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Today is April 12, the 102nd day of the year. So, there are 263 days left in 2018. Below are news items from the Creston News Advertiser for this week (April 9-15) in history:
10 years ago
MidAmerican Energy had to ensure a considerable amount of roadwork took place on Level B roads in Adair County for a wind turbine project. The roads were nowhere strong enough to handle trucks carrying wind turbine parts weighing several dozen tons and would need widened to 33 feet. Blades were 120 feet long and the tower was more than 120 feet, and the motor weighted 180 tons and the tower 125 tons.
Andrew Long solidified his No. 1 national prep ranking with a 6-2 wrestling victory over No. 2 Thomas Williams of California. Long was Creston’s only three-time state wrestling champion and now was one of five Iowans against a national all-star team in The Cliff Keen/Wrestling USA Dream Team Classic.
20 years ago
Jerry Seinfeld shared the biggest secret in town with a select group of people – “Seinfeld” taped its final episode before a lucky crowd who received the coveted invitations. Seinfeld decided to take his show off the air while it was still on top.
Dick Bauman, former Creston junior high and SWCC instrumental music instructor, was inducted in the Iowa Jazz Educators Hall of Fame at Des Moines Civic Center. He became the fifth member of the hall of fame. Bauman taught band in Creston for 10 years from 1966 before joining the SWCC faculty. He taught 18 years at SWCC and started the jazz program. Bauman also toured with Tommy Dorsey Orchestra on trombone in the summer of 1996.
Macksburg was one of five 1998 Project Mainstreet winners, sponsored by KCCI-TV and Casey’s. Community Effort of Macksburg planned to renovate the local city park’s historic bell tower. The project was chosen from more than 115 entries. KCCI meteorologist, Kurtis Gertz, spent the day in Macksburg as work started on the tower and presented the $1,500 grant live on the news.
Dr. Peter Eklund of Cedar Rapids, son of Dale and Judy Eklund of Afton, was named director of choral activities at University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He was a 1976 graduate of Creston High School and received his doctorate in choral music in 1992.
A satellite dialysis clinic opened at Greater Community Hospital, and 12 patients were spending a lot less time on the road traveling for treatment. Six dialysis stations were set up in the outpatient clinic area in space rented by Kidney Care PC of Des Moines.
50 years ago
An invitation-only audience of 1,300 of America’s famous including senators, governors, civil rights leaders, religious figures and Vice President Humphrey, came to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, to say goodbye to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A crowd estimated by police at 50,000 stood outside for blocks, and long before the service was over, a march had started from the church past the state capitol.
Mrs. Betty Gross, wife of Sheriff Richard D. Gross, was appointed matron of the Union county jail and was to be paid $10 per month for her services to be on duty at the jail when women prisoners were held.
Bids for the construction of the new building for Southwestern Community College were opened by Area 14 Board of Education with the low bid at $1,761,407. The architect’s estimate had been $1,524,928.
The merger of Creston Mutual Telephone company with General Telephone System was approved by stockholders of the Creston company. The merger would involve Kent, Orient, Prescott and Spaulding exchanges as well as Creston which served about 6,000 users.