100 years ago: After passing the examination at the local recruiting office, Wendell McDowell, a Durango High School graduate, and F.J. Welk, a grocery store employee, left for Denver to take the final examination for the Navy.
75 years ago: The U.S. Navy announced that the total number of casualties from the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps from Nov. 16 to Nov. 30 was 1,613. The number included 546 dead, 660 wounded and 407 missing.
50 years ago: La Plata County commissioners reported that $5,000 was spent on sign manufacturing the previous year. The county was considering the purchase of a sign-making machine for the year ahead.
25 years ago: A special-education teacher, who was fired by Durango School District 9-R the year before, lost his lawsuit alleging that the school board violated public meetings law when he was removed from the classroom. The teacher was employed for three years at Florida Mesa Elementary School and was suspended after a longstanding dispute with supervisors after “his techniques of physically restraining violent children” came to a breaking point.
Most items in this column are taken from The Durango Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Accuracy of content may not be verified.
