50 Years Ago – Apr. 3, 1968
Zoning for shopping — Caribou City Council approved the local planning board’s recommendation to adopt city zoning recommendation to adopt city zoning regulations for all future shopping centers when it convened Tuesday morning. Its action was a definite step toward further negotiations with the New England Land Company’s proposal to build a $3 million shopping complex in that area. The area proposed borders the Van Buren section of the Caribou Bypass, follows behind the Plourde Furniture, Sesme Car Hop and Mill Outlet Properties and Rose Street. It’s proposed to house a supermarket, a chain outlet, and as many as 15 additional shops.
Lacking amplification — Someone lacked reverence for the impressive Gothic-style 54-year-old Gray Memorial Methodist Church — enough so that the uninspired entered it sometime Saturday night to carry away the amplifier of the church’s loud speaker system. The door of the church were not locked on the evening of the theft. The pastor expressed his disappointment that anyone would rob a church but his words, “we only ask they bring it back,” indicated that the congregation probably would not prosecute if anyone did so.
25 Years Ago – Mar. 31, 1993
High absenteeism — Superintendent James Morse reported Monday, March 22, to the Limestone School Committee that since November teacher absenteeism has been averaging approximately 100 days per month. According to Morse, the rate has never been this high in 5 years. The base closure is believed to be at the root of the problem. Morse reported classes in the junior-senior high school have been forced to use class time as a study hall because of lack of teachers. On some occasions, principals have been forced to take over classes.
Top in the state — Caribou High School’s drama cast and stage crew for the 1993 Maine Drama Festival’s play, “Of Widows and Vegetables,” was one of two Division I plays chosen to represent Maine at the April 22-24 New England Drama Festival at Westbrook High School, following the previous weekend’s outstanding performance at the state festival held at the CPAC. The students were to present a public performance at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Apr. 7.
