1923: Barn dances are one cause of youth's downward path

1998 – 25 years ago

• Parents of students at Rochester's Gage Elementary School rejected the proposed switch to a 45-15 calendar. Eighty-five percent of the votes were against the switch. Under 45-15, students attend school for nine weeks (45 days), then get a three-week break.
• KDHL-AM announcer Gordy Hinck will broadcast his 30th straight Minnesota State High School League boys basketball tournament. (Gordy was inducted into the Minnesota State High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame for broadcasting and the Lake City Hall of Fame.)

1973 – 50 years ago

• More than $500 was raised for the March of Dimes at a teen dance at Rochester State Junior College.
• The possibility that life exists on Mars has been enhanced by photos sent by Mariner 9. (Mariner 9 was the first spacecraft to orbit another planet.)

1948 – 75 years ago

• Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, DC-4, with a crew of six and 24 Merchant Marines, has disappeared after taking off from Anchorage, Alaska. The three pilots on board were from Minnesota. The wreckage was spotted the following day, but the site was inaccessible for recovery. (The plane's wreckage was not physically found until 51 years later when two men discovered the wreckage after repeated attempts. The findings from the historical project in 1999 brought "closure" for family members.)

1923 – 100 years ago

• The rural barn dance, once a simple affair among friends and neighbors, is now a dangerous amusement for our youth. Good roads and automobiles contribute to girls as young as 14 attending these dances, many riding with young men of questionable character and loose morals. Moonshine always figures in such escapades. A recent report criticized the "apparent indifference of parents to the dangers their children are facing then they are allowed to stay out late.
• Five poker players were arrested last night by the Rochester police. The men pleaded guilty to gambling and were assessed fines ranging from $10 to $20 by the judge.