A look through the Sooke News Mirror archives.

October 22, 2008

Life lost in Sooke Harbour

Sooke RCMP and the coroner’s service are investigating a drowning incident which occurred October 18 at about 3 p.m.

The deceased is 61-year-old Victoria resident, William Thomas Wood.

Three men were boating and decided to explore an abandoned tugboat which has been in the harbour since last fall.

Two of the men climbed aboard, leaving Wood behind to keep their boat from drifting away.

Upon returning to their boat the the men found their friend, who was not wearing a life jacket, floating in the ocean. They pulled him from the water and tried CPR while returning to the Government wharf. Sooke Fire Department attended and continued first aid to no avail.

Wood was pronounced deceased at the scene. Foul play and alcohol are not suspected. An autopsy is pending.

October 20, 2004

Connector defeated, referendum recommended

Electors have turned down the District of Sooke’s parallel connector project through the alternate approval process, but could be headed to the polls on the issue.

One thousand forty nine elector response forms were submitted by the deadline and 23 of those were ruled ineligible.

Only 670 forms against were needed to prevent the project from moving forward.

Sooke Mayor Janet Evans says she plans to recommend the matter head to a referendum. She also supports putting Sooke’s Highway 14 upgrades project, which is connected to the connector, on the ballot.

Evans feels the connector project is needed to deal with traffic congestion on Sooke Road.

October 20, 1999

Long-term care plans in motion

A long-term care facility in Sooke may not be a very long time coming.

The CRD and the Sooke Lions-initiated Milt Gibson Memorial Housing Society (MGMHS) were working at purchasing property and, pending provincial funding, an announcement for a 50-bed long-term care facility might be made by Christmas, said regional director Diane Bernard.

“We’re in the final ties of it now,” she added. “We’re getting the land and I think the province is ready to move ahead.”

The MGMHS project manager Gilles Huizinga, however, said construction of the facility wouldn’t begin for another seven or eight months.

“We will need to finalize the engineering requirements, such as subdivision, rezoning, sewage, water systems, top-of-the-line sewer systems, road improvements and traffic studies,” he said. “We’re just embarking on that now.”

October 19, 1994

Office space could finance fire hall

Sooke Fire Protection District trustees are greeting with open arms a proposal to move the Capital Regional District’s Municipal Services Department into a planned new fire hall.

“I see it as being very positive and beneficial for all concerned,” fire district chairperson Maywell Wickheim said. The CRD is planning on moving the Langford-based department to Sooke late next year and has identified the proposed fire hall as the best of three possible locations for their offices.

Wickheim said if the plan goes ahead it could mean the proposed fire hall can be built without raising taxes to cover construction costs.

“There may be increases to the tax rate, as there are every year, because of an increase in services and a higher cost of providing these services, but there won’t be an increase in taxes to pay for the fire hall,” said Wickheim.

October 18, 1989

Harbour, basin plan slammed

A Sooke fisherman delivered a slashing attack on what he said was a “lack of local input” into the new Sooke Harbour and Basin Management Plan at a public meeting on the plan last week.

Wally Vowles charged that the plan was flawed because users had not been consulted even though they are the ones most severely affected.

Mr. Vowles ridiculed a statement in the introduction to the plan which said “private sector interests who have an interest in harbour development were canvassed to determine potential resource use demand as well as identify current and potential conflicts.”

Vowles lambasted the study as being put together by people with a “lack of expertise about the harbour and basin.”