• It was a landslide for the Democrats in Lewiston yesterday, when their fondest hopes were more than realized. A sweeping Democratic victory carrying with it the Mayor and five of the seven wards.

• On every hand came words of approval of the new voting booths or stalls with doors, according to the Morey law. They worked to a charm yesterday, and their improvement over the old style booth was apparent. “There is just one thing more that we need,” suggested a prominent Republican yesterday, “and that is envelopes to put the ballots in after they are marked. The more secret we can make the voting, the better.”

50 Years Ago, 1956

• Led by a solid corps of West Paris residents, the proposal to consolidate South and West Paris High Schools into a single school at South Paris was voted down here at Paris town meeting, Monday, 581-447.

• Townspeople voted to take over the responsibility of the upkeep of the Nezinscot River dam at Turner village at the town meeting, Monday. There was a long and heated discussion on the article before it was brought to a vote. The final vote was that the town is to sell the buildings which it owns in the vicinity of the dam and apply the proceeds of this sale to upkeep of the dam.

25 Years Ago, 1981

Walter Cronkite, assuring “Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away, they just keep coming back for more,” bid farewell Friday after 19 years as anchorman of CBS’ “Evening News.”

Cronkite, his voice steady, advised his audience – about 18.5 million people on a normal evening – that the broadcast was his last as anchorman, that Dan Rather would be in his familiar place Monday night.

Cronkite acknowledged a sadness in the occasion, but said, “This is but a transition, a passing of the baton.”

The broadcast was routine, delivered in the steady Cronkite manner, until the last two minutes or so, when the anchorman reflected on nearly two decades in the job and said, “I’ll miss that.”