It was an ordinary day. Reading the "Lancaster That Was" column in my recent Sunday News. The column features stories that were in the local newspaper 25 years ago, 50 years ago, 75 years ago and 100 years ago. 25 years ago the movie "Beloved", staring Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover was being filmed at nearby Landis Valley Farm Museum which was a hop, skip and jump from the front door where my wife, Carol and I lived at the time. 50 years ago, Lancaster County, along with the United States of America, was preparing to celebrate its Bicentennial which included an emblem contest in November of 1972. The contest was open to amateur as well as professional artists in the county. The theme of the contest was "The Hands of Liberty," and the winning emblem would be placed on stationery, documents and official papers of the county. 71 artist entered the contest and 14 finalists were selected. The final choice was selected on December 4. 75 years ago in November of 1947 a Lititz man was testing his latest invention. Ivan Behmer, 44, had arranged for his invention to be installed for a test run at the Union Bus Depot in Lancaster. That site was chosen because of the heavy foot traffic that it provided. He conceived the device before WWII, but wartime shortages made it hard to construct. The device had two different brushes and a single wax application...all for a nickel. 100 years ago The Rev. Clifford Twombly, longtime advocate against all manner of "vice" in Lancaster County delivered a combination sermon and data report about Prohibition in honor of "Temperance" Sunday, Nov. 26, 1922. Twombly asserted that Prohibition had been successful despite the fact that liquor was still being made and consumed illegally. He said that alcohol consumption nationwide was down 90% compared to pre-Prohibition years. As to calls for relaxing the anti-liquor law, he was opposed, as he said that beer and wine were simply a gateway to hard liquor. Also 100 years ago, the cause of gravitation was found by a Mare Island astronomer. Well, folks, that's as far back as my home town newspaper can be traced. How about your local newspaper. Does your newspaper go further back than 100 years? I'd love to hear about it. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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