Monday, October 22, 2012

20 YEARS AGO

Because of overcrowding and a court order, Monroe County released 133 inmates from the jail in September. Of the 133 released, 18 were charged with violent felonies.

A zoologist hacked his way through fallen mangroves on Key Largo after Hurricane Andrew to rescue the endangered Stock Island Tree snail from certain extinction.

The U.S. Customs Service questioned the military report on the MIG that landed undetected at the Naval Air Station in March 1991, and said a surprise attack from Cuba was possible.

50 YEARS AGO

President John F. Kennedy, in a national broadcast, ordered the Navy to place a quarantine on all shipping to Cuba and to stop all offensive weapons headed to the island.

The Naval Station was on high security, with newsmen prohibited to enter the base except as passengers on the Conch Train that was running as usual, touring the station.

An Army encampment on Grassy Key over the weekend moved, overnight, to Sugarloaf Key. On the bases, liberty had been restricted and leaves canceled.