20 years ago

Homer City Attorney Gordon Tans backed up a decision by City Manager Ron Drathman that he didn’t have to release confidential memos regarding proposed annexation plans. Tans wrote that the memos fell under the “deliberate process privilege” that the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 1996 exempted some documents.

The opinion from Tans came about after a group opposed to annexation, Citizens Concerned About Annexation, sued for release of the documents. The group asked Superior Court Judge Harold Brown to review the documents in private to decide if they should be released, but Brown asked the Homer City Council to review them after he learned the council hadn’t read them.

— From the issue of Dec. 21, 2000

30 years ago

Homer Police busted a theft-to-order ring of teenage shoplifters. The group would take orders to steal items like compact discs, beer, soda and candy, and then shoplift them from local stores. The boys stole portable tape players, tapes, CDs, beer, soda, knives, flashlights, candy and baseball cards.

“They had become pretty brazen,” said investigator Andy Klamser. “One kid made it out of Eagle (now Safeway) with three six-packs of pop.”

The boys also were suspects in burglaries at Homer High School. Over several break-ins, they took items and cash totaling $2,667. Homer High School Principal Mike Bundy learned the boys had built a fort under the street near the Bartlett Street intersection they accessed through a culvert. Bundy said the thieves should pay restitution through Permanent Fund Dividend checks.

— From the issue of Dec. 20, 1990

50 years ago

The issue from Nov. 26, 1970, is missing from the Homer News archives.