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Today is Dec. 22, the 357th day of the year. It’s a leap year. So, there are nine days left in 2016. Below are news items from the Creston News Advertiser for this week (Dec. 19-25) in history:
10 years ago
Funeral services for Bill Riley, a longtime central Iowa personality, was postponed indefinitely because his wife was ill. Riley, 86, had died Dec. 15, 2006, in Arizona from complications of leukemia. He was credited with starting the Bill Riley State Fair Talent Search, which had seen more than 100,000 young people participate during the show’s 47-year history along with helping raise thousands of dollars for many other causes including Iowa Public Television, Blank Park Zoo and the fair.
Seven Creston High School students were selected to perform in the Southwest Iowa Bandmasters Association Band Festival. They were Sarah Finehout and Liz Kenyon, both on French horn, Nathan Marx on tuba, Betsy Johnson on oboe, Nicole Stoll on tenor saxophone and Meghann Kosman and Ellen Walker, both on clarinet.
20 years ago
The family of Gladys Hammer established an endowment of more than $50,000 in the South Central Iowa Community Foundation to be self-sustaining with earnings for the first five years that went into equal shares to Lamoni First Responders, Rose Hill Cemetery and Lamoni Public Library. The foundation’s mission was to contribute a better life for the people of south-central Iowa by helping donors carry out their charitable intent by providing responsible stewardship of gifts.
Orient-Macksburg High School crowned Tonika Orr and Larry Mathlews as its 1996 homecoming queen and king. Kaitlyn Thompson and Galen Geidel were named princess and prince.
Creston News Advertiser Reporter Larry Peterson was selected as one of the recipients of the News Media Award presented annually by the Board of Control of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. The award was presented to members of the media who contributed greatly through the years to the success of high school interscholastic athletic programs.
50 years ago
New heads of Creston Chamber of Commerce were announced. Deane E. Smith, as incoming president, appointed Darrell E. Reed as chairman of industrial bureau, Don Jones succeeded Chuck Ehm as chairman of agricultural bureau, Lou Palm succeeded Don Hammers as chairman of retail bureau, Frank Bladon succeeded Wallace McLaughlin as chairman of civic bureau and Mrs. Emil (June) Orth succeeded Mrs. Wes (Joan) Freemyer as chairman of women’s bureau.
As a new state office building was under construction in Des Moines, the present state office building was finally named after 15 years, the “Robert Lucas Building.” It was named after Lucas, the first territorial governor of Iowa. Although it was built in 1951, it remained nameless because there was just one state office building. However, after approval of the new $3 million building, the decision to name both was made to avoid confusion.
A nuclear blast, perhaps the most powerful ever detonated in the United States, was touched off early Dec. 20 in an underground chamber 195 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Observers atop the 24-story Mint Hotel, tallest building in Nevada, felt the shock wave 30 seconds later as a rolling motion lasting about a minute. Chandeliers swung about two inches. The Atomic Energy Commission said the device yielded energy comparable to anywhere from 200,000 to 1 million tons of TNT.