Thirty years ago — 1990

The special ad hoc committee set up to encourage four-lane completion of the Route 17 Expressway in Chautauqua County has collected more than 20,000 petition signatures so far, according to Chairman Alfred Jones (R-Mayville). Citing the poor safety record for that two-lane stretch of Route 17 between Stow and Findley Lake, the group is asking that some $9 million in highway bonds be released to finish the job.

Forty years ago — 1980

A feature story about a self-made man focuses on Alfred “Red” Deakin. Hard work and shrewd planning have given him just rewards. He is presently co-owner with his wife, the former Alice Eggert of Westfield, of one of the most productive farms in the Grape Belt. Their farm, located on East Main Road in Westfield, is known as Alfred J. Deakin Farms Inc. The couple is the third family to own the 85-acre farm, 60 acres of which are grapes.

Fifty years ago — 1970

A new clock, measuring three feet square, has been installed under the sign of the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. office at Main and Water streets in Fredonia.