Looking back: School ordered to close, baby born at 29 ounces and burglars break into store

IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Jan. 20 to Jan. 26 in east Idaho history.

1900-1925

IONA — A local school was closed after there wasn’t enough “pure water” for students to drink, The Sugar City Times reported on Jan. 22, 1913.

State sanitary and pure food inspector James H. Wallis visited the Iona school and ordered the children be sent home and the school closed. It was to remain closed until the board of trustees could provide clean water for the students.

“It seems that there is no water other than the canal, and when that is frozen, as it is now, the children, some 200 of them, were obliged to be without water, which is a condition that does not meet with the approval of the official,” the paper states.

The trustees reportedly immediately started working on a solution.

1926-1950

RIGBY — A baby who weighed only 29 ounces when she was born miraculously survived and was getting ready to be discharged from the hospital, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Jan. 26, 1940.

Margarite Keller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Keller, of Rigby, was born Aug. 22, 1939. She was kept in an incubator at the LDS Hospital.

“(She) apparently has won her fight for life against overwhelming odds and has all the chance in the world of developing into the shapely beauty of maturity,” her attending physician stated.

At the time the article was written, Keller weighed five pounds and five ounces. The doctor said she was about 10 pounds underweight but once Keller starts growing, she was expected to pick up fast in both weight and size.

“Most of the danger is past now,” the doctor said. “As Margarite gains weight, she will increase her resistance to respiratory ailments, which were our greatest danger for the first two months.”

The doctor said he didn’t give her much of a chance to survive in the early months, particularly when her weight dropped to 23 ounces.

“I don’t know where her strength came from,” the doctor stated.

She was expected to leave the hospital sometime in February.

1951-1975

IDAHO FALLS — A car slid on ice and struck a train but was mostly uninjured, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Jan. 25, 1951.

Austin O. Johnson avoided a “catastrophe” with a railroad switch engine at the railroad crossing on west Broadway Wednesday evening.

While attempting to stop for the engine, Johnson’s car slid into the train. He escaped unharmed and his car only had minor damage to the fender and door.

“Another 50 feet closer, however, and he would have been hit right in the middle,” police reported.

1976-2000

PRESTON — Burglars broke into a drug store in Preston, the Preston Citizen reported on Jan. 20, 1977.

The thieves got away with about $500 in narcotic drugs, $400 in cash and $350 in checks at Mel’s Drug early Tuesday morning. The drugs stolen included various prescription narcotics including one-quarter pound of cocaine.

Sheriff Arlando Larsen said the owner Melvin Burrup, of Preston, found the burglars broke in through the roof of his store.

Larsen said the burglars used a ladder left standing against a nearby business to get onto the roof. They had a tool to break through the roof and ceiling of the store.

A hole about 10.5 inches across and 22 inches wide, “just barely large enough for a small person to squeeze through,” had been cut through the ceiling.

The investigation was ongoing.