Moments in Time – April 17, 2024

#MiddleburyCT

• On April 29, 2004, the World War II Memorial opened in Washington, D.C. The granite and bronze monument stands on 7.4 acres on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the National Mall, between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
• On April 30, 1993, tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades by Gunter Parche during a match in Hamburg. Parche, a fan of German tennis star Steffi Graf, apparently hoped that by injuring Seles, his idol would be able to regain her No. 1 ranking.
• On May 1, 1963, Gloria Steinem published the first half of “A Bunny’s Tale” in SHOW magazine, recounting her brief stint as a Bunny in Manhattan’s Playboy Club. Steinem’s undercover reporting revealed a culture of misogyny and exploitation behind the glamorous facade of Hugh Hefner’s empire.
• On May 2, 1924, Patrick Mahon was arrested at London’s Waterloo train station on suspicion of murder. He was executed later that year for killing his pregnant mistress, but an important innovation resulted from the crime scene: The officers, who had no gloves, were forced to handle the victim’s remains with their bare hands. After the investigation, rubber gloves became standard equipment at murder scenes.
• On May 3, 1980, 13-year-old Cari Lightner of Fair Oaks, California, was walking to a church carnival when she was struck and killed by an out-of-control car driven by an intoxicated Clarence Busch. Her death led her mother, Candy Lightner, to found the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which would grow into one of the country’s most influential nonprofit organizations.
• On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island, which was founded by the most radical religious dissenters from the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony, became the first North American colony to renounce its allegiance to King George III. It would also be the last state to ratify the new American Constitution more than 14 years later.
• On May 5, 1816, the first published poem by John Keats, the sonnet “To Solitude”, appeared in the London journal The Examiner. Keats’ sadly brief but overall brilliant span of work includes “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” and “Ode to a Nightingale.”

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