News-Advertiser newsroom in the 1970s. Typewriters and sweater vests. Image Credit: Mel Rothenburger:

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Fifty years in Kamloops – time flies when you’re having fun

Aug 1, 2020 | 6:55 AM

THE SUMMER OF 1970 was a busy time, especially on Monday, Aug. 3. There wasn’t yet a B.C. Day stat holiday; it was the beginning of a new work week. The sky was clear, the temperature hit 32 degrees (technically, 84, since we were still not fully into metric).

The Beatles had only recently broken up even though their Let It Be album was number one on the charts. Anti-Vietnam protests raged. Midnight Cowboy had won the Oscar for best picture. The GenXers were taking over from the baby boomers.

On that day, Aug. 3, I began work at the Kamloops News-Advertiser. It published three times a week then. Fifty years ago. Five decades. Eighteen thousand, 256 days.

I was 26. I moved into a tiny house near McDonald Park, a short walk to work at the newspaper offices on Tranquille Road.

Forty years later I was still working at the Kamloops Daily News, with no inkling the paper didn’t have long to survive. I went up to the second floor where the bound files were kept and found a front-page announcement from July 6, 1970, about my appointment as senior reporter and city editor.

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It said I had a degree in Journalism from the University of Washington in Seattle. Actually, I hadn’t finished my degree yet; that came later.

When I arrived, Kamloops was a busy place, growing in all directions without an official community plan. There were multiple water and sewer systems, and several fire departments. Amalgamation was the hot issue. New municipalities were springing up all over the place, and Kamloops had its eye on Valleyview for annexation. But Valleyview was already its own village, and wasn’t a willing partner.

Westsyde narrowly turned down a vote on incorporation but Dufferin and Brocklehurst became municipalities. Further out, Dallas, Rayleigh and Heffley Creek were growing. None of them got along with each other. (It wasn’t until May 1, 1973 that the provincial government stepped in and amalgamated them all).

The mayor of Kamloops was Peter Wing, the first Canadian mayor of Chinese descent. The MLA was Phil Gaglardi, the first provincial cabinet minister of Italian descent. The MP was Len Marchand, the first indigenous federal MP and cabinet minister.

Trudeaumania had swept across the country and, three days after starting my job at the News-Advertiser, I and photographer Lou Armstrong drove to the Cariboo to follow Pierre Trudeau on part of his B.C. tour.

My name was spelled wrong in the byline of the story but it was corrected when my first column appeared Aug. 24, filling in for the vacationing Norm MacDonald. I launched a regular weekly column on Jan. 6, 1971. The topic was local politics. “…1971 could be another unproductive year of bickering among council members,” I wrote.

Politics wasn’t the only thing to write about, though. Overall population of greater Kamloops stood at a little over 40,000 and the town was experiencing one of the highest growth rates in Canada. The Weyerhaeuser pulp mill, LaFarge Cement plant, Balco Forest Products and Gulf Oil Refinery were major employers. Industrial land was in big demand. Four major copper mines were being considered in the area.

Cariboo College opened that year, 1970. The bypass and Peterson Creek Bridge were four years away. We were a pulp town, a long way from becoming the Tournament Capital of anything.

Thompson Park Mall opened that year, and several other malls were being planned. Logan Lake was being built. Subdivisions were beginning to creep up the hill into what is now Sahali. Batchelor Hills was a couple of years away from development.

Reporters and photographers came and went, often using the paper as a stepping stone to bigger papers in bigger markets, sometimes moving on to other lines of work. Names like Jack Knox, Neil MacDonald, Betty Lumsden, Tony Parker, Mike Rimmer, Susan Duncan, Ben Kuzma, Gord Kurenoff, Rosetta Canatta, Cathy Harvey, Dave Obee and so many more.

In 2020, the town marches on, continuing to look to the future. It’s a much prettier place now. The threat of a huge open-pit mine was averted but there’s other unfinished business. A performing arts centre remains the next big thing. The Valleyview bypass is still just a report on a shelf. Competition between cars and people continues.

Forty years after starting work at the paper, I pondered what Kamloops has given me and concluded, everything. My wife Syd, my kids, their kids and a rewarding career. A chance for involvement in local politics and many other aspects of community life. That remains an accurate summary.

Fifty years. I’ve never once regretted my decision to become a citizen of Kamloops and the Thompson-Nicola. I have much to be thankful for.

AROUND THE TOWN: Enjoyed a lengthy coffee chat recently with ex-radio newsman Bob Price, both of us as keenly interested in current events as ever (he now writes for The Orca). We reached agreement that the news game in Kamloops isn’t what it used to be…. Kamloops’ own Daz the Punk continues to progress with his music career. The local musician says he’s moved past Hip Hop into some new genres and, at least for now, is back to using the name he was born with, Darrell Sharp…. While doing some research this week on governors-general, I came across mention of the fact that Prince Andrew was once invited to be Canada’s gov-gen. He turned it down; I’d say we dodged a bullet on that one…. I was sad to learn this week of the recent passing of Helen McLean, whose late husband Neil played the part of Billy Miner as a civic ambassador for many years. Helen was a fine person.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.