35 years ago: Province readying for April election

Sixteen DRHS students were off to France, escorted by history teacher Clyne Boodoosingh. Their trip included planned visits to the Louvre, Versailles and Chartres Cathedral.

With the provincial election less than two weeks away, provincial parties were in high gear. For the first time, the NDP had a full slate of candidates in a Nova Scotia election.

Progressive Conservative leader John Buchanan met with students at DRHS and said his party was concerned that non-residents owned large tracts of the province. He promised to establish a review board to oversee further sales.

Buchanan also promised students that if elected his government was committed to assuming the cost of prescription drugs for all Nova Scotians, and providing free dental care for children, people on social assistance, low income workers and seniors.

The new ferry to serve Petite Passage was christened ‘Joshua Slocum’ by the wife of Digby MLA Joe Casey.

At the Little Cinema was ‘Five Fingers of Death’, an early kung fu movies starring Lo Lieh. 50 years ago March 19, 1959 – Well known local fisherman Reg Hazelton was fitting out his newly purchased vessel ‘Frank and Kathleen’ as a fish dragger after first renaming it the ‘Olwen’.

Linemen from the phone company and Digby County Power Board were busy repairing damage to transmission lines after a snow and rain storm battered the area, bring wind gusts in excess of 80 miles per hour. Firemen were warning people away from fallen power lines on town streets and with telephones out of order, firefighters were spending the night in the fire hall in case of an alarm.

In the harbour, most of the 20 scallop boats at the wharf were damaged in the storm and one, the ‘Bobby Boy’ owned by Arthur Halliday, was a complete loss.

The fire department’s Ice Carnival was the best ever, reported the Courier. A thousand spectators watched the figure skaters who performed under the direction of Evelyn Cameron. Carnival queen was Carol Morehouse.

Arnie McCallum led with five goals as the Digby Ravens crushed St. Anne’s College 12-5 and took the first two games in the best-of-seven series for the Western Valley Intermediate Hockey League championship. ‘The Big Country’ was playing at the Capitol Theatre with stars Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons and Charlton Heston. 60 years ago March 17, 1949 – Annapolis Valley Affiliated Board of Trade, under president H.M. Warne of Digby, was urging creation of railcar ferry service between Digby and Saint John to overcome a bottleneck in the Valley’s rail traffic.

In Digby, the Board of Trade was urging public support for the province’s ‘Made in Nova Scotia Week’, which asked consumers to favour locally made products.

The Courier lent its support to ‘Made in Nova Scotia Week’ by running photos of Nova Scotia businesses. Digby businesses to be highlighted were Snow Bros., Frank Larche, Maritime Fish and Digby Dairy, but the support extended to others like Berwick Fruit Products, M.W. Graves in Bridgetown, Mersey Pulp and Paper, L.E. Shaw’s brickmaking plant, Cosmos Imperial Mills in Yarmouth. Robb Engineering in Yarmouth, the Caledonia Coal Mine in Glace Bay, and Canadian Canners in Middleton.

At the Capitol was the musical ‘One Sunday Afternoon’, with stars Dennis Morgan, Dorothy Malone and Don DeFore.