40 years ago
Canada was facing the possibility of another lengthy postal strike. The previous one had been three years earlier in November 1975, and postal workers were willing to do it again.
Not only did Yellowknifers operate their own emergency post office, but they did so at a profit. At the time that was unheard of...almost un-Canadian.
Tom Dornbos had originally passed the idea along to the Yellowknifer's editor three years earlier and when local businesses started panicking because their stocks were drying up, an emergency meeting was called at the Yellowknifer office.
The service operated for two weeks with active participation by local businesses, the territorial government and a substantial part of the local population.
After the strike ended and mail service was restarted, some of the remaining parcels were sent through the system but much of it was delivered personally by Yellowknife territorial councillor Dave Nickerson. When the final figures were tallied, the operation had shown a profit of $7.59, which was turned over to the Legion's Poppy fund.
30 years ago
About 80 people had to be evacuated from the Yellowknife airport terminal as the RCMP searched for explosives in a piece of luggage.
But after searching the 32-year old B.C. man, who told an airport security guard that he was carrying a bomb, RCMP failed to find any explosives.
The man was charged under the Air Carrier Security Regulations Act and was set to appear in territorial court.
It was the second time in two months that a person had made a joke about bombs while boarding a flight from Yellowknife.
RCMP Sgt. Jim Howie did not know why this kept happening, as there were warnings posted at the airport advising the public that those types of comments were against the law.
20 years ago
Joe McCaw and Tim Sewell both claimed to make the best chicken wings in the North.
To settle the debate they organized a “Wing Off” at a local pub. They invited friends and colleagues, got some sponsors and prizes, enlisted some judges and picked a worthy cause for the proceeds.
The chicken wing cook-off was a huge success. Organizers sold 150 tickets.
In all Sewell and McCaw prepared about 2,500 wings.
The final result was a close one. McCaw defeated Sewell by the narrowest of margins – five votes to four – and was declared king of the wings. But the Learning Centre was the real winner as the event raised $4,500 for that organization.
10 years ago
Yellowknife shattered a 33-year-old snowfall record on Oct. 29 as 21 centimetres of snow fell on the city.
The previous single-day snow record for October also occurred on the 29th of the month when 16 cm fell on Oct. 29, 1975.
The average snowfall for the month of October was 23 cm.