Your grandpa just got day parole after 50 years
Morning from the Central Plains — here's what's moving through Portage today.
You hear a lot of things on the wires, but this one stuck with me like a slow freight through the CN yard. There's a fellow, incarcerated since 1974 for an axe murder in Winnipeg, who just got day parole. Think about that for a second. Fifty years. That's longer than some of our processing plants have been running full tilt out on the Trans-Canada. He was 20 when he went in, 73 now. It’s hard to wrap your head around that kind of time, especially with how much has changed around here, even just in the last couple of decades.
### A Different World
When this man went into Stony Mountain, Portage was a different place. The Diversion was still relatively new, and the potato plants were humming, but the Stride Place arena was just a dream, and Island Park wasn't the integrated hub it is now. For someone to step out after half a century, it's not just a walk into a new city, it’s a whole new province. The world he's coming back to is one of smartphones, the internet, and a fully connected corridor economy that he likely can't even fathom.
* **Then and Now:** In 1974, gas was about 15 cents a litre. Today, we're watching it climb over a dollar sixty out by the Portage Mall. * **Local Impact:** While the crime happened in Winnipeg, the fact that someone is re-entering society after this long is something to consider for all communities along the Trans-Canada, including ours. We're a hub, and people move through here constantly. * **What's Next:** The parole board sees him as a low risk, which is the main thing, but adapting to modern life after 50 years… that's a whole other challenge.
For us in Portage, it's a reminder of how time moves on, and how much can change. It makes you think about the folks who've lived here their whole lives, watching the fields turn over and the businesses evolve. It’s a different world from the one he left.
Darren Flett, MiTL Sports Desk, Portage la Prairie.
The morning crew always has a good take on stories like this — catch them live at mornings.live.