100 Years Ago

June 22, 1921

It’s booze-finders that we have now! No, they’re not for just any Tom, Dick or Harry to carry around with him to locate hard drinks by the practice of magic. They are two irons, sharpened to a keen point with a T at the top which will permit an operator to pound them. The invention has been perfected by E.B.F. Ridgway, deputy sheriff, to use in sounding out ground suspected to be the hiding place of intoxicants. “Red” has been using an old Irish shovel, and he declares that this stunt of digging several graves every time he looks for a moonshine still is not all it might be touted to be by the man on the side lines. The top of the ground is always hard packed, but by driving the stakes into the ground, Ridgway has it doped that the will be able to find soft dirt in suspicious spots.

50 Years Ago

June 22, 1971

Bud Graham was kept away from his grocery delivery truck Monday morning by a swarm of bees. “I left a delivery at a house on NW 9th,” said Graham, “and when I came back to the truck it was covered with the bees.” He said they covered the truck and a pretty big area around it. “So I kept my distance.” In about 10 minutes the swarm lifted and followed a compact cluster in the center. Graham is sure the cluster contained the queen bee. He said they took off up the hill as if they knew where they were going.

25 Years Ago

June 22, 1996

Story time turns into question time in Mary Daley’s blended first-second grade classroom. Before she eases open a book about wayward ducklings she asks her students where ducks live. In a pond, says one. In a river, says another. Daley scratches out a list with a black marker. Pond, river, swamp, land, nest, beach, lake, park. In this way, students become involved with the story before it ever starts. And for whole language learning advocates such as Daley, it serves as one more tool to keep kids interested in reading after the last page is turned. Daley is one of several McKay Creek Elementary School teachers who have broken away from traditional textbooks and worksheets in favor of a new way of teaching reading.