This week in Tosa history: May 5

May 6, 2014

1937

· Most Wauwatosa builders don't agree with fire chief J.C. Lefeber's statement that the small windows in modern homes create a fire hazard, it was revealed last week. Officials of four building and construction companies thought the chief's statement was "far-fetched" while one agreed wholeheartedly.

· Editorial excerpt: May 9 is Mother's Day, but it shouldn't be the only way we pay tribute to those blessed women. Mothers love and work for their children every day of the year, and the children should do the same for their mothers. Thomas Edison once said, "I did not have my mother long, but she cast over me an influence which has lasted all my life."

1963

· With spring cleanup time here, Wauwatosa Detective Sergeant William Moore warns that there are unscrupulous men who prey upon unsuspecting homeowners by offering to perform minor repairs to chimneys or roofs. "They insist on payment for their work in advance and fail to show up to perform the work," he said. "When they solicit, ask for identification. Honest repairmen will have no objection to this."

· Wauwatosans will receive advertising from all over the country next weekend when a souvenir cachet of the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs will be mailed from the group's 32nd annual convention in this city. Visitors will purchase the souvenirs and mail them to themselves or other collectors everywhere with the cancelation being here, not Milwaukee, a club officer said.

1988

· Editorial: Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's new report confirms what's already known about the harm of cigarettes and raises some new concerns: Should we sell cigarettes in vending machines? Should we allow samples to be sent through the mail? Can — or should — smoking be made unacceptable in society?

· You know the sausage lady? The one at the supermarket who stands behind a portable cooker, stabbing bits of meat with a toothpick and offering them to people for free? Such handouts are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. With the "me" generation out to make a fast buck, what was once free now has a price tag. It's rare to find something for nothing, and even the sausage ladies are disappearing.

Anthony Aveni compiles this weekly column using Wauwatosa Historical Society archives. Contact him at aaveni@ameritech.net.

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