Digital Extra: The Journal's 175th Anniversary

07.21.2004

The passing news

At least two men put explosives wired to a detonator inside the night safety deposit box of a Coventry bank branch late last night and then set the explosion, apparently in hopes that the money inside would blow out their way.

The scheme woke up just about the entire town; but it didn't work.

. . .like a cannon firing in both directions at the same time, the bottom of the box, where the money was stored, went flying inside the bank.

Oct. 1, 1975

Rain or shine, thousands of volunteers will gather and tons of equipment will be massed on the banks of the Blackstone River for Project ZAP, a gigantic effort to rid the polluted waterway of litter and debris.

Sept. 9, 1972

"WOW" shouted Cincinnati third baseman Pete Rose as he rushed out of the shower, "If there ever was a more exciting baseball game, someone will have to tell me about it."

"The Red Sox just beat us and tied up the Series but that game had more ups and downs than I could count."

Oct. 22, 1975, coverage of World Series Game 6

If, through some magic dial, you could tune in on the morning pledge of allegiance in this city's schools, you might think you were listening to Radio Free Europe.

According to statistics from the state Department of Education, Central Falls has a greater variety of foreign-speaking students than any other community.

Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Arabic, Greek and Turkish-speaking students are now attending "English as a Second Language" (ESL) courses to help them adjust to a new country and its lifestyle.

July 4, 1976

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has dismissed a petition from an organization of black students at Brown University demanding more minority involvement in the school's student-run radio station, WBRU-FM.

The Organization of United African People (OUAP) had demanded that 10 minority students immediately be made voting members of the station and that 25 hours of air time be devoted to minority programming.

April 22, 1977

Saying he gets no respect, Rep. Edward P. Beard yesterday lambasted the Journal-Bulletin. He said it continually refers to him as "Eddie" and tries to portray him as a buffoon.

The congressman vowed that he will encourage a boycott of the Journal-Bulletin, which he charged with ethnic slurs and blatant prejudices against Italian-Americans.

What sparked Beard's ire were recent stories in the newspapers about his hiring of a former beauty queen as a press aide.

March 31, 1979

Concerned over a report that the amount of radioactivity in the air has increased, Governor Garrahy said last night that "there is no immediate danger to Rhode Island."

A "slightly greater" amount of radioactivity was detected in the air yesterday during a routine test by the state Division of Occupational Health and Radiation Control.

March 31, 1979, during the Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident, in Pennsylvania