Years Ago

Homer happenings from years past

20 years ago

Pat and Joe Lawlor went to bed on Saturday, March 3, 2001, with 25 feet of back yard overlooking the bluff near their home on Saltwater Drive. When they woke up on Sunday, their back yard had shrunk to 2 feet, with the back deck hanging over the bluff edge. Before buying the property in 1989, they researched erosion rates and calculated a loss of a foot a year and figured they would be OK.

The Lawlors lost a few swings over the edge of the bluff and salvaged what they could. With their house so close to the edge, the Lawlors moved out and took their belongings. Though the house sat high on the bluff, that didn’t protect it. A warm winter caused the soil to become supersaturated and erode faster, said Mark Kinney with the Soil and Water Conservation District. Encroaching erosion also threatened sections of the Sterling Highway.

“We always wanted a view,” Joe Lawlor said. “Just not this close.”

— From the issue of March 8, 2001

30 years ago

In a 13-3 vote, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly declared itself malapportioned. Assembly member Sam McLane submitted a petition to the assembly asking it to determine whether it was properly apportioned. The petition calculated that on a per-capita basis, some assembly members represented more citizens than others. District III, Nikiski, Kenai, Tyonek and Beluga, had 1,900 citizens per seat. District IV, Homer, Anchor Point, Happy Valley, Ninilchik, Seldovia, Port Graham and English Bay (now Nanwalek) had 2,600 people per seat. The borough had six months to come up with a new apportionment plan to be presented to voters.

— From the issue of March , 1991

50 years ago

The issue of March 4, 1971, is missing from the Homer News archives.