MID-SOUTH MEMORIES

25 years ago — 1995

St. Petersburg, Fla. – This time, there was no 36-point loss, no lingering dejection and little postgame anger. True, the Tampa Bay Storm beat the Memphis Pharaohs for the second time this season Saturday, a 53-41 victory in the first round of the Arena Football League playoffs. But the Thunderdome crowd of 10,677 knew the topseeded and 21-point favorite Storm had been pushed to the limit by the eighth-seeded Pharaohs. The loss ended the Pharaohs’ expansion season at 6-7, closing four straight losses. Tampa Bay (11-2) gratefully kept its hopes alive to win its third AFL title in five years.

50 years ago — 1970

Washington – President Nixon signed into law yesterday a bill replacing the politics-riddled Post Office Department with an independent government agency. He predicted better mail service and better working conditions and pay for postal employees. “There is no Republican way or Democratic way to deliver the mail,” Nixon said at the signing ceremony. “There is only the right way, and that is what this occasion is all about.” One of the first results of the reorganization will be an increase in firstclass postage from 6 to 8 cents to help pay for an 8 percent pay raise for the postal service’s 750,000 employees. 75 years ago — 1945

London – The same German soldiers who lost the war in Germany and France now are cleaning up after it in England and, at the same time, are knocking hundreds of dollars off the average American taxpayer’s bill. In Army salvage depots in Western England, where used fighting equipment is reclaimed, repaired and processed before being sent to the States, a great part of the labor is done by German prisoners of war.

100 years ago — 1920

A consignment of 12 trucks to be used in motorizing the local postal system arrived in Memphis yesterday, according to an announcement made by Asst. Postmaster H.C. Mckellar. The trucks will be employed chiefly in replacing the wagons operating between the depots and Desoto Station.

125 years ago — 1895

The Memphis Cycle Club has volunteered to stage a two-mile handicap at Billings Park Saturday for the benefit of St. Joseph Hospital. Harry Fransioli, John Wooten and C.H. Collier already have entered and the race is open to all. The following week the club will hold its sixth annual 10-mile race.

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL Souvenir gifts of bells and balloons delighted customers at the grand opening on Aug. 13, 1953, of a Havertys furniture store at 3432 Summer. Seeing that Margaret Lynn Mccalla, 5-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.B. Mccalla, has enough souvenir gifts are three Havertys executives. William R. Keesling, left, is manager of the new branch store. Russell Bellman, center, of Atlanta is executive vice president of Havertys furniture chain, and Joe J. Ivy is vice president and general manager of Havertys Downtown store.