Local

Dec. 1, 1979: Clifford E. Cairns, who served as general manager of Wilson Foods Corp. for 16 years, died at St. John’s Lutheran Home. Cairns was active in civic affairs, serving as a director of Jobs Inc. and president of the Chamber of Commerce. He was also a director of the Albert Lea Area Vocational Technical Institute and was a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Masons and the Elks Club.

Nov. 28, 1979: The Albert Lea boxing team won seven bouts in an amateur boxing card at the Albert Lea Armory. One of the winners was Kurt Ugland of Albert Lea, who beat Joe Majeske in a 125-pound match.

Nov. 26, 1979: A Hawaiian luau was held in honor of State. Rep. Rod Searle at Cottage Café in Geneva. State Auditor Arne Carlson congratulated Searle and District 30B residents for the progress they had achieved.

 

National

2014: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a heart stent implanted, reviving talk about how long the 81-year-old liberal jurist would be staying on the court.

2009: An investigation ordered by Ireland’s government found that Roman Catholic Church leaders in Dublin had spent decades sheltering child-abusing priests from the law and that most fellow clerics had turned a blind eye.

2000: Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in the state’s presidential balloting by a 537-vote margin.

1973: President Richard Nixon’s personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she’d accidentally caused part of the 18-1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape.

1943: During World War II, the HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,138 men were killed.

1941: U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull delivered a note to Japan’s ambassador to the United States, Kichisaburo Nomura, setting forth U.S. demands for “lasting and extensive peace throughout the Pacific area.” The same day, a Japanese naval task force consisting of six aircraft carriers left the Kuril Islands, headed toward Hawaii.

1883: Former slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth died in Battle Creek, Michigan. When the Civil War started, she encouraged young African American men to join the Union cause and organized supplies for them.

1842: The founders of the University of Notre Dame arrived at the school’s present-day site near South Bend, Indiana.

1789: Americans observed a day of thanksgiving set aside by President George Washington to mark the adoption of the Constitution of the United States.