April 16
By Holly Kozelsky and Pat Pion
100 Years ago – 1924
S.E. Scales was fined $36.10, including court costs, for reckless driving. He had been apprehended one mile south of Martinsville by Officer O.T McCraig, accused of running into several automobiles, damaging them slightly. He arraigned before the Mayor’s Court, where he was fined.
75 years ago – 1949
Three Fort Bragg soldiers were in custody and admitted armed robberies at Norton’s Café in Bassett and the Hilltop Service Station near Rocky Mount the week prior. The first clue was an automobile stolen in Hillsville a couple of weeks before. An investigator said the men confessed to have driven the Buick to Martinsville, where they left it to go off in a Chrysler sedan stlen from Irvin Tuggle. The investigation was conducted by Military Police and FBI agents.
1960
Local anglers were chomping at the bit for trout season to open in a few days. Local streams had been stocked and the brown trout and rainbow trout were ready and waiting. The temptation was looming large. Game Warden Edgar T. Lemons discovered a resident fishing in trout waters before the opening of the season and illegally possessing a trout less than 48 hours before the opening of the season. The woman would be answering charges in Henry County Court.
The SCA of Bassett High School sponsored Religious Emphasis Week in observance of Easter, highlighted by a daily devotional period, which the school population attended, in the auditorium at 8:45 a.m. The daily morning worship included inspirational readings, scripture, musical offerings and prayer.
50 years ago – 1974
A smoking section was being considered for Martinsville’s buses. It was in reaction to a request to the State Corporation Commission to adopt a resolution limiting smoking on buses involved on intrastate transportation to 20% of the seats. The City had taken over the former City Transit Co. the previous summer, and it retained its SCC authorization to transport charter groups outside the city, so that proposed rule would apply. Raymon W. Loman, the City’s bus system director, told the Martinsville Bulletin that smoking wasn’t a big problem on local buses because only four or five people generally rode at a time, but he could see how it would be a problem in buses in big cities. Due to insurance rules, city buses already had “No Smoking” signs posted, but that was not enforced. Because of the energy crisis, the City was looking into operating a large scale mass transit system, and if that came into being, then smoking limitations would matter.
25 years ago - 1999
Construction began on the Blue Ridge Rehab Center to double its size, which was 300 beds at the time. The expansion included building the 68-bed assisted living center.
— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin accessed on microfilm at the Martinsville Branch Library.