Looking back at Yarmouth County history
Fire had caused considerable damage at the Killam Brothers property on Water Street in Yarmouth. The blaze destroyed an oil truck, the rear part of the main office, a garage and the top part of a coal shed. The fire happened in the early-morning hours of a Friday and there were no reports of injuries. The cause was unknown, the Vanguard said, but apparently the fire had started near a small oil truck in a building in back of the main business office. Business owner Robert Killam was upset over the loss of four paintings of former company ships, which had hung in the family business for generations. “Business was moving later in the day as cleanup operations began,” the Vanguard reported.
In his annual report, Irving Pink, chairman of the board of trustees of the Yarmouth Regional Hospital, expressed his frustration over the lack of movement on a much-needed expansion of the hospital. Plans for the project reportedly had been put on hold. Citing “government inaction” as the reason for the delay, Pink emphasized the need to keep pushing for improved facilities. “We must continue our efforts during
1970 to see that the hospital is expanded to meet the needs of the people ... we must not let the setbacks and the frustration we have suffered to date deter us in any way.”
A local community group was suggesting the Town of Yarmouth consider implementing a municipal garbage collection service. Hubert Brush, spokesman for the Yarmouth South Renewal Association, had spoken on the matter at the February meeting of Yarmouth town council. He recommended the town enter into a contract with the three local garbage collectors so that the service would be available to all town residents. Not everyone could afford to pay for private garbage collection, which was contributing to the problem of illegal dumping in the area, the Vanguard reported.
The initial response to a marketing program for the new ferry service that would connect Yarmouth and Portland, Maine, had gone well beyond expectations, said a spokesman for Lion Ferry, the company that would run the service. The new vessel – Prince of Fundy – was about four months away from beginning its sailing schedule between Yarmouth and Portland. Over 6,000 reservations for the new service had been booked, the Lion Ferry official said. Tour operators from as far away as California had booked space on the ship, he said.
The proposed amalgamation of Yarmouth’s school boards was a big issue in the winter of 1980 and it was the subject of a number of front-page stories in the Vanguard. The latest development was town council’s decision – by a vote of 4-2 – against proceeding with an amalgamation agreement. Council, did, however, support a motion calling for a plebiscite to be held on the matter. Meanwhile, some of the people in favour of amalgamation had formed a committee in hopes of gathering more support for amalgamation. The group was formed at a public meeting held two days after town council’s vote.
In the 1980 federal election – held Feb. 18 – the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau rebounded from their defeat in 1979 to win a majority, capturing 147 seats. The Progressive Conservatives led by Joe Clark – whose minority government had lost a confidence vote in late ’79, triggering another election – won 103 seats this time and the NDP under Ed Broadbent took 32. In South West Nova,
Coline Campbell regained the seat for the Liberals, defeating PC incumbent Charles Haliburton, who had defeated Campbell in 1979.
The Yarmouth County Historical Society received a national heritage award from the Canadian Parks Service. One of 10 such awards presented on Heritage Day 1990, the award was designed to honour and promote excellence in heritage preservation. Eric Ruff, the museum’s curator at the time, and John Goudey, vice-president of the historical society, were in Ottawa to accept the award from Lucien Bouchard, the federal environment minister.
Clara Harris, a well-known longtime restaurateur, had been chosen by the Yarmouth Chamber of Commerce as its citizen of the year for 1990. A dinner in her honour was planned for early March. (She and her husband, Charlie, owned and operated Harris’ Seafood Restaurant for more than four decades.)