Moments in time

1983 — Pelican press Hurricane Special June 2. A Mercedes might have been better-suited as a swamp buggy after high winds and rain caused flooding on much of Siesta Key after Hurricane Agnes, in June 1972.

1989 — JUNE 1. Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport authority members agreed to hire a new executive director. Their selection was Richard Vacar, formerly with the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, in California. Forty-two-year-old Vacar left his $65,000 a year California job with Lockhead Airport Terminal for the Sarasota job, which offered $75,000 a year; a $350-per-month car allowance; and about $14,000 for moving expenses. Vacar started his position amid controversy, because Al McDill, who’d formerly held the position, had been ousted.

1977 — JUNE 2. Thomas A. Reedy, a distinguished journalist with 37 years of experience as a White House reporter, columnist and war correspondent, retired to Siesta Key. He made a considerable contribution to the Associated Press. “You see, AP was everywhere history was made,” Reedy said in the 1977 interview. During his career, he reported on the hanging at Nuremberg. He described the six hours he spent waiting to see if the executions were carried out as the worst six hours of his life. A few of Reedy’s other career milestones included the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the six-day war in 1967, in Israel; and Harry Truman’s announcement of the surrender of Japan. “All he said was, ‘Japan has surrendered. Now get the hell out of here.’” According to Reedy, it was the shortest press conference in history.