100 Years Ago: 1923

Many changes, all for the best, have come at the Maine State prison in Thomaston during the past twenty years. To make the prison what it ought to be as many more should be made and without too great delay, this is the assertion of those who are familiar with the needs of such institutions. A portion of the prison is modern, sanitary, decently ventilated and lighted, but the larger section is composed of the same old “holes in the wall,” dark, damp, dismal smelly places with no sanitary arrangements whatsoever depending upon the same filthy bucket system in vogue in prisons of more than a century ago. Nothing for the citizens of Maine to brag about, there! The modern section of the institution makes the contrast more striking. From the time Warden Norton assumed control of the prison in 1904, to the present day, each warden has sought to improve conditions. Each has done something and today Warden Eaton is seeking the same end.

50 Years Ago: 1973

“Family troubles should not be brought to court, and in this case involving two sisters in a free-for-all, would recommend that they ‘kiss and make up’.”

25 Years Ago: 1998

Acting alongside movie stars Kevin Costner and Paul Newman can be a thrill. But what really excites Stanley “Buffalo” Brooks hunting a half ton tuna off the Maine coast. “I’ve been 40 miles out to sea. I’ve had a humpback whale come up so close to the boat I could touch it. That impresses me.” It’s not that the Phippsburg fisherman didn’t relish the two weeks he spent rubbing elbows with the Hollywood luminaries on the set of “Message in a Bottle,” a feature movie being filmed in New Harbor and Poplar Beach. He did. And the high pay and gourmet food weren’t bad either, he added.

The material used in Looking Back is produced exactly as it originally appeared although misspellings and errors may be corrected.