Twenty years ago — 1998

Representatives from the U.S. Postal Service informed Ripley residents of their intention to abandon the present site on Main Street in favor of a new, 3,000-square-foot, user-friendly facility to be built on a one-acre lot somewhere in the town of Ripley. The USPS will lease the facility for no less than 10 years, a point at which it could opt to purchase the facility outright, and no more than 20 years. Design plans for the facility include a lobby which would permit 24-hour access to post office boxes and a spacious parking area.

Thirty years ago — 1988

Anne Rexford Purcell of Dunkirk was given the Carol Scrace Pierce Award recently at Fredonia State University College for outstanding performance as a student teacher last semester. The $200 award came after she finished her student teaching assignment in the K-2 multi-age grade in Silver Creek Central School. She was selected for the award by the department of education faculty. A 1978 Brocton Central School alumna, Mrs. Purcell is scheduled to graduate this spring from the college with a degree in early childhood education. She is the daughter of Russ and Dottie Rexford, also of Dunkirk.

Forty years ago — 1978

Councilman-at-Large William Schlichter, the lone Republican of the Dunkirk Common Council, is concerned because he’s being ostracized by the four Democratic councilmen who met over the weekend to review the proposed $5.4 million city budget presented in January by Mayor Gilbert Snyder. Councilman-at-Large Schlichter was not invited to the budget review session, which the Democratic councilmen labeled a “caucus.” Republican Mayor Gilbert Snyder said he will ask that state attorney general’s office for a legal opinion concerning the review of the budget at a caucus that is closed to the public and the Republican member of the council.

Fifty years ago — 1968

The city of Dunkirk will close out its 1967 year with a surplus of not less than $125,000. The city had a surplus at the end of the 1966 year of about $150,000. The 1967 surplus is due to a good operational year where overall expenditures were kept within budget appropriations and there was a big reduction this past year in tax arrears. This was due to a “get tough” policy that forced some property owners to pay up. There also was increased revenue from investments.