20 years ago

Six months ago, Nick Bairamis circulated surveys asking if people wanted daily, affordable shuttle service on the Kenai Peninsula. He and his wife, Toy Bairamis, recently founded Homer Northern Lights Transit Fund, Inc. They will be making regular trips around the southern peninsula — for now, between Anchor Point and Homer — twice a day on weekdays. Nick said they had collected a stack of letters supporting more transportation options for the southern peninsula. So, they found a van for sale in Anchorage, bought it, and last week began taking calls for rides.

— From the issue of June 23, 2005

30 years ago

The prolonged sounds of breaking glass, scraping metal and groaning wood were almost unbearable, like the sound of fingernails scraping on a chalk board, as a tow truck slowly slowly dragged Art Kolar’s new 1995 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 4-wheel-drive truck free of the wall it impaled at Dedie’s Hair Care in Homer. Kolar of Homer said he’s just turned into a parking spot for a hair cut on Thursday of last week when his foot slipped off the brake pedal and hit the gas. The Chevy lurched forward instead of stopping, bursting through the picture windows at Dedie’s, dragging down a 16-foot-wide section of the front wall.

— From the issue of June 22, 1995