Published: July 05, 2008 03:56 pm            

Looking Back: 1983: 50 people attend first meeting of newly formed MADD chapter

TERRE HAUTE — Dorothy Jerse looks back at local history from 10, 25 and 50 years ago as reported in the Tribune and Tribune-Star.



1998

• Larry Bird’s Boston Connection, 555 S. Third St., became Larry Bird’s Home Court Hotel. Bird, now coaching the Indianapolis Pacers and recently inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, had purchased the former Sheraton Inn along with Max and Greg Gibson in 1987 for the hotel.

• Sister Joan Lescinski began her new role as president of St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.

• Rudy Stakeman, Terre Haute businessman, was advocating a “community ownership corporation” to help finance the rebirth of the vacant Terre Haute House.

• Mayor Jim Jenkins, guest of honor, raced as a 50- year-old runner for the first time in the 17th Mayor’s Cup Mile in downtown Terre Haute.

• The Rev. Tino Smith and dozens of protesters marched from 17th Street and College Avenue to the mayor’s office in their effort to have either College Avenue or 15th Street renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

• Construction started on Furniture Gallery, at U.S. 41 South and Seventh Street and owned by Jim and Kimberly Worland.

1983

• Royalty at the annual Frontier Day Parade, sponsored by the Wabash Valley Horseman’s Association, included Ray Parks and Jackie Green as King of Cowboys and Frontier Gal. Rod Ellis and Pam Brazzell received the junior awards.

• Ron Wallace, former principal at St. Patrick’s School in Terre Haute, was named principal at Sacred Heart School in Clinton.

• C. Don Nattkemper and Bettye Smith, Vigo County Republican chair and co-chair, were in Washington D.C. for a briefing by President Reagan and meetings with Republican members of Indiana’s congressional delegation.

• Federal inspectors required the re-inspection of 400 homes in Terre Haute for lead-based paint hazards. City officials learned it would take $70,000 to correct hazards in at least 100 of the residences.

• Fifty persons attended the first meeting of the newly-organized local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving at Memorial United Methodist Church.

• Dave McCampbell and Dave Nasser won the Terre Haute Golf Association’s two-men best ball championship at Hulman Links. Gene Verostko and Bill Doan finished second.

1958

• The 34th annual Fourth of July fireworks show was presented at Memorial Stadium by Fort Harrison Post 40, American Legion. Quarter-midget racing with 15 drivers, age 6 to 13 years, was a new addition to the event.

• The new Gulick Summer Camp, located in Parke County northeast of Turkey Run and operated by the Boys Club of Terre Haute, hosted an open house with 50 boys in attendance on its opening day. Ted Moore was the executive director.

• Exalted Ruler Ray Fischer invited members, their families and out-of-town guests to the opening of the new pool at the Elks Fort Harrison Country Club. The pool was one of the few in the Midwest measuring up to Olympic standards.

• Eastern Express announced the purchase of the four-story Miller-Parrott building, 1450 Wabash Ave., to use for its general offices. The move would take place in the fall when Miller-Parrott moved their bakery operations to the new Seelyville plant.

• The Fraternal Order of Police sponsored a rodeo at the Vigo County Fairgrounds. FOP president Ernest Martin emphasized the event was not a wild west show, but rather a contest rodeo.

        

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