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Industrial park area named for Don Laing

By CHARLES TWEED

A former prominent businessman in Ponoka will have his name honoured with a sign in the area.

Don Laing, who owned and operated Don Laing Trailers Inc. and Don Laing Tractor and Used Parts Ranch before that, will have the area his business and several others are located in named the Don Laing Industrial Park.

Laing, 61, was killed in August of 2009, in a workplace accident involving a forklift.

“It means a lot to me, it’s a very nice legacy for him and I think it would have meant a lot to Don,” said Inger Laing, Don’s widow.

At county council’s meeting on Jan. 18, members unanimously voted in favor of erecting the sign, prompting chief administrative officer Charlie Cutforth to recall a memory of the business.

“In those days, the government wouldn’t allow business signs on Highway 2. That’s why the front of his business is so long, because he wanted to make sure the businesses’ name was readable from the road.”

The sign will be erected at the entrance of the industrial park, an area visible to the public, just the way Laing would have wanted it.

“It’s a really nice spot — and it was something that he always had in the back of his mind. It is wonderful that the county is going to do it. The area has been very supportive of us and we had such a good working relationship with the community,” said Mrs. Laing.