100 YEARS AGO — 1917

Wednesday and Thursday will be Tape Day at the Red Cross rooms in Danville. Tape is used on hospital shirts, water bag covers and some of the surgical dressings, so a quantity is needed. If each woman will bring, either on Wednesday or Thursday, one roll of half-inch tape, the supply will be greatly increased without any great expense to any one.

Every man taken from Garrard County was accepted at Camp Zachary Taylor and has been assigned to some regiment for service. As many have been refused from all parts of the state, this speaks well for the condition of the boys in our neighboring county.

When a regiment of Idaho troops was here Saturday, the men were exercised about town in separate companies, each under the orderly sergeant. One company marched out Lexington Avenue and the men were so deeply impressed by the beauty of the Kentucky College for Women grounds, they halted. Some of the teachers invited them into the campus and the men spent some time admiring the beautiful structures, but when the faces of more than a hundred pretty girls appeared at the windows, the men told their commander he would probably have to return to the train without them. They begged the teachers to let the girls come out on the lawn but were told, of course, that this couldn’t be done. Mrs. Buchanan had prepared a lot of lunch to be taken that evening on a picnic and this was given the me. They were deeply impressed by and appreciated their reception, each man expressing his thanks for this little attention shown him. “I always heard that Kentucky had the prettiest women,” said one fellow, “and the most hospitable people, and now I know it.”

75 YEARS AGO — 1942

One hundred feet of iron fence and two iron posts from the front of the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Medaris, at 396 Maple Ave., was taken down today to make one of the first contributions of its kind in the Boyle County scrap metal campaign. The fence which has been standing since the house was built about 25 years ago, is a two-rail fence, which represents a sizable amount of scrap to be turned into bullets, or used for another metal project. Mrs. Medaris said she had been trying figure out how many bullets the fence would yield.

A jury awarded Joe Marshal one cent and costs in a suit brought against Deputy Sheriff W.H. Thurmond. Marshall had sought $1,500 in damages because of injuries he claimed to have received with Thurmond struck him with his fists in the sheriff’s office. However, Thurmond said he slapped Marshall for cursing in the office.

Rev. C.W. Scott, minister of the local Church of Christ, brought to the Advocate-Messenger office a 40-pound pumpkin grown in a corn patch in Wayne County. The huge pumpkin was a gift to city editor, Haskell Short, who proudly placed it in the front window for display. When last heard from, Mr. Short was trying to bribe one of his many lady friends to concoct a batch of pumpkin pies.

Mrs. Rodes Reid, chairman of the Red Cross committee in charge of surgical dressing has announced volunteer workers will begin on Oct. 6. The workroom for making surgical dressings is in the basement of the Young-Rodes library at Third and Broadway. At least 100 more volunteers are needed. Rules are: workers must change from street clothes to uniforms or wash dresses (preferable white); clothes worn to make dressings should never be worn on the street; hair must be covered; all rings must be removed except wedding bands as the prongs catch in the gauze; no nail polish is permitted; hand and nails must be thoroughly scrubbed; no one with a cold or sore throat will be allowed to work; no smoking is permitted in the building while surgical dressings sessions are being held.

50 YEARS AGO — 1967

The first rehearsal for the Messiah will be conducted today in the Danville High School auditorium. The Messiah, to be presented in early December, will consist of the Centre Choir, DHS choir and any local singers who want to participate.

Eight Danville High School students were named winners of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award and were presented with certificates and Award emblems at the school on Thursday. Two of the winners, John Payne and Don Hutchinson, were sophomores when they qualified for the award last year. Four of the boys, Paul Lewis, Andy Warner, Stuart Hutchinson and Charles Dawson were freshmen last year. The other two boys, both freshmen and no longer attend DHS are Joe Pope and Carlos Moreno.

The City of Perryville has planned a gala day of varied activities in commemoration of the Battle of Perryville next Saturday. There will be a program at the Battlefield, the usual Boy Scout trek and many other events. There will be a parade and a beauty pageant. Downtown, there will be costume judging, window display judging, the coronation of Miss Perryville Battlefield and a square dance.

25 YEARS AGO — 1992

A Waynesburg bank that was robbed at gunpoint Aug. 13 will close at the end of the year. First Southern National Bank of Lincoln County plans to close its branch office, in large part because of the robbery. Waynesburg, an unincorporated town in Lincoln County, does not have its own police department and is 15 miles from Stanford, where the sheriff’s office is based. Although no one was hurt in the robbery, bank officials decided to close the office on U.S. 27 out of concern for the safety of both employees and customers. “You’re just a sitting duck down there,” said David Downey, chief executive officer of the bank. “There’s an inherent risk in being down there.”

The Housing Authority of Danville has begun altering the image of public housing and has started changing the addresses and street names at the 40-year-old 64-unit Batewood Homes. Even Batewood Homes has been dropped. “We now call it the South Second Street Site,” said Rachael White, director of the Housing Authority. Mary Frances Woods has lived there for decades. “Giving my apartment a new address may not seem like a big change, but I think it’s kind of nice,” said Woods, a much respected resident who’s been dubbed by friends and neighbors as the unofficial “mayor of Batewood.” “Having a real street address instead of some alphabet apartment number kind of adds a nice little touch. it takes away from the image of Batewood being ‘the projects'” she said.

Dr. Shakeela Bux was given a huge watermelon by her patient, Dennis Luttrell of Yosemite. Luttrell told Bux the melon weighs 155 pounds and it measures 40 inches from end to end and is 41.5 inches around at its widest point. Bux said she may donate the melon to the Danville-Boyle County Senior Citizens.