Twenty years ago — 1999

Matthew Panas, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bohdan Panas, 4576 West Main Road, Fredonia has been selected to perform with the national performing organization known as “The Sound of America Honor Band and Chorus.” The students will experience that cultures of six countries: Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France. The Independence Jazz Reunion, now based in Dunkirk, has awarded Matthew a scholarship that will be used, in part, to offset the cost of this trip.

Thirty years ago — 1989

There’s a legend associated with the naming of Bear Lake, a small jewel of a waterway located northwest of the hamlet of Stockton. Around 1817, two 15-year-old boys came across the lake while taking a leisurely hike. There, they reportedly encountered two bear cubs up a tree and later met up with the cubs’ mother. One of the frightened boys shook his fists at the mother bear, scolding her. The bear and the cubs took off into the bush and the boys returned unharmed to tell their tale to the other settlers who, because of the boys’ experience, began calling it Bear Lake.

Forty years ago — 1979

The BOCES television tower, located on Kelly Hill Road in Fredonia, has come down for a second time this year. A 100-foot section of the new tower currently under construction toppled while workmen were trying to straighten it and a “come-along” cable snapped. The new Kelly Hill Road tower will replace the original tower downed in an ice storm on Jan. 30. The accident most likely will not prevent the 10-tower BOCES television system from being back on the air by mid-September.

Fifty years ago — 1969

Miss Jane Marie Fuller, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn N. Fuller, 57 South State St., Ripley has been selected by The Experiment in International Living to live abroad with a family this summer. She is currently a senior at Albany State University of New York. The Experiment in Internationa Living, founded in 1932 by Dr. Donald B. Watt, is now the most well-established program of its type in the world.