100 Years Ago: 1924

This has been the most remarkable winter in many years as to the automobile trade.

An Auburn dealer says that this snow has sent the business in automobile chains soaring. They handled 3000 sets of chains around Christmas and have ordered two carloads since and the load is about disposed of, to all parts of Maine. The automobile chains are made chiefly in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The unusual demand is because of the light snow and the continued use of automobiles — especially trucks, which wear out chains very rapidly.

50 Years Ago: 1974

A snowball hurled at the Lewiston Fire Department’s Engine Three as it was responding to a fire call at 2 River St., Sunday afternoon, broke the lower windshield on the cab, fire officials reported.

The windshield damage did not impair the vision of the driver.

25 Years Ago: 1999

It took some bending of federal rules, but Turning Point Farm in New Gloucester will get $96,000 to buy and renovate a farmhouse here for a home for six severely abused foster children.

The home, a project of Community Housing of Maine, was approved for funding in October by the Maine State Housing Authority according to the Executive Director, David Beseda.

A week after Community Housing was notified of the grant, a letter came from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development to revoke it.

“HUD told us that their money couldn’t be used for housing for children,” Beseda said Wednesday. “We tried negotiating with them to get some money, and a lawyer on our staff ended up filing a federal court case.”

The rejection letter said that since the children are wards of the state, it is the state’s responsibility to house them. Without the federal money, though, Community Housing couldn’t make a down payment on the property. The agency was afraid of losing the site because the owner was anxious to sell.

“Time was really pressing,” Beseda said. “We had searched for more than a year to find the right place. It’s hard in Maine to find a place for this because so many older homes have lead-based paint,” which disqualifies properties for public housing.

Community Housing also appealed to U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D- Maine, who persuaded HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo to release the funds.

“Allen asked HUD to look at its regulations and see if the money could be sent to us,” Beseda said. “It was just a typical bureaucratic thing, but the rules shouldn’t get in the way of serving kids with real needs. At this home, the kids will get the clinical, psychological and educational help they need.”

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