• Fred Small, on his farm in Swanville, has a successful method of scaring crows from his cornfield, having a bantam rooster in a wire cage with nest attached. Everybody knows the cockerel is a very early riser and starts in crowing at once, which keeps the crows from interfering with the corn.

• The long debated question of whether the stores shall be closed half a day each week was definitely settled at a special meeting of the Lewiston & Auburn Merchants Association held Tuesday evening. Considering the weather, the attendance was good. After less than half an hour’s discussion, it was voted to close Wednesday afternoons during July and August. The rule, however, will not go into effect until next week.

50 years ago, 1958

• The work of tearing down the Bates Hotel on Middle Street started late last week and is expected to be completed in about 90 days. The Bates is the fourth hotel in the Twin Cities to be razed in the past four years. The others were the Maine Hotel in Auburn and the Park in Lewiston, both of which came down to make way for parking lots, and the Paramount in Lewiston which gave way to a gasoline service station.

• The bid submitted by the Mack Company on a new aerial ladder truck for the Lewiston Fire Department was recommended for acceptance last night by the Fire Commission. The price of the new truck is $39,730. The new truck was not included in the department’s budget this year and will be purchased on a bond issue floated by the city.

25 years ago, 1983

Eleven-year-old Samantha Smith took off Thursday for the Soviet Union in hopes of talking to Soviet President Yuri V. Andropov who invited the girl to visit after reading her concerns about nuclear war. Her father said Thursday that such a meeting was “a strong possibility,” but that it had not been confirmed. The family plans to spend two weeks visiting Moscow, Leningrad and the Crimea. The State Department’s only comment from spokeswoman Susan Pittman was, “We hope she has a good trip.”

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