MARY BRASWELL: A look at news from mid-December in days gone by

Each week Albany Herald researcher Mary Braswell looks for interesting events, places and people from the past. You can contact her at (229) 888-9371 or [email protected].

This week is a look back at news that made the pages of the Albany Herald in years gone by.

1910

— The Cruger place west of Albany sold for just under $15,000, a sum that was several thousand dollars higher than the amount it sold for just a few weeks earlier. The “place” was actually a 1,432-acre plantation.

1918

— The Sumter County Commission ordered that electric lights be installed in the county courthouse.

1925

— Albany’s newest hostelry opened its doors to guests. The New Albany Hotel was completed with the exception of the dining hall. The dining area of the old hotel was used for guests temporarily.

— Albany Chamber of Commerce agreed upon the need to place signs along Florida roads advertising the many reasons to visit Albany.

1931

— During the regular chapel service on a Friday morning in the auditorium, 22 new members were formally admitted to the Albany High School Beta Club. Also on the morning’s program was a piano solo, scripture reading, singing of “America” and prayer.

— The organization of the Georgia Board of Regents was completed. The board was established to control the University of Georgia and all its branches effective Jan. 1, 1932.

1941

— Georgia misdemeanor prisoners, 194 of them, with sentences due to expire in January or February of 1942, had their sentences commuted. The inmates were released on Christmas Eve.

1947

— Turner Field Service Club renovations were on track for completion before Christmas. The walls were painted, the floors refinished and furniture from closed bases was already on site. Also new to the club was a piano and a late-model radio-phonograph.

— Albany school children collected more than 3,000 pounds of clothes and shoes over the course of one week. The items were shipped to be distributed by the Save the Children Federation to needy families across the United States and Europe.

1952

— A drunk in the city jail disrupted a meeting of the Albany City Commission. The inebriated inmate slammed his bunk around the cell with such force that it jarred several rooms in City Hall, including the commissioners’ meeting room directly above the jail. Police Chief Morton Burnett made two trips to the cell in an effort to reason with the inmate. The man continued to create a problem and the commissioners decided to simply talk louder and carry on with their business.

— Turner Air Force personnel donated a total of 297 pints of blood to the American Red Cross. The latest drive was the 12th since November 1951 and a grand total for all drives on base for the year was 2,654 pints.

1961

— Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John” became country music’s first million-dollar seller.

1967

— The Albany Herald announced that, for the first time in the newspaper’s history, a Christmas Day edition would be published.

1970

— With the permission of city officials, the combined choirs of Byne Memorial and First Baptist Churches, sang Christmas carols for about 40 minutes on the steps of the City-County Government Building in downtown Albany. According to the churches, the sole purpose of the caroling was “to focus attention on the real meaning of Christmas.”

1974

— Due to increasing costs and decreasing revenue, the Albany Water, Gas & Light Commission dismissed 23 employees three weeks before Christmas with no notice and no severance package. General Manager Walter Rodemann stated that the terminations were based simply on the “last in, first out” concept.

1978

— An estimated 500 low-income rental houses in Albany were reported to have “severe rat problems.” While federal grant money was available to contract with private exterminators for such problems, the county health department was under court injunction to not compete with private exterminators to eradicate rats. The true head-scratching political dilemma left the health department to do as best it could to stop, or at least slow, the infestation.

— Lt. Gov. Zell Miller disagreed with other state politicians that giving Georgia teachers a 7 percent salary increase would conflict with President Jimmy Carter’s anti-inflation program. To not give the increase would be, according to Miller, a tragedy.

1984

— The ladies of Albany organizations and churches outfitted 710 naked dolls to be distributed by the Salvation Army. The dolls were distributed to the volunteers back in the summer as to allow plenty of time for preparation. About 70 women dressed the dolls, complete with accessories.

2001

— Workers began clearing debris from the banks of the Flint River for the $6 million downtown Riverfront Park.

2003

— Students at Magnolia Elementary School held a “Dance Party Toy Drive.” The school’s student council organized the event to help families in need. First the kindergarten through second grades got to spend an hour in the gym with music and dancing. Third-through fifth grade students spent the next hour doing the same thing. Admission to the “dance” was one toy or one school uniform piece. And just so you know, no students were left out for want of admission.

QUIK QUIZ answer: (b) do not make any telephone calls