45 YEARS AGO

FEB. 28, 1979

Last week’s warm weather permitted work to proceed on a Rock Island Railway bridge over the Cottonwood River southwest of Marion.

Third grade pupils in Steve Hart’s class at Marion Elementary were well prepared for eclipse viewing Monday morning. Individual lightproof cardboard boxes allowed students to safely watch moon blocking the sun by casting an image on white paper inside the box through a pin prick in foil on the back of the box.

Charles C. Holcomb of the Corps of Engineers is conducting a survey this week to determine buildings’ potential for fallout protection. Marion County has been declared a host area. Its fallout shelters would serve as havens for planned evacuation of up to 14,000 people from Sedgwick County.

Former student Don Alcorn has rented the Lincolnville High School building. The building houses a retail store. Its gymnasium has been turned into a place where auctions can be conducted. The first auction was Saturday.

A seven-foot lemon tree, seen for many years in a window at the Western Auto Store operated in Marion by Leslie and Kathy Lunderman, has been given to the Sedgwick County Zoo. It now is at home in a jungle house at the zoo.