80 Years Ago
March 29, 1939
– A committee of board members from Trinity and Grace United churches and trustees representing the former St. Andrew’s United Church met to discuss the future of the St. Andrew’s building. The consensus opinion was that the building could become a community centre for youth. Supervision and ongoing maintenance would be concerns, however. The committee voted to canvass the public to see if there would be support for the proposal.
– J.R. Coombs, a district supervisor with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, drafted a compromise to end legal disputes over tax equalization between Napanee and other Lennox and Addington municipalities. The compromise would see Napanee’s share of assessment increased by $400,000, rather than by almost $900,000 as had been proposed. Each of the municipalities would have to ratify the plan for it to be put into place.
– A Napanee man pled guilty to being an unlawful keeper of a second-hand or junk store in Napanee and of purchasing good from minors without the written consent of their parents. It was alleged he bought good stolen from boats. He was fined $10 and court costs worth $4.75.
30 Years Ago
March 22, 1989
– Napanee and Richmond Township struck a deal that would see the town take over an 850-acre parcel of township land, nearly doubling the geographical size of the town. The parcel of land was south of Hwy 401 and west of Hwy 41 along an extension of Richmond Blvd to County Rd. 1. For the land, Richmond would receive the equivalent of its lost tax revenue over a five-year period, which was expected to be less than $10,000 in total. The agreement was subject to approval from the provincial government.
-Goodyear officials expected as many as 5,000 job seekers to visit NDSS on April 1 as Canada Employment Centre staff received applications for the final 400 production jobs at the new plant.The company made arrangements to use parking lots at nearby schools and churches to help with the overflow of traffic. Goodyear’s human resources manager Phil Brown said successful candidates could expect to go through 18-20 hours of interviews and tests. The hiring was expected to take place until the fall.
– Ontario Hydro announced plans to re-fire its fourth generator by December, bringing the largest oil-fired hydro plant in Canada to full capacity. The plant was closed in 1982 due to low demand and high oil prices. It reopened in 1987 with two of the 550-megawatt generators started. Starting the fourth generator was to create 35 full-time jobs and 14 temporary maintenance positions.