Following are summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and New Era. This column appears on page B1 of the printed newspaper each Monday. The items are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at the Lancaster County Library, 125 N. Duke St.

25 years ago

CAR PHONES: Three area phone companies were joining forces to seek a federal license to operate a new cellular mobile telephone service in Lancaster County. The system was expected to provide clearer and more private communication for persons making calls from telephones in their cars. Monthly rentals for the mobile service had not been finalized but were estimated to average $110 to $130, depending on the amount of air time consumed. (Nov. 30, 1984)

RETIRING: Fruit vendors Tony and Agnes Colatta were among several Central Market standholders preparing to retire at the end of 1984. Colatta, 78, was closing a stand that had been run by family members for 90 years. (He is pictured at right with a truckload of bananas in 1927). Also retiring from market were baked-goods vendors Miriam Wyble, after 38 years, and Elizabeth Warfel, who had operated her own stand since 1927 and had earlier helped her parents at the market. She was best known for her butter cookies. (Dec. 4, 1984)

ROUTE 30: Reacting to public criticism of plans for their Route 30 reconstruction project, state highway officials were leaning toward a new option that deleted road improvements east of the Route 896 intersection. The new proposal called for widening the highway from three to five lanes between East Towne Mall and Route 896. The new plan shaved about five miles from the original seven-mile plan and reduced its price tag from $19 million to between $6 million and $8 million. It eliminated proposals for two mini-bypasses around Strasburg and Paradise. (Dec. 6, 1984)

50 years ago

NEWS CURB: Lancaster Mayor Thomas J. Monaghan (left) clamped a curb on news coming from six city officials and agencies, including the police department. In a memorandum to heads of the agencies, Monaghan ordered that all information given to newspapers must first be cleared by his office. The memo gave no reason for the move. Monaghan was out of town and unavailable for comment. (Nov. 30, 1959)

LION KING: Lawrence A. Benedict (right), a Lancaster contractor, builder and car-wash operator, agreed to provide a new home for “George,” a lion that was being housed temporarily at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Oklahoma City, Okla., after wrecking the apartment of its private owner. “All my life I have loved animals,” Benedict said, “and I have always wanted a lion.” Benedict was building a cage for George and planned to place the cage at his car wash, at 245 Park Ave., in time for George’s arrival in Lancaster by train. The zoo’s director, Dr. Warren Thomas, said he liked Benedict’s offer better than the others he received. “Over the telephone he seemed to be the kind of a man who wouldn’t eat the lion and the lion wouldn’t eat him,” Thomas said. Lancaster’s chief health inspector said there was nothing in city health regulations to ban a lion. (Nov. 30, 1959) (Note: George arrived in Lancaster and Benedict kept him caged at the car wash. The lion died of pneumonia in 1968. Benedict died in 1983.)

SEWER FLAP: Manor Township officials were facing lots of questions and some stiff opposition as they laid plans to provide public sewer service to the Manor Ridge and West Lancaster sections of the township. A number of residents were demanding better explanation of the plans, and some produced petitions indicating that as many as 90 percent of residents in the project area opposed the plan. (Dec. 1, 1959)

75 years ago

FAMILY FIGHT: State police were dispatched to an isolated spot along the border of Lancaster and Berks counties, about five miles north of Churchtown, where several persons reportedly were shot and stabbed in a family brawl. A 25-year-old man was later jailed on charges that he shot his father and two brothers. One brother, 23, was admitted to Lancaster General Hospital with 14 shots in his left arm, face and neck. (Nov. 30, 1934)

ROUTE 30: State and local officials announced that an eight-mile-long project to widen the Lincoln Highway, from the east end of Lancaster City to Leaman Place, was beginning in a few weeks. Plans called for a four-lane highway from the city to Mellinger’s Church, and a three-lane road from the church to Leaman Place. The project was made possible by the decision to abandon trolley service from Broad and East King streets to Leaman Place. That move made available the land needed to widen the road, which was considered one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the area. (Dec. 4, 1934)

SPECULATION: As the Democratic administration of Gov.-elect George Howard Earle III prepared to take office in Harrisburg, speculation was running rampant on what the shift in power would mean. Pundits predicted legalized Sunday fishing, legalized Sunday theaters, legalized racetrack betting, abolition of state liquor stores and consolidation of the state police and state highway patrol under one head. (Dec. 6, 1934)

100 years ago

TAPPED FOR MAYOR: Frank B. McClain (left), Lancaster’s representative in the state Legislature, reportedly was being tapped as the Republican candidate to replace Mayor J.P. McCaskey (right). There reportedly had been talk of McCaskey getting a third term, but the opposition to the old schoolmaster was seen as too great. (Dec. 4, 1909)

SHOOTING DEATH: Jealousy was reported to be the motive in a shooting death in the small settlement of Simmontown, in Sadsbury Township east of Gap. The suspect allegedly shot the victim after accusing him of making improper advances to his wife, an accusation the victim denied just before being shot. According to police, several witnesses to the event initially asserted the tragedy was a case of suicide. (Dec. 6, 1909)