As construction is set to begin on the final stage of Ray Gibbon Drive later this year or early next, it’s interesting to find some of the first mentions of the road in issues of the St. Albert Gazette from the 1980s. One of the first speed bumps in the road’s development came in September 1980, when a 3,000-signature petition came to city council asking for the question of the road to be put to voters in a plebiscite during the coming October’s municipal election. The decision to do so was made a couple of weeks later, although wrangling over the actual questions would continue for some time.
Meanwhile, that same month, the mayor’s paycheque increased from $23,512 a year to $30,000. Aldermen at the time supported the change, noting that the average household income in St. Albert in 1980 was $37,650. The man to receive that hefty paycheque was also determined in September 1980, as Richard Fowler was acclaimed mayor when nominations closed.
September 1980 also saw St. Albert hold its first Terry Fox Run in hopes of continuing the efforts Fox made for cancer research in the country. The run is still an annual tradition in the city today.
September 1982 saw the city’s new civic building officially get its new name — St. Albert Place — and a new logo. The decision was made by the St. Albert Cultural Centre Society’s board of directors, who had 19 options to choose from, and approved by city council.
Meanwhile, a local boy made it to the big show that same month. Dave Shipanoff made his debut pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays in an exhibition game against the Montreal Expos.
“With precise timing,” the Sept. 8, 1983, Gazette notes, the St. Albert public school district No. 3 appointed new superintendent Jack Nearing just as the academic year was about to begin. Nearing would later have a school named after him in the Deer Ridge subdivision.
Education, it seems, is always a hot topic in the Gazette. Take, for example, the front-page story in the Sept. 21, 1983, edition. It chronicled a public meeting held by the Protestant school board where 300 angry parents turned out to voice concerns over the decision not to hire three more teachers to alleviate overcrowding. After the meeting, the board did sign new contracts with five teachers it had planned to lay off, as well as a sixth to teach a class of disabled students at Keenooshayo School.
September 1984 saw a federal election contested, and incumbent Conservative MP Peter Elzinga handily won the riding of Pembina, which included St. Albert, with 43,846 of a possible 62,105 votes (70 per cent). The NDP’s Greg Daruda was second and Liberal Bob Russell was third.
Meanwhile, it was a message of love that was spread later that month as Pope John Paul II celebrated an open air mass in Namao, just outside St. Albert, on Sept. 16, 1984. The Pope drew quite a crowd, as 10,000 people were camping out in anticipation of the mass the night before, and the final attendance was estimated at about 200,000. His Holiness emphasized “the common origin of man” during the homily, and asked God “to fill the hearts of all men with love, justice and equality.”
But the very next week came news that may have saddened His Holiness, as the Gazette reported that St. Albert businesses were “reeling” from the decision by several major retailers in Edmonton to open for shopping on Sundays, making it almost inevitable that local businesses would have to follow suit.
Religion was front and centre in September 1985 as the battle raged on over a local Sikh student who was barred from wearing a kirpan, a six-inch ceremonial knife, at Paul Kane High School. Members of the Edmonton Sikh community vowed to continue the fight no matter the cost, as the Protestant school board “were taking it as a joke,” one Sikh leader alleged.
Another legal battle came to a conclusion that month as local lawyer Walter Shandro was sentenced to five years in jail for funnelling more than $200,000 of client funds into his own pockets.
A year later, the scales of justice were tipped again, this time seemingly against a young St. Albert man travelling home from Syria. David Ammar was passing through customs when officials found several vials of hash oil among his belongings. His brother told the Gazette the sealed package was given to Ammar by an acquaintance in Lebanon and was supposed to contain candy. At the time, it was feared it could take up to a year before a trial could start.
September 1986 also saw a byelection in the federal riding of Pembina, and the action spilled into the streets of St. Albert one Saturday during the local farmers’ market. NDP leader Ed Broadbent was in town to campaign on behalf of candidate Ivor Dent when he was confronted by western separatist candidate Doug Christie who, by the Gazette’s account, unleashed a barrage of questions without giving Broadbent a chance to answer. That byelection also featured Gazette publisher Ernie Jamison running as an independent and PC candidate Walter Van De Walle, the eventual winner.
A politician was again in the spotlight in September 1987, albeit a local one this time. Ald. George Kuschminder pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges on Sept. 8 and handed in his resignation the same day. He was later sentenced to 45 days in jail and a year of probation. The charges stemmed a June incident involving a teenaged girl, the details of which were protected by a publication ban.
Pope John Paul returned to Namao in September 1987, giving blessings to about 300 men, women and children on the tarmac of the nearby Canadian Forces Base before returning to Rome at the end of a North American tour.
There was a mess to clean up in the St. Albert area in September 1988, as the Gazette learned that month that more than 5,500 kilograms of polychlorinated byphenols (PCBs) were being stored near Canadian Forces Base Namao. Officials, though, said they were safe because of the way they were contained.
In September 1989, the topic on the tips of tongues in St. Albert was the proposed new goods and services tax being proposed by the federal government. Small Business and Tourism Minister Tom Hockin came to St. Albert to talk to local businesspeople about it early that month, but many left unconvinced of the benefits. Many homebuilders groused that it would be first-time homebuyers who would be hardest hit.
