A look back

By By Dr. Bill Stewart
Dec. 25, 1958-Virtually all Hartselle business houses were closed today for Christmas. Many will also take tomorrow off as well.
Dec. 25, 1958-Monty Lindsey, a sophomore at the University of the South, is spending the holidays here with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. D. D. Lindsey.
Dec. 26, 1958-The MCHS class of 1946 held a reunion tonight. Mrs. James Peck, Jr., class secretary, was most responsible for the work needed to make the event the success it was.
Dec. 26, 1958-Mrs. Eugene Vandiver, Hartselle 2, has had to be admitted to Baugh-Wiley-Smith Clinic in Decatur. Mr. and Mrs. James Depreast, Hartselle 1, were able to take their newborn son home today.
Dec. 26, 1958-Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Freeman, Jr., and sons of Atlanta arrived today for a weekend visit with their mothers and grandmothers, Mrs. J. E. Freeman and Mrs. P. W. Barclift.
Dec. 26, 1958-Mr. and Mrs. Gene Martin and daughters are the holiday guests of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Speakman at their Main Street home.
Dec. 26, 1958-The MCHS basketball Tigers began their post-Christmas play tonight on a sour note. They were beaten by Central of
Florence by the score of 59-48 in the semi-finals of the Town Creek Invitational tournament. Hartselle missed all of their free throws except for the four that David McElroy bagged.
Dec. 27, 1958-The home of Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt Groover was the setting tonight for a reunion of the MCHS class of 1948.
Dec. 28, 1958-Woodall Bros. Barbecue offered a post-Christmas barbecued turkey dinner today for the price of one dollar. The meal included dressing, English peas, potatoes, celery, and cranberry sauce.
Dec. 29, 1958-Knox McCrae was appointed tonight to succeed the late Jimmie Collier as sheriff of Morgan County. He was named both for Collier’s unexpired term and the new term he was scheduled to begin on Jan. 19. Incoming Gov. John Patterson is expected to go to court to press his argument that he, not Folsom, has the right to name the sheriff for the new term.
Dec. 29, 1958-W. E. Sheats, 77, operator of Massey’s Sheats Grocery was shot to death during a robbery attempt at his store this afternoon. Two young men were spotted leaving the store shortly after gunfire was heard from inside the business.
Dec. 30, 1958-Two men were arrested in Montgomery today in connection with the brutal murder yesterday of Massey merchant W. E. Sheats. They will be taken to the Morgan County jail tomorrow.
Dec. 31, 1958-Today is the last day to pay Morgan County real and personal property taxes without penalty. They will be delinquent beginning tomorrow, according to Tax Collector Price Bryant, and thus subject to fines and interest. Voters do have until February 1, however, to pay their poll taxes. Morgan County tax intake is expected to reach about $1.1 million for 1958.
Dec. 31, 1958-Dale Brown is now studying brain surgery at the University of Maryland. He is an MCHS graduate. Dr. Marshall Carrier, long-time practicing physician at Block-Chandler Hospital, has been inducted as a fellow in the American College of Surgeons.