Pages past - April 20

On this date ...

1982: Police received a report that someone in a red van was trying to gain access to Cannon Air Force Base using a Sears credit card as his identification.

"That was the last we heard about the episode," Clovis News-Journal Managing Editor Bill Southard wrote in his column.

Southard said he doubted the van got past security. "Everybody knows the Main Gate only takes Master Card," he wrote.

1972: A U.S. District Court judge ruled that the cities of Lubbock and Amarillo had to allow the musical production "Hair" in city facilities.

Judge Halbert O. Woodward said he thought the musical was "totally unethical," but also said the court did not exist to critique art. "It's my job to follow the law," he said.

Officials in both cities had rejected the musical because of its content, which included a nude scene, profanity, depiction of illegal drug use and irreverence for the American flag.

Woodward did agree Lubbock could reject the musical on a night when an auditorium next door was hosting a religious crusade; but he said the city facilities had to be made available the next night.

Pages Past is compiled by Editor David Stevens. Contact him at: [email protected]