenay accidentally left her purse on a local transit bus. Vivian Gauvin quickly realized her mistake and recovered her purse, but the $600 she planned to pay her rent with was gone.
Worried she would be evicted, she pleaded for the return of the money in the Comox Valley Record.
While there was no reply from the thief, Courtenay Rotarians leapt into action when they read the story.
"The Rotary International motto for this year is 'show Rotary cares,' and in that spirit, we proposed to our club that we raise the money," said Rotarian Ian Parsons. "In 10 minutes, we had $600."
Twenty years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
A group in Campbell River was pushing the Province to fund the completion of the Inland Island Highway.
Called Inland Island Highway Now Society, the group launched an Island-wide contest to count how many entrances encroach upon the highway from Campbell River to Goldstream Park.
"These sideroads are as good as death traps," said the society's Jim Elliott. "Every time a car enters or exits the Island Highway, the potential is there for an accident."
Twenty five years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
BC Hydro defended its service record in Courtenay after complaints around delayed reactions to requests for service and burned-out street lights in the city.
Mayor George Cochrane outlined the complaints to BC Hydro's regional manager Fred Medley.
Medley said delivery of service happened on an average of seven days after the request, with the maximum being 15 days and the minimum being four.
He also said he was concerned to hear about burned-out streetlights, and that complaints in their office may have been accumulating and not being passed on quickly enough.
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