Tag: David Andrews

Amandour Prison’s Final Inmate

In 1980 the only remaining state correctional facility within the city limits – Amandour Prison – closed its heavy iron door for last time. The order to shut down the facility, once home to as many as 494 inmates, actually…

Rare City Documents Burned

Fire Commissioner Gordon ‘Chick’ Hall reports that an electrical fire in the 4th Floor Records Room at Old City Hall early Saturday morning destroyed some of the city’s most irreplaceable historical treasures. The blaze was discovered by third-shift security guard…

Friday Facts: Light the Tree, Sell the Books

:: Number of variations on “LED” used by various speakers during Thursday’s municipal Holiday Fest tree-lighting ceremony at Old City Hall: 7 (“LDE,” “LDD,” “LLD,” “Lead,” “DL,” “Leed,” and “Magic bulbs.”) :: Number of killowatt hours saved by the widely-touted…

Wanted: New City Slogan

Mayor Wilders will announce at a press conference today a competition to create a new “city slogan,” sponsored jointly by the Valley Regional Tourism Commission (VRTC) and the Chamber of Commerce. The competition is part of the VRTC’s promotional “Silent…

Friday Facts: 311 is Not a Joke

:: Today, at 5pm, the city’s Office for Information and Complaints hotline will shut down after 33 years of service. It will be subsumed into the city’s new 311 information service. :: Number of staffers for the hotline in 1974:…

The Lost Windfall of the Colpo di Fortuna Due

The last will and testament of world-renowned sculptor Oliver Henry Munro (1913 – 2007), whose 1940 masterwork Colpo di Fortuna was credited with inspiring insurgents who liberated Ethiopia from Italian fascists, awarded his follow-up piece, Colpo di Fortuna Due, to…