100 YEARS AGO — 1919

Many helpers are needed this week at the Red Cross work room in Danville. 500 garments must be made and shipped by May 1. The work is very simple, any woman can help. Also, a collection of old clothes for the war stricken countries has been asked for by the American Red Cross and this chapter requests that everyone look over their packing trunks and be ready to send in all they can spare next week.

The people of Shelby and Junction cities are interested in the welfare of their school and on Friday night they assembled at MacCabee Hall and bought over 50 pies and a cake. The sale of the pies brought in $50 and the cake contest between  Misses Francis Kelley and Miss Virgie Hogg, resulted in Hogg winning the cake after it brought in $62.70 for the building fund. Mrs. James G. Blaine made the prize cake. Candy made by Mrs. Mary Geary, Miss Anah Prewitt and Mrs. Agatha Blaine sold for about $3.

An advertisement was inserted in the last issue of the Danville Messenger giving a description of Franklin Hawkins, 14, who had been missing from his home in St. Mary’s, Ohio since Feb. 26, and Jim House, who lives on the Bluegrass Pike about 4.5 miles from Danville, telephoned the chief of police and told him that a boy with that description had been with him for the past week. Chief Thurmond contacted the boy’s father. Yesterday, Mr. Hawkins and policeman Alford went to the home of Mr. House and got the boy, who proved to be the son of Mr. Hawkins. This was the second time the young fellow had left home because he said his schoolmates didn’t treat him right. He returned with his father to his home in Ohio. Young Hawkins told Mr. House that he had no parents and wanted to work on the farm, and having a desire to do the right thing by the boy, Mr. House gave him a home about two weeks ago.

75 YEARS AGO — 1944

An organization to aid Mercer County men who are now prisoners of war of the Japanese is expected to be formed during a meeting of the prisoners’ relatives at the Mercer County Courthouse. The organization is being affected to do everything possible for the welfare of the prisoners and to disseminate information which may be helpful to the men or encouraging to their families. The session was called by Mrs. Edwin Rue, whose husband, Captain Rue, was the commanding officer of the Mercer County men when they were assigned to the Philippines. It is assumed the new group will work in unison with similar ones in other communities and hopes to accomplish more toward opening the way for relief of the American prisoners than the Japanese have allowed.

A commentary on a number of old letters from a correspondence between Gov. Isaac Shelby and Gen. Adair of Kentucky, covering the controversy arising after the Battle of King’s Mountain and subsequent seizure of property was the basis of a talk by Robert Shelby Darbishire, guest speaker at the March meeting of St. Asaph’s chapter D.A.R. Mrs. Jeptha Jett, regent, presided at the business session using a gavel made of cherry from Wakefield, George Washington’s Virginia estate. The gavel had been presented in 1914 to Mrs. W. Scott Glore of Danville, by Mr. Thurston Ballard. An inspection of the old letters that had been discussed was made during a social hour which followed the session.

A drive to mobilize price control forces among retailers and consumers in Danville and Boyle County was launched recently under the direction of the local war price and rationing board, according to R. Putney Guerrant, chairman of the board. A complete store survey will be made by the committee throughout the county. Although the basic purpose of the store survey in this area is to obtain better compliance with price control regulations by helping retailers to understand the necessary requirements, the drive will also serve to protect storekeepers and their customers from Black Market competition.

50 YEARS AGO — 1969

Storybooks, a rhythm band, songs, games, crafts, snacks are some of the experiences 25 Danville boys and girls are enjoying for one hour on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Story Hour at First Baptist Church, Second and Walnut. This new program was organized by the church along with St. James AME and First Presbyterian Church for 4- and 5-year-old children who are not receiving any other school experience. Mrs. Philip Wei, Miss Helen Fisher and and Mrs. William Weber were instrumental in organizing Story Hour.

Mrs. Lucille Bruce, who became the Circuit Court Clerk of Boyle County in July of 1947 after being appointed to fill the unexpired term of John Baughman in that year, has announced that she will run for that office again in the May primary. Mrs. Bruce was elected to her first term as circuit clerk here in November of 1947 and has won the office in every election since then.

A board of directors composed of members of the Business and Professional Woman’s Club, which is sponsoring the Danville Daycare Centers, met at the home of Mrs. L.L. Burckley to complete the plans for the centers. They are being organized to assist local working mothers and are strictly non-profit organizations. Standards for the centers meet the requirements of the Ky. Department of Child Welfare and State Department of Health and Safety. The children attending the centers will have supervised play and will be served a hot meal and morning and afternoon snacks. The centers will be open five days a week with hours to suit the working mothers and will be open for children from the ages of 3 to 5. Facilities of the area housing projectors have been approved and the Danville Business and Professional Woman’s Club members urge all mothers from all parts of the community to take advantage of the Danville Daycare Centers.

25 YEARS AGO — 1994

A study done by Brandstetter-Carroll of Lexington found there is a need for meeting space that could be used by local and regional groups. The survey found that there was interest in a facility that could be used for one-day seminars or meetings for organizations and regional groups. The survey also showed that a meeting facility for up to 1,000 was not feasible in Danville.

Space and safety problems at the Boyle County Jail were outlined to the Boyle County Fiscal Court by Darrell Collins, inspector for the state Corrections Cabinet. He said problems had existed since the state set jail standards in 1982. There were no state-mandated standards when the jail was built in 1978. While the jail fails to meet such state standards as square feet per inmate, Collins said the state considers the jail in compliance because yearly waivers had been granted by Corrections at the request of the jailer and former County Judge-Executive Mary Pendygraft. On Tuesday, the jail had 69 prisoners. Based on current square-foot standards, the jail should only have 46 prisoners. “Your biggest problem is the structure of the jail. It was built before standards were developed,” Collins said.

In some places of western Boyle County, the knobs block radio messages sent by officers from reaching the dispatching center in Danville. Sheriff Karl Luttrell said it was dangerous to have officers in an area where they could not contact dispatchers for help if trouble occurred. Sometimes one deputy has had to stay on the Danville side of a knob in order to relay messages to dispatchers. County Judge-Executive Tony Wilder told magistrates that chances are good the county will be able to put a signal enhancer on a telephone tower AT&T no longer uses. He said AT&T was agreeable to letting the county put the equipment on the tower, which is located on Persimmon Knob. If the county puts the receiver up now, it would be allowed to remain even if AT&T sells the tower.