Every Friday we feature Valley history taken from our back issues.
Five years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Comox Valley Tourism (CVT) was preparing for the transition of destination marketing responsibilities to the Comox Valley Economic Development Society (CVEDS).
CVT learned earlier it would no longer receive public funding via CVEDS and that CVEDS would assume the mandate for destination marketing.
A proposal that CVT members would join a new destination marketing advisory committee through CVEDS was being negotiated, according to CVT executive director Mike McLaughlin.
"Our president, Marty Douglas, put it very well by saying this was being done reluctantly. However, the goal is to provide destination marketing as best we can, and we are fully prepared to co-operate with Economic Development," said McLaughlin.
Ten years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
The old blue ship called the Northern Lights V was finally towed out of its home temporary in the waters off Union Bay.
A Coast Guard spokesperson said the federal government paid for the ship to be towed to a temporary berth in Ladysmith after Coast Guard environmental response officials inspected her.
The ship was elderly and neglected when she was captured in the great drug bust of 1979 and declined steadily over the 12 years it sat off Baynes Sound Oysters south of Union Bay.
The Coast Guard spokesperson expected the ship to be sold for scrap or sunk to create an artificial reef.
Fifteen years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Comox Valley MLA Evelyn Gillespie launched a counterattack against the ongoing effort to oust her.
"This is unquestionably an abuse of the recall process," Gillespie told a news conference. "As I go around this community, I'm finding a tremendous level of support."
Cumberland resident Robert Saint Amour, who launched the recall campaign, said he wants to recall the MLA because she failed to help him gain custody of his infant daughter, who was apprehended by the Province while his former wife was in a mental hospital.
Gillespie said it would be inappropriate for an MLA to intervene in personal disputes with the Ministry of Children and Families.
Twenty years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
The computer craze was really catching on in the Comox Valley School District.
All junior and secondary schools had computer labs and at the elementary level, Arden, Royston and Hornby Island schools were pioneers in this new way of learning.
Once mostly seen in high school business classes, typing had been made an essential skill by the computer revolution.
"We want all the kids to be typing between 20 and 25 words per minute...it's like riding a bicycle. Once you can type 25 words per minute, you never forget how to type," said Royston Elementary teacher Keith Kroeker.
The kids were so eager to work in computer labs that discipline problems were almost non-existent, according to Kroeker.
Twenty five years ago this week in the Comox Valley Record:
The Ministry of Social Services and Housing started a campaign to seek out potential foster parents due to a desperate shortage of foster homes.
MSSH held a community meeting in Courtenay to take their message to the grassroots.
Courtenay social services director Michael Stewart said there are usually 80 to 90 children in foster care in the Comox Valley.
"Sometimes there's a mad scramble to find a home for a kid, but our foster parents are big-hearted," he said. "They'll usually take in another kid whether there's room or not."