Past Pages Jan. 16

130 YEARS AGO

A cracked bell: The bell of the Episcopal Church (St. Peters) is badly cracked due to excessive cold. Its voice is so discordant that proclivities would be more in a blasphemous humor than otherwise if he attempted to engage in religious meditation while such an outrage on sound and harmony of tone was being promulgated above his head.

120 YEARS AGO

Physicians are now prescribing whiskey as a preventative for La Grippe ... a golden opposite for those indulging in their annual "swear off."

70 YEARS AGO

Skating good on the ice pond: Ice is of sufficient thickness to support skaters as long as they keep away from the northwest corner of the pond. Chairman Ed Miller thanked Sierra Pacific Power Co for lighting the rink.

Police hunt a bluebird ... trained to "talk back" to Shirley Temple in her picture, "The Blue Bird." A thief stole the bird from its cage.

50 YEARS AGO

Elementary basketball in four teams area league will play in Carson. The Carson "heavy" squad includes: Robert Austin, Benny Baber, Craig Butler, Dan Koffler, John Felesinsa, Terry Graham, Bill Hoffman, Walter Honyumptewa, Gordon Hunting, Richard Little, Robert Wamstad, Robert Weideman, Howard Ingersoll and Kenneth Reil.

20 YEARS AGO

Keeping memories alive: Worshipers at Martin Luther King Jr.'s church keep alive his memory and philosophy of nonviolence. "Let us live then not only his dream, but let us live the practice of nonviolence and unconditional love," said Rev. Cecil Williams, of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco.

10 YEARS AGO

Preparations to blow up the Mapes Hotel January 30 - will cause less disturbance and send less dust into the air. Preservationists have lost two bids in Washoe District Court to halt the demolition.

• Sue Ballew is the daughter of Bill Dolan, who wrote this column for the Nevada Appeal from 1947 until his death in 2006.