70 Years Ago
April 21, 1948
– The Napanee Board of Education was required to find a way to transport 35 pupils from the Odessa area to its high school from September to December upon the closure of the Odessa Continuation School. After January, a newly elected high school board would be responsible for arrangements.
The board nominated members P.U. Laidley and D.P. Roblin to meet with two members of the Odessa school board and two schools inspectors to further discuss options for transportation.
– Premier George Drew called a snap election for June 7 to ask voters for a mandate to continue a proposed $600-million spending program, which dealt mostly with hydro expansion. The plan would see $191 million dedicated to standardizing cycle frequency across southern Ontario. It would also call for the construction of new hydro-electric and steam generating plants across the province.
– Canadian taxpayers were watching Ottawa to see if they would have a larger-than-normal refund cheque coming their way. Revenue minister James Joseph McCann was considering sending out refunds for 1943 and 1944 in one lump sum. The 1943 portion was originally to be returned in 1949 and the 1944 portion in 1950.
The government still had 200,000 of the 1,100,000 cheques for 1942 to deliver because it had difficulty locating the persons owed refunds.
40 Years Ago
April 19, 1978
– Napanee council elevated clerk Jack McNamee to a new clerk-administrator position. Councillors William Lofgren and Cummings Daverne voted against the move. Lofgren expressed doubt about the need to create a potentially costly position in a town Napanee’s size with stagnated growth.
Daverne said there should have been more discussion in open council about the need and cost for the position before an authorizing bylaw was passed. Mayor Lorne Smart told Daverne the discussion took place at a police and executive committee meeting.
– Howard Storey, a cabinet maker at Gibbard Furniture Shops, made 40 birdhouses that he hung about five feet above the ground, all near the Napanee Golf and Country Club. Storey was trying to attract bluebirds to the houses as he hadn’t seen one in the area in 40 years.
– A senior citizens’ steering committee asked the Napanee Legion and three service clubs to donate $2,000 to subsidize taxi transportation for the 1,250 senior citizens living in Napanee. Seniors would pay 75 cents a ride, rather than the $1.25 regular fare. The federal government offered equipment grants for the program if a continuing subsidy was offered.