80 Years Ago
February 22, 1939
– Representatives from a company looking to establish a silk manufacturing plant in Napanee met unfavourable response in their bid to secure $75,000 in share capital. The representatives said their factory would employ 33 hands during its first six months, then increase to 50 employees by the end fo the first year. The single-year output was anticipate to be 207,000 yard that year.
– Napanee council members took part in a heated debate about a special committee formed to negotiate with Lennox and Addington County and other lower-tier municipalities over equalized assessment. Mayor Arthur Hughson criticized reeve John Daly for not communicating offers to the town because of his own political ambitions at the county level. Others, including former mayor Art Kimmerly, accused Hughson of lying and suggested he should let his councillors do their jobs. Councillors were reminded that Minister of Municipal Affairs Eric Cross was urging the town to settle its dispute with the county out of court.
– In three years, the province’s education department closed 117 rural schools that had less than 10 students, education minister Dr. L.J. Simpson reported. Simpson said the average cost to educate a student in Ontario was $45.79 a year, but in those schools the cost jumped to $96.56. It was felt students could be better educated in larger schools with more facilities, at a lesser cost.
30 Years Ago
February 22, 1989
– Richmond Township clerk-treasurer Jim Kimmett tendered his resignation after council rejected his plan to raise salaries for all municipal employees and to create deputy clerk and deputy tax collector positions. Deputy reeve Tom Hogeboom said the township “stood to lose a good man,” but said council felt it couldn’t meet the salary demand created by the new positions. Hogeboom said while council did accept Kimmett’s resignation, he believed there was still room to negotiate further.
– Celanese Canada Inc. announced plans to lay off 108 workers at its textile filament operation in Millhaven. The move came just three months after employees were rewarded with $1,000 bonuses for helping the company hit record profit levels. A company spokesperson said the layoffs were due to an inability to secure a sufficient quantity of raw materials to continue the operation.
– The Lennox and Addington County Board of Education was facing a Feb.28 deadline to remove containers containing known carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) stored in the basement of Ernestown Secondary School for several years.