Mar. 24, 1993

25 Years Ago

Twelve youths rediscover Pontiac: Francine Beaudet has only been in Pontiac for seven months. She moved here from New Brunswick to join her new husband.
One of the first things she did was join Place aux Jeunes. A Place for Youth offers young people the opportunity to explore the Pontiac and discover the wealth of possibilities available to them. Beaudet got to know and love the Pontiac and she got a job out of the deal.
“I’ve set down roots here,” she says.
Other members at the meeting: France Soucie, Eric Rochon, Jean Pierre Romain, Paul Froment, Sonia Bélanger, Chantal Belleau, Michel Laporte, Tracey Stewart, Lisa Boisvert, Sophie Gagnon and Lucie Herault.
Pontiac MNA Robert Middlemiss was present at the group’s final session at the Cushing Lodge in Ladysmith. Middlemiss echoed the sentiments of Ms. Beaudet.
“It’s easy to develop roots in Pontiac,” he said, adding, “if we can attract new people and keep our youth here, the diversity of backgrounds will strengthen the economy.”

Women entering the Lions’ den: The Bryson Lions Club and likely many other Lions Clubs internationally are in an uproar over the latest developments in the Lions International Organization.
The Lions have recently become a co-ed club and are encouraging women to join their ranks. In the larger urban centres, this works fine. In rural areas however, it is not that simple.
In Pontiac, the Bryson Lions appear to have the dubious honour of being guinea pigs in this new trend in the service club industry.
Bryson Lion Ed Gutoskie was won over by the whole concept. He invited his daughter along with a friend of hers and a third woman to join his club.Two of the women are already Lionettes and want to remain so.
Most men who join a service club have wives who get involved in the club’s female counterpart. For the most part, both organizations work in parallel.

Mar. 28, 1968

50 Years Ago

Bill Kearnan’s Bantams win Arnprior
Tournament, also beat Templeton 10-0: Shawville Minor hockey fans may well be proud of the Shawville Bantams who coached by Bill Kearnan won the Arnprior tournament held on Saturday.
In the first game they tied Camp Petawawa 2-2 but Shawville won because they scored the first goal. Charles Taylor and Garry Russell scored for Shawville.
In the second game Shawville trounced West Carleton 8-3. Goal getters for Shawville were Charles Taylor 2, Vern Brownlee, Garry Russell, Desi Allen 2 and one each to Chris Cahill and Glen Maheral.
For the finals, Shawville overran Deep River 7-3. Garry Russell got 3 and credited with 1 each were Charles Taylor and Michael Finnigan, Desi Allen and Chris Cahill.
Storm knocks out electricity: Two reduction transformers at the Hydro-Quebec Wyman power station failed Saturday night, plunging Quyon, Wyman, Beech Grove, Bristol and Caldwell into non-electrical living for more than twenty four hours.
It was past midnight Sunday before emergency equipment brought from St. Jerome to replace the inoperative parts at Wyman was in use. During the time when lights were off, water pumps failed to function, furnaces went out, stoves, heaters and all electric appliances were useless. There was a period of an hour when even some of the telephones in Wyman and Shawville did not operate because of blown line fuses.

Mar. 25, 1943

75 Years Ago

Local News: On Wednesday night last week, the Yarm pick-up team, the Polar Bears, defeated the speedy Shawville Six in sixty minutes of very fast hockey in an exhibition match on the local ice, the score being 6 to 5.
It was an all-out game from the starting whistle as both camps put everything they had into the contest.
Flashing the form and speed which earned them many victories, the Shawville six were unable to gain advantage over the solid Yarm boys who were in the lead practically all the way.
Yarm outscored the home team 3 to 2 in the first period and from then on kept the command. Just when it appeared the game would go into overtime, Ebert Richardson, the last minute of the regular playing time, scored his third goal of the regular playing time.
The lineups: Shawville – Goal, Riley; defense Graham, Knox; centre, R. McCredie; wings, Rennick, Gibson; subs, Morrison, H. McCredie and Corrigan.
Yarm – Goal, S. Hodgins; defense J. Hodgins, A. Kilgour; centre, Homes; wings, E. Richardson, G. Kilgour; subs, O. Belsher, D. Richardson, J. Currie-Mills and Armstrong.
Round the clock air raids mean no rest for Germany. Every day since Feb. 24 has seen Allied airmen over targets in Germany and German-occupied territory hour after hour, round the clock, comments the New York Times.
The Germans, who initiated large-scale bombing of big cities, were being blasted in the greatest air assault in history.

Mar. 28, 1918

100 Years Ago

Local News: The latest cable received from the British Ministry of Food regarding conditions of food in Europe make it clear that a drastic reduction in the proposed rations for Britain may be expected by the end of this month. The supply of bacon and fats is low and increased imports are urgently needed. The Italian need is the greatest of all. The people of Italy have been on bread and sugar rations for some time and severe restrictions have been placed on their consumption of meat.
Tree tapping began in some sugar bushes in the vicinity last week, during the balmy spell which followed the “17”. Robins and blackbirds are in evidence daily and two or three parties report having seen groundhogs along the roadside.
Mr. George McCord, who disposed of his farm at North Clarendon some time ago, moved to Shawville last week and has taken up residence in the west end of the village. Mr. McCord, who has always dealt somewhat in horseflesh, will have more time to devote to that line of business, since being relieved of farming responsibilities.

Mar. 30, 1893

125 Years Ago

Local news: Mr. Wm. Sheppard is about to open a blacksmith shop at his father’s place, Creemorne P.O, Thorne.
Holy week services in St. Paul’s Church are being held this week.
Several loud peals of thunder were heard here on Friday evening last. The weather sages say the phenomenon is an indication of cold weather.
A gang of men from Booth’s concern went down by train on Friday morning.
Work on Caldwell’s big hotel is progressing well these days. The building is nearly ready for the plasterers.
A concert was held last Wednesday in No. 10 School House, Leslie. The proceeds of which go towards repairing school house. The programme was very good and was well carried out, the amount taken at the door was good considering the small charge for admission.
The advantage of being possessed of diminutive stature was fully exemplified in a locality not many miles from Shawville a few days ago. It seems Mac has a sheep which took a notion to explore the sunken mysteries of a well which is about 30 feet in depth. The inquisitive animal reached the goal of its ambition without the least difficulty but to return to the surface of mother earth was a task that apparently it had not calculated on. The animal was definitely in “the soup”.
The timely arrival of John Thomas, Thomas P. and Henry B. prevented a colt and a calf from sharing the fate of their woolly companion.
Tom P. thought of going down but on considering the narrowness of the well and his own individual length, he saw the impossibility of getting his hands on the imprisoned animal if he made the attempt. The solution of the difficulty rested now with John T., who possessing the advantage referred to above, was equal to the task in hand. The little man was gently lowered down with a ropy by the others til he reaches the sheep and in a few minutes both he and the animal were safely on top.
A number of men from the Coulonge shanties passed through these parts on their way home.
A case of body snatching is reported from Arnprior. The body is said to be that of a man named Spence who died in Ottawa a few months ago. From what we can learn, a stranger called at the station at Arnprior a few nights ago and made arrangements to have a corpse conveyed from Arnprior to Ottawa by the midnight train. The corpse was duly conveyed but when friends visited the grave of Spence afterwards it was found empty. It seems that friends of the deceased had some trouble about the distribution of the estate.