Glancing Back for June 29: Reward offered for arrest of outhouse thief

100 years ago,

June 29, 1924

No paper, Sunday.

50 years ago, 1974

CHARLESTON — One man is hospitalized today and another charged with aggravated battery as violence erupted Friday at the Lincolnshire Apartments project in Charleston. Injured was Donald Lane, 30, of Neoga. Lane was among a group of area trade union workers who gathered at the project site Thursday and Friday to protest the employment of out-of-state, non-union workers on the job. Arrested and charged, was Lincolnshire superintendent Roger L. Price of Farmer City. He was charged with aggravated battery in Circuit Court for allegedly running Lane down with a pick-up truck. He is also charged with reckless driving, three counts of battery and one count of unlawful use of weapons in connection with the incident, that occurred at 7:30 a.m. at the entrance to the construction site, according to Charleston police reports. A police spokesman said Price ran his truck into a group of trade union workers who were blocking the entrance to the site… MATTOON — Virgil Judge of Mattoon will be installed as district governor of District 649 of Rotary International Monday night at the Sheraton Inn. Judge, retired president of Lake Land College, was elected for his home area by delegates to the Rotary International convention in Minneapolis, Minn. As governor of District 649 he will coordinate activities of the 46 clubs in his district… MATTOON — A utility truck overturned on Illinois Route 121, three miles west of Mattoon at 6 p.m. Friday. The CIPS truck slipped off the highway and Ronald Phillips, 32, of Mattoon, the driver of the vehicle, lost control. Phillips was treated for minor injuries at Memorial Hospital and released.

25 years ago, 1999

GAYS — The village of Gays is offering a reward for the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the theft of a miniature version of the village’s two-story outhouse. The mini-doubledecker outhouse, which was placed near the full-size outhouse near the Gays Information Center, was torn off its brackets and stolen. Village workers currently are building a new mini-outhouse because it is necessary to maintain the records of people who have visited the outhouse. With national press coverage of the outhouse, visitor traffic has increased. Traffic through the village will once again be on the increase soon. A story on the two-story outhouse is going to be aired at 6:30 p.m. Friday on WGN. The full-sized, doubledecker outhouse is now 130 years old… MATTOON — After a solid high school season and American Legion summer behind the plate, the Mattoon’s Ryan Hahn will be attending Olney Central College this fall to play baseball. That’s not the extent of Hahn’s aspirations though. “I’ve always dreamed of playing professionally,” Hahn said. “That’s what I want to do, that’s what all the kids want to do.” Hahn was named to the all-Big 12 baseball team and a co-MVP for Mattoon after batting .440. He is currently batting .353 this summer for Post 88 with two doubles and two home runs in 51 at bats… MATTOON — The Planning Commission is recommending the city spend about $20,000 to have the city’s subdivision ordinance reworked. The Champaign engineering firm Daily & Associates provided that cost estimate to the commission for a process expected to take six months. John Dabrowsky of Daily’s recommends the city appoint a steering committee that would meet monthly for six months to provide direction on the ordinance revisions.