Compiled by Nick Sestanovich

75 years ago

Record Crowd Will Attend Victory Dinner Wednesday (May 6, 1943)

The Victory Dinner scheduled for next Wednesday evening, May 12 at Spenger’s Fish Grotto promises to fulfill and exceed all expectations for the sale of bonds, the primary reason for the dinner.
Already a large number of tickets have been sold at $20.50 which includes the amount necessary to purchase a bond and a ticket for the dinner.
There have been promises for the purchase of $1,000 worth of bonds at the dinner besides the bond admission to the affair.
A fine buffet supper will be served and a good program has been arranged under the direction of Raymond McCall and Robert Buickerood.
The affair has been arranged under the sponsorship of the War Bond Committee assisted by the Benicia Kiwanis Club. An invitation has been extended to the Vallejo Kiwanis Club.
One extra ticket for the dinner may be purchased for $1.50 but more than one will require the purchase of another bond..

50 years ago

Procedure On BHS Bids Is Set Forth (May 2, 1968)

The Benicia Unified School District board of trustees met in special session Monday night at Robert Semple School to consider procedures and materials to be used in the forthcoming additions to Benicia High School. A long list of items were considered by the board, in preparation to developing specifications for contract bids. Plans for the additions at BHS, which include a library, three-classroom complex, and physical education facility, are presently with the Division of State Architecture.
Their return will be the signal for advertising for bids. Construction is expected to begin in early summer with September 1969 named as a hopeful completion date.
…
Using recommendations from Dist. Supt. of Schools Dr. Robert L. McKee, based on a series of meetings with district architect John Beland and faculty members of Benicia High, including Principal Phillip Goettel, the board authorized procedures and materials for the following: exterior construction, general lighting in all spaces, interior ceiling treatment, overall size of total building program square feet, as well as square feet per individual area; floor covering of specific areas; interior ceiling, corridors and wall surface covering, heating unit, window design at various locations, remodeling features in present shower and locker room; type and amount of furnishings.
Special attention also was given to the gymnasium, as to locker rooms, office space furniture, public address system console hook-up, scoreboard, electrical outlets, chalk board and bulletin board. Bleachers for the gym floor also were considered, but perfect agreement here was hesitant.

25 years ago

Council takes steps to end cable woes (May 2, 1993)

By Sarah Rohrs

The City Council Tuesday will try to put an end to the five-year-old dispute on the cable television franchise by considering a 10-year agreement that will trigger a complete overhaul of the cable system.
For years councilmen have discussed the cable franchise agreement and the community’s long-standing complaints about lousy service, high rates and a smaller selection of channels than neighboring towns.
The proposed franchise agreement reflects the most recent de-regulation legislation the Cable Televisions Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, which gives the city some authority to regulate basic cable service rates and possibly roll back recent rate increases, said Assistant City Manager Nancy Weiss.
Weiss said the specifics on how much Benicia will be able to regulate rates and control the costs of programming services probably will not be known for several months.
Another complaint pf both cable customers and councilmen has been the selection of channels on the basic-Family Tier. Because of the legislation which de-regulated the cable industry, government bodies have no authority to order what channels should be provided as a condition of a franchise renewal, Weiss said.

The full articles of these and other stories are available on microfilm at the Benicia Public Library.

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