70 Years Ago
July 14, 1948
– The Gibbard Furniture Shops announced it would be increasing wages so that its employees would make 10 cents per hour above the code rate established by the Industrial Standards Act of Ontario for the furniture industry. The company’s wages had increased 80 per cent since reorganization in 1941, considerably outpacing cost of living increases by about 25 per cent.
Management sought to improve working conditions by installing a state-of-the-art dust collection system that directs dust and shavings directly to the boilers to be used for heating.
– Liberal candidate J. Donald Baxter, of Bloomfield, actually gained four votes in a recount requested by his competitor, Progressive Conservative James Hepburn regarding provincial election results in Prince Edward-Lennox. Baxter was deemed elected and Justice W.S. Lane ordered Hepburn to pay the cost of the recount.
– Napanee police were alerted about the theft of $964.24 from the local Dominion grocery store, but it was more of a misunderstanding than a crime. Later that day, the money was found in tact in the shopping bag of a police corporal’s wife. She immediately notified police and the store upon finding the money. An assistant at the store had wrapped it to be taken to the bank and another clerk inadvertently placed it with the customer’s groceries.
40 Years Ago
July 12, 1978
– Upon receipt of a petition containing more than 650 names, the Lennox and Addington County Board of Education reversed a decision to eliminate home economics and industrial arts programs in elementary schools. The board also planned to do a feasibility study to determine if classes from Napanee-area schools could use facilities at NDSS for those two programs.
– A panel examining conditions at 15 schools in Lennox and Addington County was sharply critical of the condition of The Prince Charles School. Among its criticisms were flammables stored in the furnace room, ceilings and walls requiring painting and repair, dirty stained washrooms, and dirty drinking fountains. The panel indicated work was required at all but one school visited.
– The Napanee Lions Club proposed to build a bandshell to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The facility would be built in Springside Park and face the CNR overpass. Local businesses would donate materials and labour would be provided by Quinte Detention Centre inmates. Council approved the proposal, but maintained the right to approve final design specifications for the facility.