70 Years Ago
December 15, 1948
–The Napanee Board of Education voted to notify council that it was prepared to turn over the East Ward School to allow it to be used to entice a new industry to locate its offices there. W.E. Roy, the chairman of the board’s special building committee said two rooms in the new West Ward School could be available for use early in the new year to accommodate students and speed up the process.
– Canada officially added its 10th province as Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and Arthur J. Walsh officially signed a document to bring Newfoundland into Confederation Dec. 11. There were rounds of applause and scores of flash bulbs as the parties signed the document on the historic ink stand from 1864 Quebec conference.
– A Canadian National Railways worker clipped a branch from a strawberry plant along the lines in Napanee that had several blossoms on it. It was the second unusual December crop brought to the Beaver’s attention as a local woman cut several cabbages from her garden. She reported it was the second crop of the year after she had previously cut cabbages from her plants in the fall.
40 Years Ago
December 13, 1978
– Newly elected Napanee Mayor Glenn Herrington said his priority for the coming year was fiscal restraint in all the town’s departments. He also said work on the Canadian National Railways underpass at Centre Street and continued development of the industrial park were important focuses for 1979.
– School bus driver Ernie Jackson ended a 29-year career of accident-free routes in Lennox and Addington and Frontenac counties with his final run into North Addington Education Centre. His son, Calvin, recorded the run on a video camera. Principal William Rowsome presented the driver a plaque, while student Rhonda Meeks presented him an alarm clock. Jackson’s dedication to his job was well documented. On winter mornings, he drove his route with a four-wheeler to check out conditions and plow turnaround areas before taking the bus out to start picking up children at 7:30 a.m.
– Napanee council was presented plans of a proposed $1.25-million 52-unit high rise condominium with a seven- and eight-storey design bounded by the Napanee River and Palace Road. It would include a swimming pool, a recreation room, and an indoor parking structure. Proponent Douglas Topping was asked to submit his design to the town’s planning board for an engineering review.
– Napanee changed its committee structure from two committees — police and executive — to three: finance and administration, property, and personnel.