Read more about Jan. 9, 1998, in the SunJournal.com archives.

100 Years ago: 1923

At the Shoe and Leather bank in Auburn, the board and officers were re-elected. At the Manufacturer’s bank, Charles Roy was added to the directorate.

50 Years Ago: 1973

Miss Charlotte Michaud will be a guest of the Richelieu Club at its monthly dinner meeting Wednesday. Dinner will be served at 6:30 o’clock at Happy Jacks Restaurant and at its conclusion Miss Michaud will be introduced. She will speak on the History of the Franco American. Miss Michaud serves on the Lewiston Historical Commission as a director of the Board of the Franco American Historical Center.

25 Years Ago: 1998

With power out across much of Maine, anyone interested in learning what was happening next had few choices for their news source: Battery-powered radios or newspapers.

And Maine’s newspapers were struggling to get printed, then distributed.

The Sun Journal took extraordinary steps to assure publication Friday, including calling in reporters and editors early and having its regional gathering teams file its stories and photos on shortened deadlines. The Sun Journal also printed 40,000 copies of a special 16-page storm edition for a combined Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. The newspapers, which serve north-central Maine, saw their printing capabilities short-circuited by ice-induced power outages. Such reciprocal emergency printing agreements are a tradition in the newspaper industry.

Further north, the Bangor Daily News was struggling to get its Friday edition out, according to Julie Murchison, its news editor. The paper, Maine’s second-largest, circulates in a region that encompasses virtually the entire northern half of Maine, from Newport to Eastport to Houlton and even Allagash Village. Murchison said the newspaper’s downtown Bangor offices had been without power from about 4 p.m. to after 9 p.m. Thursday. The paper had planned to print an early 6 p.m. edition, Murchison said.

“Our printing plant is still without power,” she said at 10 p.m. The paper planned no formal distribution Friday even If its successfully gets off the press, said Murchison. “It would be too dangerous for our carriers” to attempt to deliver the paper she said, noting power lines could be buried under snow and ice and threaten Its “Sunrisers,” the name the BDN gives to its delivery team. Murchison said the newspaper would be dropped off Friday morning at intown Bangor retailers. A stack would be left in front of its Main Sweet offices for readers to help themselves, she added.

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