Banner 5-12-2022

The Hastings Banner — Thursday, May 12, 2022 — Page 7

Elaine Garlock

The Ionia County Genealogy Society will

meet at the museum on Emerson Street in

Lake Odessa at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 14.

Sunday’s Grand Rapids Press had a story

of the city’s observance of Cinco de Mayo

event. this event has grown in size over the

years as people meet to celebrate the Mexican

army’s victory over France at the Battle of

Puebla during the second Franco-Mexican

War. Chairman of the event was Lupe

Ramos-Montigny, who years ago was a

Lake Odessa resident and a teacher at West

Elementary School. She is currently a mem-

ber of the Michigan Board of Education.

During her years here, she resided at the Yon-

kers home.

The downtown streets are lined with trees

bearing beautiful white blossoms. Many such

trees also grace the lawns of some residences.

The forsythia bushes have been beautiful this

year. Flowering quince bushes are just com-

ing into bloom with their red petals ready to

have their run of the few weeks of beauty.

Tulips are blooming. Daffodils are a bit past

their peak.

Traffic at Lakeside Cemetery is increasing

as people prepare urns for the summer. The

greenhouse is a busy place, now open seven

days each week.

At Central United Methodist Church, the

visiting pastor will be Rev. Craig Adams who

has often filled the pulpit here. Pastor Paul

Wissman IV will be on vacation.

Banner begins another year of

continuous publication Conclusion

This newspaper first hit the “streets” of a
small wooded town May 1, 1856. For the next
165 years, it has been printed every week,
without exception, and sometimes more fre-
quently. For a month in the late summer of
1871, The Banner was printed daily, in the
evening, covering a murder trial involving two
men from Manistee. And for a while in the
1970s, the paper was printed twice each week.
Otherwise, it has been a Thursday staple,
delivering the news of Hastings and Barry
County since before the U.S. Civil War.
Last week’s column provided a brief histo-
ry of The Banner, along with various photos
from the 1960s. Those photos continue here,
focusing more on the acquisition of a new
press. Whether that event warranted its own
article is unknown (microfilmed copies of the
paper are currently unavailable as the publi-
cation is being digitized). However, the seem-
ingly simple addition of a new mail slot at the
newspaper office was the subject of a humor-
ous article in 1938 (see separate article).

Just the right line-up in space

Dear Dr. Universe:

How do scientists know how to predict a

solar eclipse?

Beau, 11.

Dear Beau,

Before humans even knew how to pre-

dict solar eclipses, they were fascinated

with the phenomenon. To figure out how to

predict an eclipse, astronomers asked lots

of questions and made observations about

the motion of our moon, sun and Earth.

My friend Jose Vazquez, an astronomer

at Washington State University, told me all

about it.

“It took centuries to figure it out,” he

said. “It was a journey.”

A total solar eclipse happens when the

sun, moon and Earth are lined up just right,

and for a few minutes, the moon blocks the

Earth’s view of the sun. During a total solar

eclipse, the moon casts its shadow down to

some places on Earth.

Vazquez also mentioned about the Greek

astronomer Hipparchus who was really

curious about the moon. Using knowledge

from early astronomers, he studied lunar

eclipses – that is, when the moon passes

into the Earth’s shadow. He watched the

night sky and recorded his observations

about the moon.

Maybe you can try this, too. Every day

for a week, stand in the same spot outside

your house at the same time each night.

You may notice that the moon seems to

move across the sky west to east.

When Hipparchus was studying the

moon, his models were based on an idea

that the moon orbited Earth in a circle.

About 400 years later, Claudius Ptolemy

would use mathematics to show many

objects in our solar system orbit in a circle.

But today, we know that isn’t the case.

The astronomer Johannes Keppler creat-

ed a more accurate model and showed us

that the moon orbits Earth in a shape called

an ellipse. You can imagine this shape by

taking a hula hoop circle and squashing it

on one side so it forms more of an oval.

Also, the moon doesn’t move in a per-

fectly straight path in its orbit. It sort of

goes up and down as it moves along its

path.

Through watching the sky and observing

the patterns and orbits that the moon, sun

and Earth follow, astronomers can help

determine when the three objects will line

up. They can make an educated guess

about when the eclipse will happen.

While many people, including in the

ancient Mayan, Babylonian and Chinese

civilizations, have observed solar eclipses

and recorded their observations, astrono-

mer Edmond Halley used mathematics to

get some of the most accurate predictions

in 1715. These days, we also use comput-

ers that make calculations to help predict

eclipses.

Believe it or not, scientists at NASA are

now able to predict eclipses for the next

1,000 years.

If you’re curious about upcoming solar

eclipses, you can also visit NASA’s data-

base. They make it easy for anyone around

the world to know when they can catch the

next solar eclipse.

Dr. Universe

Do you have a question? Ask Dr. Uni-

verse. Send an email to Washington State

University’s resident scientist and writer at

[email protected] or visit her website,

askdruniverse.com.

Paper pokes fun at its progress

Owner-editors Marshall and William

Cook would have been in their late and

early 70s, respectively, when the June 9,

1938, Banner was published. Whether they

were the writers of the self-deprecating

humor behind an article about a new mail

slot at The Banner office is not clear.

The newspaper and printing office at the

time – and for much of The Banner’s histo-

ry – was on the southeast corner of State

and Church streets in downtown Hastings,

now occupied by the Seasonal Grille

restaurant. This was along with main corri-

dor of business, across from the court-

house, and not far from city hall/fire

department building at State and Broad-

way. Likely others in this busy area were

evolving, adapting to new ways of doing

business or connecting with people. So,

The Banner in early summer 1938

announced its own forward progress:

Ring out the old; ring in the new

After many a decade, The Banner has

succumbed to the lure of a “modern”

invention. The front door has been pierced,

and a mail slot inserted for copy, letters of

protest or other material that may be ready

for delivery during the hours when the

office is closed.

The Civil War came and went; Louis

Napoleon bowed to Bismarck at Sedan: Yan-

kee troops [aided] Cuba and the Philippines;

an Austrian archduke was murdered at Sara-

jevo, precipitating a war of world propor-

tions; the New Deal came and is still going

All of these events and more flashed

across the current stage and pass on into

history while the old brass handle on the

front door served as a recipient for stray

copy, and the crevice between the two

doors – which grew in erratic wideness

through the weathering of the years –

formed a useful slit into which envelopes

and other bits of material could be jammed.

It was a pleasant sight at morning and

noon to see the old brass handle abloom

with rolled-up bits of stationery, and the

crevice bright with envelopes of different

hue.

But the old order passeth. An age-worn

(some say worm-eaten) custom has been

brought to an end. “Modern” invention

treads the world with relentless step. With

misty eye, we bow to the inevitable, yet,

with the addition of our mail slot, look

forward with optimism to a new era of

service.

Seriously, however, a mail box slit has

been placed in the front door of the Banner

Office for those who care to use it. We trust

that it will be found convenient. If, on the

contrary, you still prefer to use the old

brass handle or the slit between the doors,

Dec. 29, 1960, VISITOR INSPECTS NEW PRESS – Theodore Ntoampe (left), a please feel at liberty to do so.

University of Michigan student from South Africa, was a guest of Mr. and Mrs. Robert

Shannon over Christmas and visited The Banner Saturday. Here publishers Richard M.

Cook and Harry Foster (right) are showing him the new Copilith Standard Offset press

recently installed in The Banner shop. The new offset press is ideal for producing first-class

commercial half-tone and color work. The new press has a top speed of 7,000 impressions

an hour. Theodore is a newspaper editor, poet and politician in his own country.

Ready to be assembled, parts of a Miehle press crated and stacked on a trailer are delivered to The Banner’s downtown
Hastings office in the 1960s. Stopping for a photo as the rigging crews from Emerson Machinery in Kalamazoo begin unloading
the crates are Banner owner Dick Cook (far right), press superintendent Russell Kimmell (second from right), and perhaps a sales-
man. The Hastings Hotel can be seen in the background. That property is now occupied by the movie theater and the spray plaza.

Aug. 22, 1963, SELF-SERVICE
BANNERS – Starting next Wednesday,
The Hastings Banner for the first time in
over a century will be made available to
Hastings area readers Wednesday after-
noon on newsstands and from self-ser-
vice racks such as this. These automatic
dispensers will be located at the Banner
office, Felpausch Food Center, Kroger
and A&P. The Banner also will be avail-
able at newsstands in Hastings at the
Superette, Lapo (Taffee) Pharmacy, City
Food & Beverage, Barn Market, Gardner’s
Pharmacy, Goodner’s Grocery, Jacobs
Pharmacy, Northview Grocery,
Ockerman’s Service, Reynolds’ News
Service, Riverview Grocery, Southview
Grocery, Tinkler’s Grocery and The
Willows at Algonquin Lake. It is planned
to extend this service throughout the
county in the near future.

For more than a century, The Banner was compiled and printed in tight quarters at

the corner of South Church and West State streets in downtown Hastings. The upper

floor also was often used as a community meeting room. After the Cooks sold the

paper, the family still devoted a portion of the building to printing, and also sold office

supplies and German wine. The corner property is currently occupied by the Seasonal

Grille restaurant.

A new printing press is delivered to The Banner in the 1960s, along South Church

Street, about where the outdoor dining tables are currently set up for the current occu-

pant, Seasonal Grille. Looking at this and two accompanying photos (not published),

current Banner owner Fred Jacobs said the new Miehle press was a sheet-fed,

multi-colored commercial machine. It likely was shipped from New York, and rigging

crews from Emerson Machinery Moving Co. in Kalamazoo delivered the press in piec-

es. Another crew would then come in and set up the press.