Column - 1912: Assailant not punished because the 'road hog' got what he deserved

Talk about it

The following is a collection of stories and other items that were included in Alexandria newspapers over the years.

100 YEARS AGO

JULY 1912

Carlos School Board members voted to add one month to the school year, thus making it a nine-month term… Dr. A.J. Chesley and G. Griest of the State Board of Health came to investigate the cases of sore throat in the neighborhood of the Leaf Valley Store. There have been three deaths and dozens are ill and quarantined for diphtheria… A man who was pulling a hayrack behind a slow moving wagon refused to pull over to allow an automobile to pass. The angered auto driver then beat up on the “road hog” and the “hog” sued his assailant. The Douglas County judge refused to punish the auto driver, saying the road hog got what he deserved because the law states a slower vehicle must yield to allow others to pass.

50 YEARS AGO

JULY 1962

President Carl Wooten of Downer Aircraft told stockholders that the future looks bright for the company because of the successful completion of the “Bravo,” new finance opportunities and an arrangement to import Italian designed airplanes… A new feature at the Runestone Museum is a mooring stone that was moved from Lake Latoka… Alexandria Telephone Company subscribers will notice a change in their directory this fall. The exchange names of RO3, TU6, UL2, VI6 and VE2 are being replaced by numerals 763, 866, 852, 846 and 832. The reason? The industry is running out of exchange names… Jerry Mund was pictured in costume and ready for his stage debut in “King of Hearts” at Theatre L’Homme Dieu. Also in the cast are native Jimmy Sherry and an Alexandria dog named Gus.

25 YEARS AGO

JULY 1987

Local Artist Jim Buffalo Bratrud searched far and wide for enough “dioxydine purple” acrylic paint to create a ceiling mural for rock star Prince. In orchestrated colors of magenta, crimson, peach, titanium white and Prince purple, “Supernova 1987 A” now shines down from the ceiling of the conference room of the $10 million Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen… Vicki Jo (Sticher) Mansson, graduate of Jefferson High School in Alexandria and Mankato State University, has been selected for inclusion in the next edition of Outstanding Women of America. She is employed at North Country Hospital in Bemidji... Shawn Green was selected to represent Junior Achievement Production Company at the national convention. This year the students assembled Rayco Ice Scrapers as their main product, as well as decorative wall calendars and Christmas bows.

10 YEARS AGO

JULY 2002

It had been 70 years since Christel Blank Guiles and Ione Maanam Stark attended West Central Agricultural School in Morris. Now as they pour over old yearbooks, they chuckle over how fate brought them together two years ago after Christel moved into Bethel Manor, where Ione has lived since 1980… Navy Reservist Lieutenant Paul LeBrasseur was awarded a special commendation medal for serving as executive officer for an Army unit, the Army 455th Brigade Liaison Detachment in Guantanamo Bay, at the detention camps for Al-Qaeda and Taliban, where he played a key role. He was involved in the detention of 9/11 prime suspect Zacurias Moussaoui… Paving crews began laying asphalt on the Central Lakes Trail near Garfield.

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Marge Van Gorp of Alexandria is a regular contributing columnist to the Echo Press Opinion page.

Tags: opinion, columns