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
• A dispute between Rainier Mayor Jerry Bergman and the police department was resolved when the mayor submitted his resignation. Bergman had attempted to resign the previous month but later withdrew his letter. One of his last official acts as mayor was the reinstating of Marshal John MacDonald and his deputy Gordon Gross.
• Barnard’s Shoe and Saddle shop had an unwelcome visitor who departed with a new pair of boots and a hat. Entry was made by forcing the back door. The loss was estimated at $130.
• The days of wooden pipe, low pressure and non-existent water in McKenna were numbered as the water district prepared to construct an entire new system. A bid call was issued for pumps, storage tank and distribution lines to be installed in the community to replace the system.
• Richard Alan Ford, 25, Bellevue, walked away from a rented Cessna airplane following a crash in the Bald Hills area Feb. 7, 1980. Ford, on his way to Portland, flew into the side of a mountain at the 1,700-foot level in a forested area controlled by Weyerhaeuser Company. Ford lost his shoe, coat and facial hair in the fire.
A Look Back at This Week, 35 Years Ago
• According to unofficial election results from the Thurston County Auditor’s Office, the Yelm School District’s $6 million bond was not expected to pass. The bond amount was sought to raise funds for a new middle school and to complete classrooms at Fort Stevens Elementary as well as other maintenance and repair projects.
• Yelm High School senior Brian Sheetz qualified as a National Merit Scholar finalist. Merit Scholars were chosen for their grade point average, SAT test scores, and extracurricular activities. Sheetz had an accumulative 3.84 grade point average, and his SAT scores were 760 in the verbal section and 750 in math. His scores placed him in the top one-half percent of all students in the country.
• Jonathan Wingard, 23, Tacoma, was arrested by Thurston County deputies in Yelm and charged with physical domestic violence. The arrest was followed after a chase by Yelm police who stopped the pickup truck on VanTrump Street.
• From Feb. 10, 1990, to Feb. 12, 1990, Rainier resident Deanna Shah’s lips were on the hood of a 1980 Chevrolet Malibu in the annual “Kiss-a-Thon” for a chance to win the car. At 1:11 a.m., she unpuckered, losing her chance to win the Malibu after being one of two contestants left.
A Look Back at This Week, 25 Years Ago
• Yelm police arrested a Yelm High School freshman Feb. 15, 2000, in connection with four bomb threats made during the past week. The suspect, a 15-year-old girl, was booked into Thurston County Jail.
• For months, the Yelm Post Office had been the site of late-night parties, where unknown persons, possibly vagrants or teens, had been drinking, littering and defecating on the floor. Post office officials hoped for the outrageous behavior to stop or else they would lock the doors at night.
• Rainier’s Garth Gavette, with the Mountaineers’ season on the line, grabbed a huge steal against Ocosta with just eight seconds on the clock and sank a 3-point shot at the buzzer to send Rainier to the district tournament.
• The City of Roy was set to send its prisoners to the Puyallup city jail as part of an interlocal agreement passed by the Roy City Council Feb. 14, 2000.
A Look Back at This Week, 15 Years Ago
• Officials waited to see which way last-minute votes would swing the pendulum that was the Southeast Thurston Regional Fire Authority. The unofficial results showed the count was leading 22 votes in favor of forming the RFA. Between the three voting districts, the RFA needed a combined 50% plus one to pass.
• A mentally ill Yelm man was involuntarily committed Feb. 5, 2010, after he assaulted several police officers. The man, 30, resided in a transitional home in the 11500 block of Vail Road Southeast.
• A 1995 red Dodge pickup truck was stolen between 8 p.m. Feb. 2, 2010, and 8 p.m. Feb. 3, 2010, from a home in the 8400 block of Sumac Court in the Nisqually Pines. The estimated loss was $4,000.
• Yelm High School teacher Ed Bergh’s essay, “The Sage of Yelm,” was published in a winter 2009-10 issue of Columbia, a Northwest history magazine. Bergh, who had taught history for the past 35 years, said he worked on the story for about eight years.
