Twenty years ago — 1998

Brocton Elementary School’s multi-grade class, The Pencil Box, will be continued through the next school year. The school board approval came after teachers demonstrated what and how the mix of kindergarten and first-grade students learn in their combined classroom. The 31 students involved with the Pencil Box program are exposed to lessons that teach the democratic process, ownership, responsibility, and organizational skills as well as reading, writing and arithmetic. There is also strong parental involvement, with parent volunteers coming into the class on a weekly basis.

Thirty years ago — 1988

Dunkirk’s Middle Road, a thoroughfare which has been the subject of much discussion for more than 15 years, edged back into the spotlight during a meeting of the Chautauqua County Legislature’s Public Works Committee. The street is a main artery serving the North County Industrial Park, the Dunkirk Airport and the other facilities in the eastern part of the city and town. There now exists the possibility the county, with state aid, might construct a new highway to get heavy traffic into the industrial complex with access from both Routes 20 and 60. Cost of such a road would be around $3 million, but state and federal aid would probably pay up to two-thirds of that.

Forty years ago — 1978

Joseph Bonasera, 17, son of Mrs. Sarah Bonasera of 169 Central Ave., Silver Creek, is Student of the Week. The top-ranking student in this year’s graduating class at Silver Creek Central High School, he served as captain of the school’s “It’s Academic” team. Joe has been accepted at the Honors College at Michigan State University for September 1978.

Fifty years ago — 1968

City of Dunkirk department heads renewed a request that grade crossings be improved by the Norfolk and Western and the Penn Central railroad lines. Two crossings, those at King Street and Lincoln Avenue, were particularly cited as being in poor condition. The crossings were described as a hazard to motorists and pedestrians alike. It was also noted that the Bucknor Street crossing has claimed a total of three lives in the past year.