The past 100 years

From The Santa Fe New Mexican: April 5, 1918: Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Third Liberty Loan campaign for Santa Fe county, and the members of the Liberty Loan Committees for the county, all of which have volunteered to serve for the entire period of the campaign are waiting for the starting signal which will be delivered tomorrow afternoon … at the Plaza.

April 5, 1968: Local reaction today to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ranged from shock to apprehension about the future.

King was cut down by a bullet last night as he stood on the balcony of a hotel in Memphis, Tenn.

Gov. David F. Cargo said: “Any country that sits by and lets this happen needs to reconsider the consequences. If you can’t stand for what you believe in, then things have come to a terrible pass.”

“When I heard about it, I just felt terrible,” Fabian Chavez, candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, said. “Dr. King was not like other civil rights leaders. He not only preached nonviolence but he practiced nonviolence.”

Harold Banks, a State Land Office employee and a leader of the Santa Fe Negro community, said, “I believe that a case like that was racist, that it showed nothing but hate for the Negro people. It showed wrong thinking all around.”

April 5, 1993: Chances are that Gene Lujan is going to smile for years to come when he thinks of the winter of 1992-93.

The owner of Lujan’s Paint and Body Shop, he registered twice the usual amount of automobile collision repair work this winter because of the numerous snow storms that hit Santa Fe and its drivers. And while Lujan might be smiling, you can bet his many customers will remember this past season with a frown.