100 years ago: “The people of the San Luis and San Juan are the most hospitable people in the world. They ought to get that reputation all over the country. The city man, the farmer, the stockman, the miner, should step forward and extend the warmest welcome he knows to every stranger.”
75 YEARS AGO: “A robbery at gunpoint yielded $11, but just for a short while. A man walked into an office and shoved a nickel-plated revolver at Albert Wagner, demanding that he ‘shell out.’ The next morning, a suspect was arrested in downtown Durango, where he was doing some extensive shopping – too much shopping for a poor man. The man has not yet confessed.”
50 YEARS AGO: “The short, short miniskirts are taboo in a New Mexico high school. More than 80 girls were ordered Monday to wear longer skirts. And a pretty female teacher voluntarily changed her skirt after she discovered it was shorter than school regulations require. School officials said skirts are too short if girls kneel and their hemlines don’t touch the floor.”
25 YEARS AGO: “A Durango man is being held on felony charges of vehicular homicide and assault after an Aug. 18 accident that left three people dead and six hospitalized. The man’s blood-alcohol count registered 0.199 nearly three hours after the accident, which occurred on U.S. Highway 550 south of Farmington Hill. A blood-alcohol level of 0.10 is legally drunk in Colorado.”
Most items in this column are taken from The Durango Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and The Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
