Twenty years ago — 1999

A crowd of people relaxed to the sounds of calypso music in Washington Park in Dunkirk in what proved to be a noteworthy debut for Dunkirk’s Steel Drum Band. Under the direction of Cindy Flaherty, 13 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students set to enter Dunkirk Middle School in the fall played with precision and skill in their first-ever public concert. The upbeat rhythm of the 12 steel drums and one bongo drum was played to perfection by the young band.

Thirty years ago — 1989

An OBSERVER photo shows a vehicle known as “The Slicer” taking out at least five cars along Fourth Street by Park Avenue in Dunkirk. This was one of the scenes being shot for Gone in Sixty Seconds II, produced by Dunkirk native Toby Halicki of Halicki Productions in Gardena, Calif. In this scene, The Slicer lifts a car in the air, causing it to hit other cars. Ron Halicki, Toby’s brother, explained that the producers are trying to work with 400 cars for this sequel and hoping to demolish up to 250 of them to put them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Forty years ago — 1979

Chautauqua County Legislature Clerk Charles Barone said action is being taken to put a stop to a practice under which City Cab Co. of Dunkirk apparently has been collecting $300 a day from the taxpayers of Chautauqua County to transport handicapped summer school children. Mr. Barone added the system has now cost the taxpayers $6,000 over a 20-day period. That same bill could have been as little as $1,500 had the CARTS system been used.

Fifty years ago — 1969

William Lennon, 53, father and manager of the singing Lennon sisters of Lawrence Welk fame, was shot to death in a parking lot by an assailant matching the description of a man who harassed the family for several years. Police were searching for the suspect who fired two rifle shots into Lennon’s back and into his head as he tried to flee.

ET