100 years ago
1925: Vacation Plans of City School Teachers: Miss Mary Fullington, domestic science teacher at Emerson school, leaves tomorrow for Los Angeles, where she will take a boat for Seattle to attend the University of Washington. She will not be on our teaching staff next year, having signed to teach art in the Hurley, N.M., schools. Miss Jane Brown, school nurse, who will please everyone by her return next fall, will accompany Miss Fullington as far as Seattle, whence she will go to Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies. Miss Lucile Bigham, art teacher at Emerson, will visit her parents in Idaho this summer, returning in the fall. Miss Louise Snyder, who is returning next year, will leave tomorrow for Hollywood, where she has relatives. She will attend the southern branch of the University of California this summer. Miss Margaret Schumaker will join her family in Albuquerque next week and in August will be married to Hill H. Lewis of McNary. Miss Ema Vandevort, principal of Brannen school, will take subjects in the southern branch of the University of California and observe at Dr. Wadell鈥檚 training school, leaving about June 13. She will return this fall for another year here. Miss Alma Acker of Brannen school will spend her vacation with her father, whose health is not good. Miss Dorothy Jakle will attend the University of California at Berkeley during summer vacation. Charles Fillerup will put in his vacation attending summer school at Teachers college. Miss Lucile Haeger left today for her home in Oak Park, Ill., where she will spend the summer with her mother. She signed a contract to return next year. Miss Frances Stringfellow, critic teacher in the training school at Teachers college this last year, will be on the Emerson faculty next year.
75 years ago
1950: Trying to curb juvenile gangs is like trying to stop forest fires. In both cases you are dealing with a highly combustible raw material that must be preserved. You can鈥檛 chop down all the trees and you can鈥檛 imprison all the teenagers. But there are things that can be done so that the chances of a severe blaze are minimized. One of John E. Cone鈥檚 pet annoyances is the ease with which anyone can purchase ammo. 鈥淵ou can go into any department store down the street, plunk down 52 cents and buy a box of .22 shells. Anybody can do it. No questions asked.鈥� He thinks the sale of ammunition should be strictly regulated. Even more essential, there are things to be done for children in general and children in crowded city slums in particular. 鈥淭he kid gang is a product of the street,鈥� Cone said. "If the youngsters are kept off the streets 鈥� if they are given some place to go and something to do as a substitute for the poolroom and the beer parlor 鈥� the kid gang won鈥檛 have any reason for existence.鈥� Here are some of Cone鈥檚 recommendations: Stricter control over the sale of 鈥渃rime and horror鈥� comic books and paper covered novels with crime. Assign policewomen in bad areas. Have shop teachers in schools be on the lookout for students making guns and knives as projects. Strict supervision of crime movies and crime radio and television programs. Of prime importance is the establishment of adequate recreational facilities 鈥� both indoor and outdoor. Establishment of more 鈥渢eenage nightclubs,鈥� such as have been organized in some cities.
50 years ago
1975: Combined efforts by the United States Forest Service, Flagstaff Public Schools and the Soil Conservation Service are turning the city pond into a usable ecology study area. The project, headed by Jim David, a biology instructor at Flagstaff Junior High School, is aimed at transforming the pond into an environment able to support a growth of aquatic and marsh plants. David expects frogs, salamanders, other amphibious life and even ducks to be attracted to the pond once the project is completed. Located on city land between the junior high school and the city park, the Forest Service and the soil conservation service are supplying equipment and personnel to finish the project. Flagstaff Junior High students, under David鈥檚 direction, already spent long hours cleaning trash and junk out of the area. The conservation service aided the students in preparing a site plan, which includes the building of small islands. Time for completion is anticipated to be 10 days after equipment is moved in. The pond will be available to all Flagstaff school classes and other agencies engaged in environmental education.
25 years ago
2000: There are two sounds I associate with the night in Flagstaff, and to tell the truth, it took the Pumpkin Fire to remind me what one of them is. The first, of course, is a train whistle, these days the rather brassy, sharp sound of a diesel engine as it pulls a big freight through town. It sounds good enough but doesn鈥檛 have the right 鈥渞ing鈥� of the great, mournful sound of the whistle on a steam engine, which is what I grew up hearing. Since steam engines are as rare as $20 gold pieces, I鈥檒l have to make do. The other sound that I now remember vividly from my boyhood is the passing aircraft in the night. The train whistle was mildly exciting when I was young, but you could get downtown during the day, or even in the early evening, and actually see a train. If you heard an aircraft during the night it probably had something to do with the war. And that meant excitement. I am sure aircraft continue to cross over Flagstaff every night ... but they are so high up that I can鈥檛 hear them. And that鈥檚 half the fun of an airplane at night: the sound of the steady throb of the engine as it both keeps the craft aloft and propels it toward its destination.