APRIL 1968
Dateline: -April 1, 1968
Nelson Junior Maple Leafs scored three times in less than three minutes early in the third period Saturday night to defeat Vancouver Grandview Steelers 8-6 and capture the British Columbia Junior B hockey championship. The win before 1,935 fans gave Nelson, unbeaten in 18 games this year, the best-of-three series 2-0. Nelson was paced by three goals by Jim Boyce and two by his line mate Bob Jeffs. Terry Wikstrom, Terry Kinrade and Bob Fitchner scored the others. The Junior Leafs were welcomed home yesterday with a parade and welcome at Civic Centre.
Dateline: -April 5, 1968
Nobel Laureate Martin Luther King Jr., father of non-violence in the U.S. civil rights movement, was killed by an assassin’s bullet Wednesday night. King, 39, was hit in the neck by a bullet as he stood on the balcony of a motel in Memphis Tennessee. He died less than an hour later in St. Joseph Hospital. Governor Ellington immediately ordered 4,000 National Guard troops beck into the city. A curfew, which was clamped on Memphis after the King-led march turned into a riot a week ago, was re-imposed. Police said incidents of violence, including several fire bombings, were reported after King’s death. The 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner was standing on the balcony of his motel here, where he had come to lead protests on behalf of the city’s 1,300 striking garbage workers, most of them Negroes, when he was shot.
Dateline: -April 8, 1968
Pierre Elliot Trudeau became Canada’s next Prime Minister Saturday night in the roaring climax to seven hours of incredible political drama at the Liberal Leadership Convention. The 46-year-old Quebec intellectual, with the shy, captivating grin, clinched victory on the fourth ballot, turning aside a surprising surge by former trade minister Robert Winters. Women wept openly as the slight French-Canadian stood, looked piercingly into the smoke-shrouded arena stands, thanked the party for the honor paid to him and added slowly: “The only way in which I can show my appreciation will be to bear this responsibility with all my strength and with all my energy.” Mr. Trudeau will be the youngest Prime Minister ever with his formal takeover from retiring Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson expected by April 22.
Dateline: -April 18, 1968
Nelson’s orphan bandshell, the floating piece of dry rot that nobody wanted, suffered its final degradation early Wednesday morning - somebody burned it down to the ground, or at least to the water. At 2:52 a.m. Wednesday, Nelson Fire Department was summoned to Lakeside Park, where they found the old shell burning furiously. Because of the distance from the nearest fire hydrant, the pumper had to be used. That and difficulty in getting the gate to the park open resulted in losing the poor homeless waif. Approximately 30 days ago, City Council had been ordered by the local assistant fire marshal’s office to have it destroyed within 40 days. The victim of several previous unsuccessful attempts on her life, the leaky old lady had survived all manner of insults, including Molotov cocktails, fire-bombs, and even a flaming arrow.
Dateline: -April 20, 1968
A bullet from a City policeman’s gun ended the life of a 21-year-old Nelson youth early Friday morning. Walter Polzun died in Kootenay Lake General Hospital a few hours after being shot inside Kootenay Cleaning Centre on Baker St. City Police had been watching the cleaning centre and two other businesses after receiving a tip that they might be hit by thieves. A man was seen entering the back door of the establishment and additional officers were summoned to apprehend him. Constable Gordon McPhail followed the man into the building alone while others waited. “In the course of attempting to effect the arrest, Constable McPhail fired a shot which struck the man.” Immediately after the shooting, Polzum was rushed to the hospital and surgery was performed. According to Mayor Louis Maglio, McPhail’s shot was “apparently a warning shot that went astray.” Polzun was recently given a suspended sentence in Calgary for false pretenses and charged twice in Nelson for carrying an offensive weapon, a spring knife and an open razor. He was also charged with vagrancy just last week. Police Chief H.M. Tomlinson said in a statement. At the request of Chief Tomlinson, the R.C.M.P. will carry out the investigation of the shooting and, until its completion, there will be nothing further said by the Police.