Let’s take a step back to 1958 in this Delta Optimist throwback.
The attached photo shows an upset Mary Pybus doing a sit-down protest of the splitting of her farm thanks to the building of Deas Thruway (Highway 99) through her Crescent Island property without compensation.
"Mary Pybus' sit-down protest began when the contractors started digging the 200-foot right-of-way through the Pybus farm Monday afternoon though no agreement had been reached between the highways department and the Pybuses," an Aug. 7, 1958 article in the Optimist noted.
She won her fight with the provincial highways department for an agreement that included being compensated for the asking price of her land and the province moving her home, barns and machinery.
"She left her chair Wednesday after an undertaking had been obtained."
