Lions celebrate the big 5-0: It’s far better to give than to receive, the bible says. Few know that better than Dale Thomson. For half a century, he’s been giving as a member of the Shawville Lions Club.
On Saturday, Thomson was the sole charter member of the club as it celebrated its 50th anniversary with about 130 guests.

It was Nov. 17, 1949 when 40 men got together at Pine Lodge to form the Shawville Lions Club. J.H. Argue was president; his vice-presidents were James Gordon, W. Anderson and John Hitz. A 22-year-old Thomson was elected as a director.

“We did alot of Christmas baskets, helped a lot of fire victims because there was so little government social assistance,” says Thomson.

Today, the club is focusing its efforts on the campaign to bring a CT scan to Pontiac Community Hospital.

Amazing Joseph wows crowd, Elvis sighting reported at PHS: It’s fitting that the first-ever community musical performed here was based on the bible story Joseph – a story about dreams.
For years, Joan Conrod dreamed of using local talent to produce “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.”

On sabbatical from Pontiac High School this year, Conrod watched her dream become a reality last week when Joseph was performed to four sellout shows. About 720 took in the musical from Wednesday to Saturday.

The showstopper performance was former Pontiac High School principal Ellard Perry as Pharoah doing his rendition of Elvis. Perry brought the house down in “Song of the King,” when he recounts his dreams to Joseph, who by this time, has become known as a dream interpreter in jail.