75 years ago

Benicia Prepares For Big “Scrap Metal” Drive (July 30, 1942)

Saturday will be the day that all Benicians can help the war effort in a big way.
Don’t wait until the last minute to collect all your scrap metal.
Let’s make it as easy as we can on the men who collect the scrap in trucks, made available by John Benson of the Benson Lumber Company.
Benson says he “has sufficient room to care for all the scrap you have. I have three bins to put the three different types of metal in. All who can, please bring your scrap to the lumber yard.”
Surely you must have some old relics laying about your home that you have been meaning to dispose of for a long time. Here is your chance to not only get rid of it, but to put it to a cause, well worth while.
Tin cans will be picked up, if cleaned and flattened. Wash the can clean, then remove the wrapper, place the can under your foot to flatten it. Cans not flattened will be left.
If we are to have a second front, we must have the metal to make the arms that are needed to start a second front._

50 years ago

Benicia Asks Library Setup Withdrawal (July 27 1967)

Benicia is spearheading a “revolt” in the county library system that eventually could see two other cities join them in withdrawing from the system. Councilman James Lemos, backed by a resolution adopted by the city council two weeks ago, told the Board of Supervisors that Benicia wants out from the setup which he said offers little in the way of any advantages to the city. Lemos was joined in support by representatives of Vacaville and Dixon. If the three districts are successful in winning withdrawal from the district only Fairfield-Suisun and Rio Vista would remain in the county plan.
The Vallejo public library is not part of the county system.
Fred Peterson, representing the Vacaville High School Library District, said the library committee has recommended withdrawing from the county system. Vacaville residents pay a 12-cent district tax plus the eight-cent county tax.
Lemos said Benicia receives only $2,000 from the county and by raising the city tax two or three cents, the city could raise enough money to expand library facilities.
Mrs. W.W. Woodman, speaking for the Dixon High School District, said her district was “unhappy with the (county) library service” and “we would probably withdraw.”

25 years ago

City favors train stops in East Bay (July 26,1992)

By Sarah Rohrs

More trains running on existing Southern Pacific rail tracks in the East Bay not only would help relieve freeway gridlock, but also carry with it the possibility of trains returning to Benicia.
Southern Pacific announced in late June it would like to make its East Bay tracks available immediately during peak commute times.
The commuter trains would share the rail lines with the Capitol Corridor train and freight service, but would not compete with the Sacramento-to-San Jose non-commuter run.
“It makes good sense to operate commuter rail service on those lines and there’s an obvious need for it,” Southern Pacific spokeswoman Carolyne Born said.
Marty Tuttle, an aide for Assemblyman Tom Hannigan, D-Fairfield, said Hannigan’s office has been proposing the idea of opening up the East Bay lines to commuter rail for years.
Because the tracks are already in place, adding commuter rails makes sense and would be considerably cheaper than building new lines altogether, Tuttle said.

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

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