San Quentin for Man Who Shot Boy Scout – From Front Page Today in 1949

If you turn to the front page of the weekly El Cerrito Journal for today, June 23, in 1949, you can glimpse our community in its post-war growth years. Here are some of the actual headlines from the paper's front page, followed by our brief summaries of the articles: 

Arthur Weeks
Imprisoned on
Shooting Boy

Arthur Weeks of El Cerrito was sentenced to serve between one and 10 years in San Quentin for shooting a 12-year-old Boy Scout who had stopped with a companion to examine Weeks' tractor. The sentence, handed down in Superior Court in Martinez, follows the incident last spring when Weeks came out of his house with a 20-20 rifle after spotting John Chenevert and a companion at Weeks' tractor, parked in a vacant lot at Liberty and Waldo streets. The police report said Weeks shot the boy in the back.

Cerrito Police
Warn Against
Firecrackers

El Cerrito police issued a stern warning against the possession or use of firecrackers in the city limits. Violators could face up to six months in jail or a fine of $500 or both, said Captain Howard Thulin. Firecrackers have caused injuries and damage to property from fires, police said. 

Cerrito House Wife Offers
C of C New Program Plan

Mrs. Betty Reitz, the well-known former president of the Fairmont School P-TA, told the weekly luncheon of the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce that the city businesses do not offer everything that local housewives need and fail to help the development of the community. "We are fully aware that a large majority of household needs may be purchased right here at home," she said, "but there are many other items for which we are obliged to shop elsewhere." She also told the chamber members, "The El Cerrito housewife is anxious to support the business people of our city. But we are held back, because so many of the merchants fail to take an individual interest in the development of the community and its various organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, which aims to assist them."

Reverend, Mrs. Tarr
Motor to Pennsylvania

The Rev. Robert H. Tarr, pastor of Community Methodist Church, and his wife are traveling by car to Pennsylvania, where he will attend Army chaplain school. They left last week and plan to stay in Pennsylvania for six weeks. 

Click  for other vignettes we've published about El Cerrito history. Click the Keep the Keep me posted button below for alerts to future articles in this series. You can find some back issues of the El Cerrito Journal at the Shadi Historical Room at City Hall, open to the public on the third Thursday of each month, 4:30-6 p.m.