Way back when: Today in history
BY GENE CURTIS
Friday, February 22, 2013
2/22/13 at 3:01 AM
1935 - Dust begrimes Tulsa
A blinding dust storm carrying topsoil from western Kansas and Nebraska swept into Oklahoma, causing breathing problems and hampering automobile traffic in Tulsa for several hours. The wind deposited thick dust in homes, office buildings and on highways on its move toward Mexico. Black blizzards had plagued western Oklahoma for several years, stemming from severe drought and overplowed and overgrazed land. And the worst was yet to come. Although it wasn't the last, and possibly not the worst, the most infamous black blizzard hit on April 14, 1935, a day that became known as "Black Sunday."
1967 - Sukarno surrenders
Indonesian President Sukarno surrendered his executive authority - but kept his title - to General Haji Mohammad Suharto "for the sake of the people and the country." It was believed that Sukarno stepped down to avoid being tried as a traitor to the country he had led as a one-man ruler for 21 years. Suharto had agreed that Sukarno would not be tried for complicity in a Communist coup that failed in 1965. Suharto let Sukarno keep his presidential title to avoid problems with the 109 million Indonesians, many of whom regarded the president as a God-like figure.
2006 -Shrine destroyed
The golden dome of the 1,200-year-old Askariya shrine, one of Iraq's holiest, was reduced to rubble by insurgents posing as police, setting off sectarian violence that resulted in at least 19 people being killed. In predominantly Shiite Basra, police said militiamen broke into a prison, hauled out 12 inmates and shot them dead in reprisal for the shrine attack. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair condemned the bombing and pledged funds toward the shrine's reconstruction.
2011 - Pirates kill Americans
Four Americans, including a couple who had been sailing around the world since 2004 handing out Bibles, were killed by pirates on a yacht south of Oman as U.S. officials tried to negotiate by radio with the captors. Two of the pirates were killed and 13 others were captured by naval forces from four U.S. warships that had shadowed the yacht for several days. The yacht Quest was the home of Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., who had been sailing around the world since December 2004. Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle, members of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club, had recently joined the couple.
Associated Images:
Pilgrims walk in front of the golden dome shrine two years before it was destroyed by insurgents. AP file
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