100 years ago, 1917
The evils of the kitchen bar room are brought forcibly to mind by a case that Sheriff Stevens’ officer has recently hunted out in Lewiston. Certain children have been known to be intoxicated. The officers are confident that the children have gotten the liquor in their own home. The deputies are informed that it has been the habit of the customers to include the children in invitations to “set ’em up all around” and that the children have drunk. The more drinks the more profits to the house. This may have been done without the consent of the proprietor, It is inconceivable that a mother would permit it if she knew it, or if she could avoid it, but it might occur against her will and in ways of which she were not informed. The complaint is not as much against her as against the conditions made possible by such places where liquors are dispensed behind barred doors, where children live, where they see drinking, hear rough language and learn early the ways of evil.

50 years ago, 1967
Winter weather, or not. Saturday’s temperatures soared to the high fifties. It was ideal for a winter season cookout, with a few uninvited guests. At 3:15 p m., an unidentified family in the Old Greene Road area of Lewiston, was out in the woods having a cookout. A passerby spotted smoke coming from the woods, and the Lewiston Fire Department was summoned. Several pieces of fire fighting apparatus were dispatched to the scene, but the only fire the fire fighters found was that of the grill and moments later they returned to their quarters to prepare their own meal in their inside kitchen.

25 years ago, 1992
Norway town officials, facing the state’s third-highest per capita welfare costs, will embark next week on an innovative new program to help recipients move from the welfare rolls to payrolls. Recipients who fail to attend weekly education workshops, without legitimate reasons, may lose benefits, a town official said.

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