100 Years Ago: 1924

Deputy sheriffs in Portland reported the youngest bootlegger. After they arrested a cobbler on a charge of rum selling they questioned a 12-year-old boy, who admitted that he was the cobbler’s accomplice, carrying liquor from the shop to customers for $2 a week. He was sent home with a warning. The cobbler was fined $300 and costs.

50 Years Ago: 1974

The Auburn Public Library will celebrate Jazz and Black Music History Month at 2 pm Saturday when a musical program will be presented.

The library will note the music of several African-American jazz composers and musicians with the live performance and brief biographical sketches.

John Smedly, guitar, and Michael Hansen, percussion, will perform music by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Charles Mingus and Charlie Parker.

The musicians will then briefly discuss the form and nature of jazz improvisations. There will be more music than talk.

This is a family program and can be best enjoyed by second-graders and up.

25 Years Ago: 1999

As the head of the Auburn Police Department, Chief Robert Tiner has his hands full managing 60 full-time employees. Now he has a few more faces to look after with Tuesday’s surprise shipment of 50,000 Beanie Babies.

“A big truck came in with a tractor-trailer full of them,” Tiner said. “They fill up half a bay in our garage. I’ve got officers out there opening all of the boxes.”

The shipment came from the Sammy Sosa Foundation, an organization formed by the Chicago Cubs outfielder last year to provide medical and educational help to needy kids.

“A friend of mine is really close with Sammy Sosa’s agent down in Florida,” Tiner explained, “I was asked if I could use some of the Beanie Babies. But when I got a letter in the mail saying they were sending 50,000 of them, I thought it was a misprint.”

The beanbag toys are authentic Ty products, and the chief has already found good use for the collectible and highly sought-after critters.

“They will be distributed where they are most needed,” the chief said. “We’re sure to make a lot of kids in the area smile.”

Many of the Beanie Babies – skunks, bears, bunnies, pigs and raccoons – will be given to the department’s 25 patrol officers to be handed out to kids during emergency calls.

“Whenever the officers come into an incident where there are children involved, they’ll hand the Beanie Babies out,” Tiner said.

With 50,000 of the critters jamming the police garage, Tiner was forced to get creative in finding a way to distribute them. He contacted area agencies and found there was no shortage for Beanie Babies to be used in different ways.

“We contacted St. Mary’s and Central Maine Medical Center, and contributions were made to the pediatrics units and the critical care units. We sent some to the local welfare office, and there will be some going to the Abused Women’s Advocacy Program.”

In addition, Tiner forked over Beanie Babies to the Shriners for their work with Maine children and their burn center in Massachusetts, Maine Special Olympics, doctors offices in Lewiston and Auburn and other organizations who routinely deal with distraught children.

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

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