Let’s take a step back in time and check out what was happening in the pages of the Delta Optimist in the summer of 1982.
The lead story in the Aug. 11 edition was 120 Delta teachers facing layoff notices as the school board had to cut an additional $1.2 million under the restraint program recently implemented by the Social Credit government. Board chair Caroline Porter said, “This is going to have a horrendous affect in the school district.” One solution explored was having a salary rollback.
Another story was Delta MLA Walter Davidson writing a “strong letter” to Municipal Affairs Minister Bill Vander Zalm, calling on him to halt a proposed regional landfill at Burns Bog.
Another story in that edition covered the Tsawwassen Business Association also writing to the provincial government expressing strong opposition to the plan. TBA member Ken Bjorge said there was enough garbage already being dumped into the bog with only Delta and Vancouver using it.
Another item in the edition was about Delta Mayor Ernie Burnett telling the TBA that the municipality is having to borrow money due to a number of businesses that haven’t yet paid their 1982 property tax bills. The previous year the municipality started legal proceedings against a number of businesses.
“I don’t think it is fair to taxpayers who have paid their taxes to let those other taxpayers off the hook,” he said.
Another story covered a detailed report on mosquito control in Delta that left council members convinced there was little which could be done about the increased number of mosquitos in Tsawwassen “except to use insect repellent and a quick swat.”
That edition of the Optimist also had a feature story about two members of the Royal Air Force’s maintenance crew who took part in the Falkland Island War paying a visit to Tsawwassen to see relatives. They said they found the peacefulness of Tsawwassen a pleasant change.
The sports section included a lengthy piece on Delta Cablevision capturing the gold medal in the Division 1 Lacrosse Provincial Championship.
Some of the ads that ran in the paper included Video World at the Tsawwassen Town Centre Mall, Boston Pizza and Cask Surf restaurants, both on 56th Street and Matterhorn Pastries and Overwaitea in Ladner. Richmond Toyota was advertising free Disneyland trips with the purchase of a vehicle, while the Reef in Point Roberts proclaimed they had the “coldest cheapest beer” with Canadian dollars taken at par.
