Looking back: Feb. 8, 2017

Posted

85 years ago (1932)

After weeks of sunshine, 4 and a half inches of snow falls on Port Townsend. It’s the first three-day accumulation of snow here since 1917, when 5 and a half inches arrived.

“The ability of the Port Angeles Teddies and the Port Townsend Redskins to put the spectators on the edges of their seats in their athletic contests was again ably demonstrated last Friday evening in the local gymnasium when the two teams met in one of the most important peninsula games of the present hoop season.” Port Townsend defeats Port Angeles, 18-17.

70 years ago (1947)

Port Townsend School District 50 pays off the remaining $42,500 of the debt incurred to expand the high school and build the gym in 1941. The district is now debt free for the first time since 1891.

“The Fort Townsend army airfield was deeded to Jefferson County this week by the War Assets Administration.”

50 years ago (1967)

Commercial salmon fishing should not be banned from Discovery Bay, according to a Port Townsend boat owner. Some area residents had suggested that commercial fishing was harming the bay, but commercial boat owners say otherwise. Brinnon receives 4.35 inches of rain in a 48-hour period.

20 years ago (1997)

“An extremely unstable slope threatening homes on Thorndyke and South Point roads should be slapped with a building moratorium, the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners decided Monday.”

About 100 sport and commercial fishermen, resort owners, and representatives of tourist and conservation organizations – concerned about fishery allocations – gathered at Point Hudson for a meeting of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Washington State Ferries officials say they are surprised to learn there is interest in a high-speed passenger ferry service that would connect Port Townsend and Seattle.

Dan Rough, Port Townsend High School Class of 1994, sets a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s basketball record by making 60 consecutive free throws. He’s a junior at Whitman College in Walla Walla.

Brinnon now has local dial-up access to the Internet.

(Compiled by Patrick J. Sullivan. Source: Leader Collection; Jefferson County Historical Society Museum and Research Center, 13692 Airport Cutoff Road, Port Townsend; Jefferson County Historical Society, 379-6673, jchsmuseum.org; jchswa.org, the online records search site)