Unlocking the Archive: City gets new police building in 1975; Canal Winchester takes title
Let's take a look back at the Feb. 5, 1975 edition of the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.
The front page featured a story on a new building for police having its official groundbreaking on S. Broad Street behind city hall.
Police Chief Sam Hutsler said in a statement at the time, "This is the beginning of a new era in the life of the police department. The people of Lancaster, the finest city in the world, can be justly proud of the decision of Mayor Rutherford's Administration and unanimous membership of city council to erect a new police facility for the benefit of all our people. This is indeed one of the major capital improvements of the century."
The building was not to exceed an $850,000 price tag.
On page 3 of the edition, was a small article about how local resident Charles Little donated a snowmobile to Fairfield County Dan Berry to be used by the department in search and surveillance missions.
In what might be the strangest story in the paper, an Associated Press story out of Columbus told how the state's General Assembly was working on correcting a couple of "goofs" from the previous legislature -- one which outlawed tricycles on sidewalks.
Yes, you read that right.
Apparently, the error came about in 1974 when a Senate Committee was considering a uniform traffic code and included tricycles in the definition of bicycles and ended up banning them from sidewalks. While that bill went into effect, no one was enforcing the ban as the General Assembly worked to correct it.
In sports, it was all about Canal Winchester dominating Berne Union 85-52 to capture the Mid-State League title. Senior guard Scott Burtner led all scorers with 23 points. Jeff Black had 11 assists in addition to 11 points.
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Lancaster gets new police building in 1975; Canal Winchester takes title
