32 YEARS AGO (1989): East met West at the 108 Restaurant as the resort’s new Japanese owners hosted a dinner for 65 area residents. In attendance were the new owner’s son Soshi Sen and his wife, Princess Masako, Mayor Donna Barnett resort manager Terry Young and 108 Property Owners Association president Al Richmond. Gifts were exchanged including a donation of Japanese books to Barnett and a hand-carved walking stick to Sen made by Wilf Stevenson. Sen made a brief speech in which he reiterated his family’s wish to preserve the resort and how much he appreciated the natural beauty of the Cariboo.
24 YEARS AGO (1997): A million-dollar expansion to Red Coach Inn finally got underway. Phase one of the expansion saw ground being broken for a recreation facility that was to contain a pool, a sauna, whirlpool, exercise room and change rooms. Red Coach Inn manager Peter Bono said he was excited to see a plan he’d worked on for eight years come to fruition. The project was delayed slightly by changes made to the plan to accommodate public interest in using the pool which increased the size and budget of the project.
16 YEARS AGO (2005): The Varga family got a new member in the form of Eggo, an orphaned sandhill crane chick. Little Eggo became separated from his nest on June 14 and was found by Leslie Varga floundering around her Bridge Creek pasture. After extensively searching for his nest, Leslie and her children Benjamin, 5, and Chloe, 3. decided to take in the foundling, named for his downy yellow feathers, and fatten him up. The family’s goal was to get him strong enough to be released back into the wild in the fall.
8 YEARS AGO (2013): Amateur rookie boxer Brandon Balbirnie notched his first win with a TKO at Kelowna’s Night of Action at Sunplex Sports Arena. A member of the Zeus Fight Science club Balbirnie, 13, was able to score a technical knockout against his opponent Vincenzo ‘The Hyena’ Lawrence-Bertucci in the second round. He was overjoyed at his win as he’d only joined boxing to be a friend’s workout partner. His coach Kelly Ricketts said he was extremely proud of the young boxer, even noting that Balbirnie felt confident enough to take a 20-minute nap before the fight.
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