• That he had been robbed of nearly $200 was the story told the Lewiston police by William Strong, an Assyrian, who came to this city from Berlin, N.H., Friday morning with $253, the earnings of eleven months’ work, in his pocket.

• An expected advantage to Lewiston from the proposed merger of the Boston & Maine and the New York, New Haven & Hartford is a permanent continuance of the through-passenger express train service between this city and New York city, which has been in effect the last two summers.

50 years ago, 1957

• Sen. John F. Kennedy of Boston will arrive at 5:10 p.m. today at the Lewiston-Auburn Municipal Airport on his way to the Democratic Jefferson-Jackson Day banquet at Rockland, where he will be the principal speaker. He is scheduled to fly to Rockland by private plane.

• A Flag Day program was held yesterday in the sub-primary room at Martel School. In addition to the singing of patriotic songs by several grades, three students, Patricia Sennet, Mark Eli and Jeannine Dennis, recited poems.

• Nine scarlet fever cases, all involving Lewiston youngsters, were reported this week to Health Officer Robert J. Wiseman. Also reported during the week were four cases of chicken pox and one of measles.

25 years ago, 1982

House prices soared to a median $72,000 last year and “cast a pall over the American dream of home ownership,” savings and loan industry officials said Monday.

The $72,000 price tag meant a down payment of $16,100 and monthly housing payments of $816, including taxes and insurance, the U.S. League of Savings Associations said in a new study.

First-time buyers typically paid $58,900 for a house and agreed to monthly housing expenses of $721 after making a $8,600 down payment.

“The average American just can’t afford to own a home these days,” said the chairman of the league, Roy Green.