• There are many empty houses in Kittery at the present time than for seven or eight years and the number seems to increase instead of diminishing for new “to let” signs appear every few days. The slack condition of work at the navy yard is of course the cause of the trouble.

• Up in Oxford County, there came near being a frost Sunday night and the Portland Press is responsible for the statement that ice formed just over the line in Conway.

• The Boston & Maine station in Saco will be lighted by electricity hereafter instead of by gas.

50 Years Ago, 1956

Maine’s Sea and Shore Fisheries Department is continuing its battle with predators threatening the state’s dwindling soft-shell clam resources, according to a report released this week by research division officials.

The chief weapon is the anti-crab fence which has been used with varying degrees of success to protect certain coastal flats since 1952.

An anti-crab fence project was just completed at Blue Hill and others have been put in at Chebeague Island, Harpswell, Wells, Isleboro, Bremen and Stockton Springs.

25 Years Ago, 1981

The Department of Energy on Thursday granted D.W. Small and Sons Inc. conditional approval of a federal loan guarantee for part of the cost of a proposed $128 million ethanol plant in Auburn, and a company spokesman says construction could start in about a year.

“We’re ecstatic,” project manager Raymond Rossignol said, “We have been working on this project for two years.”

The plant would produce 25 million gallons of ethanol annually and would employ 100 persons.