10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “There is a history of mistrust and misunderstanding between those who operate Biddeford Municipal Airport and the residents of the community surrounding it. Airport development has been loosely controlled and sometimes done behind doors. On Thursday night, the Fixed Base Operator (a company picked by the city to run the facility, and perhaps turn it into a profit-making enterprise) opened its doors to residents of the Granite Street Extension neighborhood for a public meeting. This meeting will help with the discussion surrounding the potential zoning change that will allow FBO to run a small burger stand at the airport, rent cards, and give flight lessons.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “A $2,100 siren, the towns first fire and civil defense alarm system was received yesterday. Installation of the siren on the top of the fire department station is slated to be made shortly. Purchase of the large siren was made possible through money which came about as a result of a March town meeting. It is expected to be a big asset to fire fighters and residents.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “George Goodkowsky, a resident of Old Orchard Beach, had a serious close call from a serious injury when an automobile in which the car he was riding collided with a big touring car and afterward crashed through a double fence in the state road Sunday night shortly before 10 o’clock p.m. In the car, there were two young ladies, and one of them was taken to Maine General Hospital in Portland where she was treated with a bad bruise. The accident was a result of road racing to see who could make it over the narrow bridge first.”

— Krysteana Scribner

Today in History

Today is Friday, May 13, the 134th day of 2016. There are 232 days left in the year.

On this date: In 1918, the first U.S. airmail stamps, featuring a picture of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane, were issued to the public. (On a few of the stamps, the biplane was inadvertently printed upside-down, making them collector’s items.) In 1958, Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, were spat upon and their limousine battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court, in 44 Liquormart v. Rhode Island, unanimously struck down Rhode Island’s ban on ads that listed or referred to liquor prices, saying the law violated free-speech rights.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 13, 1916, one of Yiddish literature’s most famous authors, Sholem Aleichem, died in New York at age 57.

Ten years ago Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton helped Tulane University in New Orleans celebrate its “miracle” commencement, nine months after Hurricane Katrina put two-thirds of the campus under water and scattered students to more than 600 schools nationwide.

Five years ago Two suicide bombers attacked paramilitary police recruits heading home after months of training in northwest Pakistan, killing 87 people in what the Pakistan Taliban called revenge for the U.S. slaying of Osama bin Laden.

One year ago The House voted 338-88 to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records and replace it with a system to search the data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis. (The measure was passed by the Senate, and signed into law by President Barack Obama.) Prosecutors and defense attorneys made their final appeals to the jury that would decide the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as jurors began deliberating whether the Boston Marathon bomber should get life in prison or the death penalty. (The jury voted unanimously for death.)

Quote of the day:

“To want to be the cleverest of all is the biggest folly.”

— Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916)