100 Years Ago: 1925

Lake Auburn water, whether it’s dangerous to drink, was the text which kept the committee on Judiciary busy from 2.30 until nearly six o’clock on Thursday afternoon. It also brought 100 or more residents of Lewiston and Auburn to the capital to present their views as to whether all fishing and boating on the lake should be prohibited.

There were few dull spots in the hearing. Even that part of the evidence which is usually dry, uninteresting, even tedious, was made “snappy” and worthwhile. Doctors and engineers giving reasons for and against the proposition made their talk more entertaining than is usual in such cases. When they failed to do so, members of the committee or counsel on the one side or the other, by a well framed question prevented the afternoon from going flat.

The bill was introduced by Rep. George C. Wing, Jr., of Auburn at the request of the Auburn Water District and the Water Board of the City of Lewiston. Its object was the protection of the water supply of those cities from contamination.

50 Years Ago: 1975

The Androscoggin County Women’s Club met Tuesday evening at the Lewiston Public Library Community Room when Ms. Terry Ann Lunt-Aucoin, director of the Maine Human Rights Commission, gave an interesting talk on activities relating to human rights in the State of Maine.

She opened her talk with a quotation from the official state policy which is: “to protect the public health, safety and welfare, the policy of this state to keep continually in review all practices infringing on the basic human right to a life with dignity and to prevent discrimination in employment, housing or access to public accommodations on account of race, color, sex, physical handicap or religious, and in employment, discrimination on account of age.”

She pointed out some of the impressive documents upon which the present policy is based; namely, Civil Rights Act 1866, Civil Rights Act 1964 in- cluding Title Seven, 1970; and the Maine Constitution which says “all men are created equal.”

Ms. Lunt-Aucoin elaborated in detail how the state and local governments handle the – problems of discrimination in all areas and pointed out that her office in Augusta may be contacted by anyone who needs further information.

A lively question and answer period followed the talk.

25 Years Ago: 2000

If the government were to control the prices of prescription drugs, like the governments of Canada and Europe do, it would cripple the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to research new medicines, said a vice president for the national association representing drug manufacturers.

Price control measures “are anti-consumer, anti-competitive and bad policy,” Judith Bello, executive vice president at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said recently during a meeting with the Sun Journal’s editorial board.

Bello came to Maine to lobby against a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chellie Pingree, D-North Haven, that would create a Fair Drug Pricing Board. The board would limit prescription costs so they would be no higher than prescriptions in Canada, where they are one third less, despite the fact that many drugs are manufactured in the United States.

“We opposed price controls in Canada, and we oppose them in Maine as well,” Bello said. “We would like our own government to join with us because if we could persuade Canada and France to cease their price controls, then there’d be an even more flourishing climate for investments, and we might be able to find more medicines to help more patients faster.”

She acknowledged that drug companies are extremely profitable and said consumers should be glad.

“Our companies are profitable and that means they’re getting the revenues that allow them to spend $26 billion for research this year.” Much of that research does not yield successful new drugs, but the ones that do “help all Americans,” Bello said.

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