Twenty years ago — 1999

Convenience store owners seeking to force New York to collect taxes on reservation sales of cigarettes and gasoline to non-Indians lost a round in state court recently. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Conrad Lang ruled that the Pataki administration’s no-tax policey regarding the booming Indian cigarette and gas trade was legal. Groups representing convenience store operators, who claim they can’t compete with untaxed Indian competitors, promised to appeal the ruling.

Thirty years ago — 1989

Two 16-year-old Dunkirk girls were rescued from the waters of Lake Erie after the life raft they were riding in capsized off the beach at Point Gratiot. Pamela Munson and Mary Ann Bauza were rescued from the lake after clinging to their life raft for more than an hour. After being spotted by Dunkirk officer Rick Mazurek, the Marine Patrol picked the girls up and transported them to the city dock.

Forty years ago — 1979

Carol Ann Brown, 249 Lord St., Dunkirk has been endorsed by the Dunkirk City Republican Committee as the Republican candidate for Fourth Ward councilwoman in this year’s city election. Mrs. Brown is secretary of the city Republican committee and chairman of the Parents Advisory Council at School 6. She is a housewife and part-time student at SUNY Fredonia.

Fifty years ago — 1969

A motor vehicle complaint was filed in District Court charging Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy (D-Mass.) with leaving the scene of an accident in which a pretty, blonde secretary was killed. Miss Mary Jo Kopechne, 29, of Washington, D.C., a former secretary to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed when a car driven by Edward Kennedy plunged off a narrow wooden bridge into 10 feet of water on Chappaquidick Island. Kennedy is regarded as one of the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.