Enjoy these snapshots of articles written in past issues of the Nisqually Valley News from 45, 35, 25 and 15 years ago, respectively.
A Look Back at This Week,
45 Years Ago
- The second serious fire in two weeks struck the Yelm area Jan. 4, 1980, when a large barn at the Henry Dragt farm on Martin Road was destroyed. Stored in the barn were 25 to 30 tons of alfalfa hay. All of the animals, minus one cat normally at the farm, escaped without injury.
- Dorothy E. Harris, 39, of Yelm, was injured in a one-car accident on Highway 510 about 6 miles west of Yelm. State troopers indicated her auto was travelling west when it failed to make a curve, ran off the road and struck a tree.
- Yelm residents commented on the taste and smell of water coming from their taps as being offensive to both taste and smell. Don Barnard, water superintendent, was at a loss to explain the problem and hurriedly shipped samples taken at several locations for analysis. He was informed that the problem was excess chlorine in the water, placed there in minute quantities for purification.
- Judy Rae, 34, of Tumwater, and Mike Crump, 12, of Yelm, received serious injuries Jan. 8, 1980, in an accident while being towed in the snow. The pair was riding in an old auto hood being towed behind a pickup on a gravel road off of Lawrence Lake Road when the hood hit an object in the road, tossing the riders out.
A Look Back at This Week,
35 Years Ago
- A record-setting day of rain created mudslides and road closures in Thurston, Pierce and Lewis counties Jan. 9, 1990. Four inches of rain in 24 hours forced the release of flood waters from Alder Lake. Pierce County officials called a state of emergency due to flood conditions. Overflowing water from the Deschutes River also closed the bridge on Vail Road.
- The metro council wrote Jan. 4, 1990, what many Yelm residents hoped would be one of the final chapters in the saga of an 18-month sludge war. The council adopted a schedule to receive bids for the sale of metro’s 2,118 acres in the Bald Hills area. Metro originally planned to apply for sludge disposal permits for the site within two years of its purchase.
- Tony Carlson, of Yelm, bowled a perfect 300 series with 12 strikes in a row Jan. 3, 1990, at Prairie Lanes in Yelm. Carlson, who was employed by Prairie Lanes, had been bowling for 16 years. He called the 300 series the “ultimate in bowling.”
- Yelm police and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office teamed up on four arrests at one home Jan. 3, 1990. Three suspects were arrested for first-degree burglary, while a fourth was arrested for first-degree possession of stolen property.
A Look Back at This Week,
25 Years Ago
- Yelm’s Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses hoped to break ground for its new 4,360-square-foot parish outside of Yelm as early as February 2000. The congregation applied for a special use permit from Thurston County to build the church on several acres south of Yelm on Vail Road.
- Marcella Parker, of Rainier, gave her daughter Chris, who suffered from diabetes, one of her kidneys. Chris Gomez, 31, was diagnosed with diabetes at age 11.
- To free up crowded jails in Yelm and Rainier, Thurston County approved a proposal for a new jail as part of a regional law and justice center in Olympia. The law and justice center was estimated to cost $80 million and required a public vote for a bond.
- Yelm resident John L. Squally was killed just before midnight Jan. 8, 2000, when his truck collided with an oncoming pickup on state Route 510.
A Look Back at This Week,
15 Years Ago
- Freezing temperatures didn’t stop nearly 50 Clearwood residents from plunging into Clear Lake New Year’s Day. The annual event brought the highest number of participants and spectators since its start in the late 1980s.
- Only 13 days after the grand memorial service for the four fallen Lakewood police officers, Pierce County Deputy Kent Mundell was called to Eatonville to handle a domestic issue and was killed. Thousands attended Mundell’s memorial service at the Tacoma Dome Jan. 5, 2010.
- An elderly Tenino couple went missing for more than 24 hours before police located them near Wynoochee Lake in Grays Harbor County. Henry Morgan, 92, and his wife, Lavonne, 89, went missing Jan. 5, 2010.
- The Yelm High School girls basketball team defeated Eatonville 50-49 Jan. 5, 2010, on a buzzer-beating 10-foot jumper from senior post Katelyn Smith.
