MID-SOUTH MEMORIES
25 years ago — 1996
Atlanta Braves star David Justice said Friday at West Palm Beach, Fla., that his divorce from actress Halle Berry has nothing to do with him being stopped by police in an area frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers. Justice said the couple, who married three years ago, have been formally separated for several months. He conceded that the timing of the divorce announcement was sure to raise eyebrows. The outfielder was stopped by police in neighboring Riviera Beach last weekend after officers said they saw him parked in a car along a road in a high-crime area. No charges were filed. ”She was very supportive,” Justice said of his soon-to-be ex-wife. “She knew what was up with that. That had no bearing” on the divorce.
50 years ago — 1971
Appointments of an attorney and a lobbyist to help obtain enabling legislation looking toward construction of a shopping mall on Main Street were announced last night by the Downtown Association of Memphis and the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce. Former State Senator Albert C. Rickey was named to draft the bill and Blanchard Tual, also an attorney and former state senator, was named as a consultant to guide the measure through the General Assembly. Mr. Tual is registered with the General Assembly as a lobbyist for the Chamber of Commerce.
75 years ago — 1946
A Dixie Greyhound bus, loaded with more than 40 passengers en route from Memphis to Birmingham, was fired upon mysteriously six times early yesterday morning on an open stretch of highway a half-mile outside Byhalia, Miss., 30 miles southeast of here. The Memphis terminal of the Greyhound System is being picketed by striking members of the Amalgamated Association of Electric Street Railway & Motor Coach Employees of America (A.F. of L.) Partial service was restored last week after a Chancery Court injunction was issued that restrained the strikers from carrying out “any acts of violence or damage” to the company.
100 years ago — 1921
WASHINGTON – Officials of the Post Office Department, while gratified at the achievement of the air mail service in delivering at New York tonight mail that left San Francisco yesterday morning, said the most remarkable part of the entire performance was the all-night flight from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Chicago, a distance of 839 miles. The flight demonstrated the feasibility of night flying, officials said. With this statement they coupled the announcement that orders had been issued to prepare for regular night flying on the New York and San Francisco route probably about May 1.