100 years ago, 1917
Columns upon columns have bean printed about the Lewiston police bill but little mention of an Auburn police bill, we believe, has crept into the papers. One made its appearance Thursday morning, however, in the House of Representatives. It provides for a police commission of three, not more than two of whom shall be of the same political party and one of whom shall be a physician and surgeon. The force is to consist of a chief and a deputy chief, each appointed for four years, and five patrolmen each of whom shall serve until he reaches the age of sixty. This was introduced by Garcelon of Auburn and will be considered by the committee on judiciary.

50 years ago, 1967
An Auburn young man is finding his Peace Corps assignment in Africa “more challenging, exciting, demanding and fulfilling” than he had anticipated. In his first letter home to his parents, Marc Cloutier, 24, of 115 Gamage Ave., Auburn, now in Nairobi, Kenya, said he was anxious to get at his job in the Peace Corps. He described Nairobi as “the city in the sun” and went on to say it was “undoubtedly the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. It’s like a giant garden, he said.

25 years ago, 1992
The driver of a fully loaded pulp truck made the right decision Thursday but still ended up nose-down over an embankment. No one was injured in the accident on the rotary at Washington Street, but traffic was backed up for close to two hours. “The driver had to make a decision, ” said Auburn Police Department Officer Steven Ray, who investigated the accident. Ray said, “Vehicles in front of him were stopped, so he chose not to rear-end them — possibly kill them — so he went straight across (the island) instead.” The truck, which destroyed a guardrail behind the former Seltzer & Rydholm building, could not be pulled back onto the highway without first unloading the logs, Ray said. “Luckily, an empty pulp truck came by and the driver offered to help,” he said.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors made at that time may be edited.