The Tooele Transcript Bulletin has published Tooele County news since 1894. Here is a flashback of local front-page news from 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago that occurred during the third week of April.
April 20-22, 1993
Jim Courter, chairman of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, was scheduled to tour Tooele Army Depot’s $110 million Consolidated Maintenance Facility, according to a front-page story.
The commission chairman’s visit stemmed from a recommendation by Secretary of Defense Les Aspin that the depot’s new CMF be realigned to Red River Army Depot, Texarkana, Texas.
The announcement made in March was met with immediate protest by state and local officials who promised to fight the recommendation.
Later in the week, a front-page story featured Courter’s visit to TEAD.
Courter said that the presidential commission responsible for evaluating military bases is aware of the emotional hardship a realigned TEAD would cause for the local area.
Yet, the decision on TEAD’s future had to be focused on factual criteria and not emotions.
“When you are looking at a decision that will affect Tooele dramatically with a tremendous dislocation of 30 to 35 percent additional unemployment — we know what that means,” Courter said.
April 16-19, 1968
The Tooele County Commissioners passed a resolution supporting a petition submitted to them asking for an end to the both-sexes deer hunt on the Stansbury and Heaston ranges.
The petition, which contained more than 1,500 signatures from all over the state, was presented to Commissioner George Buzianis with a request that he pass it on to the governor.
Commissioner Sterling Halladay said that the accessibility of the ranges made it too simple for hunters from Salt Lake City to drive out after work and bag their doe before dark.
In a front-page story, Utah Rep. Sherman Lloyd described riots in Washington D.C. during a speech at Grantsville High School.
He said youths were walking down the main streets of town with steel balls attached to the tops of umbrellas. The steel balls were swung back and forth as the youths walked shattering store windows.
He said police were afraid to shoot at rioters and arsonists because it might spark more violence.
April 20-23, 1943
The Tooele County health nurse reported that 246 people received their first inoculation for typhoid, and 485 received stimulating shots at the clinic held at the courthouse.
The response was somewhat short of what was expected and additional times for inoculations were scheduled for later in the week.
Stimulating shots were designed to vitalize the previous year’s typhoid inoculations.
Later in the week, the front page featured a story on a shortage of workers at Tooele Smelter, Elton Tunnel and Bauer.
An estimated 200 more men were needed and Tooele residents were urged to invite friends and relatives who were not employed to come to Tooele and assist in the production of metal, a vital need for the war effort.
April 19, 1918
The front page featured a message from U.S. Army Gen. John Pershing, commander in France, to the women of the United States.
“Any woman who has a husband, brother, sweetheart or relative in foreign service should write long cheerful letters telling everything that happens in the ‘the old hometown.’ The men here are hungry for news, and the things that seem like trivial happenings at home will be of the greatest interest to the men.”
Staff Writer Mark Watson compiled this report