MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1995
JACKSON, Tenn. – Some residents are organizing a boycott to try to keep the adults-only film “Showgirls” off local movie screens.the film, which received the unusual NC-17 rating, is scheduled to open today at Regal Cinemas in Jackson. Company officials say the boycott and petition drive will not change their decision to show the movie, but they are taking extra precautions to ensure only adults see it. ”We understand the community’s sensitivity to the picture. That is why we have gone to the expense to hire local off-duty police officers and additional labor for the movie,” said Rob Del Moro, vice president of marketing for Regal Cinemas. The call for a boycott of the theater was first voiced Tuesday morning on WAMP 88.1 FM in Jackson. The radio station is operated by the Jackson chapter of the American Family Association, a Christian organization based in Tupelo, Miss., which earned national attention for its research on television violence. The national AFA has not taken a formal stand on the movie, but encourages the local affiliate in its efforts, said Randall Murphree, editor of the AFA Journal, a monthly newsletter.
50 years ago — 1970
BILOXI, Miss. — A bid by Deep South governors to adopt a strong resolution against busing was snagged late Monday by a “mistake” over rules. Arkansas Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller, chairman of the 36th annual Southern Governors Conference, told delegates early Monday that resolutions could be submitted until midnight Monday. Later he said he “made a mistake” in thinking Mississippi Gov. John Bell Williams was chairman of the conference’s resolutions committee. He said Williams had sought to offer resolutions beyond a mid-afternoon deadline and that he granted Williams such permission. But Gov. Warren Hearnes of Missouri is chairman of the resolutions committee, and Hearnes indicated he would not accept late resolutions. Williams is chairman of the rules committee.
75 years ago — 1945
With a large part of the nation facing crippling gasoline shortages, the United States Conciliation Service yesterday directed labor and management in the oil refineries dispute to meet next week to attempt settlement of spreading oil strikes in which more than 20,000 of the country’s 230,000 idle workers are involved. Edgar L. Warren, conciliation director, invited oil industry representatives and the
C.I.O. Oil Workers Union to meet next Tuesday in Chicago. Representing the union will be O.A. Knight, Fort Worth, Texas president who proposed the conference.
100 years ago — 1920
Enthusiasm marked all sessions of the state convention of the Tennessee Churches of Christ at the Mclemore Avenue Christian Church Tuesday. The convention opened Monday night with a large number of delegates present, and when the meeting was called to order Tuesday morning, that number had been greatly augmented. The singing was worth coming miles to hear, all the delegates joining heartily. Two splendid addresses were delivered at the afternoon session and at each particularly striking statement of the speaker’s fervent “amens” were heard from all parts of the church. The president’s address by Claude E. Hill of Chattanooga evoked much commendation.