It was August and the temperatures were soaring in 1990.
Does that sound familiar? At this time of the year we usually are complaining about the weather.
It is either too hot, too dry or too wet. You know how it is; we all have to complain about something.
Yes, it is hot, and my air conditioner in my vehicle is broken.
I am trying to tell myself to just roll down the windows and enjoy the fresh air.
So far, it’s not working too well. Anyway, the kids were getting ready to go back to school and many of them were at football practice or band practice.
Coaches and band directors tried all sorts of things to keep the kids from dropping like flies.
The big news of this time period was the grand opening of the new YMCA.
Workers were really proud of the fact that by the day of the grand opening, 900 new memberships had been sold.
The news of the Y was carried through several issues of the newspaper of the day, and it was reported that maybe as many as 1,500 people showed up for the grand opening.
I was not one of those. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Y.
At that time I was neck deep with compiling as much genealogy as I could.
This means many trips to the library or some old hall of records somewhere. I did not have the time to go to the Y.
Later I did join, but as I never made the time to use my membership, I stopped going. Considering the fact that I am now old, over weight, and not in the best of health, I guess I should have tried harder.
In other news of the day, Sheriff Tim Hawsey asked the county commission for additional funds for his budget.
This is an on-going problem with law enforcement.
I don’t know the answer and apparently they don’t either.
The only good answer is for people to obey the law. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?
There was a freak accident on St. Nicholas Avenue when an 18 wheeler lost one of its tie-downs, which landed on the windshield of a motorist and shattered the back window of a pickup.
It was just lucky that the driver and passenger of the pickup were covered in broken glass but had no life-threatening injuries.
That is just like fate.
You end up in the wrong place at the wrong time and you, too, can be in trouble before you know it.
Two new cases of AIDS was reported in Escambia County bringing the total to six in the epidemic that seemed to be happening all over.
I can remember talking with friends about AIDS and worrying about which information we had heard was true or not. With time, I guess we get used to anything.
There are still way too many people who contract this disease, but I guess it has lost its punch for many of us.
Twenty five years ago we were still reading the old column done by Peggy Bracken on how to can your own food and George Grizzard was still giving his comical comments on the state of the world.
I must admit, I loved to read both of their columns, especially Peggy’s.
She was such a nice lady.
I venture to say that you couldn’t find anyone in this area who did not like her.
She always had a smile on her face.
Sadly, there was news of the Ritz Theater being torn down.
It was noted that the marque was being saved for future use.

Lydia Grimes is the features reporter for The Brewton Standard. She can be contacted at 867.4876.