100 years ago, 1912
Thursday and Friday will complete the training season of the Bates College football team. Friday is the last day that the boys will have to pile into their togs and go out onto the field for practice. On the last evening of practice which lasts till sundown will take place the historic event of burning the “tackling dummy.” The senior members of the team will take the old friend who greeted them the first day of practice, and of whom there has been none more faithful, upon their shoulders, and to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne.” With the rest of the squad following behind, they will march to Parker Hall. There, just after the sun has dropped below Mt. David, they will touch fire to the sturdy old comrade.

50 years ago, 1962
Did you get a letter with a questionnaire from the Draft Board recently? Don’t worry about it. Recently, many local residents have received such questionnaires and most of them have been in the “pushing 40” category. A spokesman for the local office, which takes in all of Androscoggin County, said the mailings started on Nov. 7, 1960, and while there was a pause for awhile, it is being resumed again. Actually the program is aimed at setting up a listing of occupations held by those who are registered with the system. The purpose is to have available a listing of occupations for use in the event of war or other national emergency, the office said. The Cuban crisis has absolutely nothing to do with it, as the starting date of the program indicates.

25 years ago, 1987
User fees for wastewater treatment in the Twin Cities are expected to rise substantially over the next few years as city officials try to grapple with sharply rising sludge disposal costs. Lucien B. Gosselin, chairman of the Lewiston-Auburn Water Pollution Control Authority, said Friday that a three-pronged approach being studied by the authority will only slow the fee hikes, not eliminate them. State environmental officials have indicated that the present sludge dump off River Road, Lewiston, must be shut down, leaving the authority with no choice but to find more expensive alternatives.