At a meeting of the Lewiston Public Property Committee last night by a vote of 3 to 1, City Hall was let to the Athletic Association for roller skating, for a period of 16 weeks at $20 per night. W. R. Lincoln’s offer of $25 per night for the hall and also the offer of W. S. Kelley, who said he would give $25 per night for the hall and make a cash deposit of any reasonable amount the committee might desire, were turned down.

50 Years Ago, 1956

NEW YORK – Charence Birdseye, 69, whose youthful inquisitiveness led him to pioneer a quick-frozen food process, died last night of a heart attack. He had been suffering from heart trouble for a year.

Birdseye put quick-frozen, ocean fresh fish on the market in 1924. In those days even artificial refrigeration was a rarity in many American homes. Today, frozen-foods are a staple of the American supermarket.

All this, in Birdseye’s relation to the industry, grew out of a $7 investment. With it he bought an electric fan, ice cakes and salt brine – the tools in his first experiments in quick-freezing fish.

25 Years Ago, 1981

Solar energy has a friend in Governor Brennan and the Office of Energy Resources, OER Solar Program Manager Rick McGinley said. In fact, state backing for the development of solar energy was recommended as early as 1974, when the newly-formed OER released its first statewide energy plan.

According to McGinley, “It’s been the policy of the governor and this office that money spent on gas, oil and other nonrenewable energy sources: goes out of state. Money spent on solar stays in Maine, it stays in the local economy, it is spent again on local goods and services.”