100 years ago: 1918

Miss Lenora Chaplin, Lewiston-Auburn’s first Red Cross nurse, has been in town on a short furlough from duty. She is in-service at the temporary camp at Mineola, N. Y., where is there is a military hospital of 1500 beds. It is expected that the camp will be broken by this fall, and Miss Chaplin expects to be called soon for overseas service. Miss Chaplin will be entitled to rank, of Lieutenant. Miss Chaplin plans to spend part of her furlough at her parents home in Bangor.

50 years ago: 1968

Gov. Curtis said today that Maine will find itself at the “crossroads” this November and voters can choose either to improve the quality of Maine life or simply maintain the status quo. In a prepared speech to Democratic legislative candidates, Curtis said one of the major tasks of the 104th legislature will be tax reform. He said new revenue would be necessary but didn’t say how much or how it would be raised. Curtis did say, however, that answering the needs of Maine will be expensive. “We are fooling nobody if we assert that progress comes cheap,” he declared. Tax reform, he went on, would not be restricted to the state level. The system of assessing and collecting property taxes needs improvement, he said adding that recommendations to a accomplish reform in this area will be among the most important issues to be faced.” Curtis listed other legislative priorities as: More money for higher education; improvement of the system of paying state subsidies for local schools and reestablishing a state scholarship program; curbing the powers of the Executive Council, “if possible ‘eliminating that facet of our government.'”

25 years ago: 1993

The Great Falls Dog Obedience Club is starting a new dog obedience class beginning Wednesday at Fairview School. The class is open to all puppies and dogs 4 months and older. The beginners class is at 6 p.m. and the advanced class at 7 p.m. To register and for more information, call the club’s trainer, Diane Harrington, at 784-7578.

The material in Looking Back is reproduced exactly as it originally appeared, although misspellings and errors may be corrected.