10 YEARS AGO

Aug. 2, 2000 — When visitors begin pouring through the gates of the Tanana Valley Fair on Friday, it is doubtful they will give much thought to the preparation required to get the fair going.

Pulling the fair together occupies the days of five full-time staffers, 130 seasonal workers and 1,000 volunteers.

“Contrary to what people think, we don’t come in here two weeks before the fair and turn the lights on,” general manager Coleen Turner said as she scurried from her office to the fairgrounds and back Tuesday, constantly accessible by her cell phone.

25 YEARS AGO

Aug. 2, 1985 — Two of Alaska’s top law enforcement officials — one present and one former — went before a Senate impeachment panel Thursday to describe how much Gov. Bill Sheffield was told about the Fifth Avenue lease investigation before he testified in front of a grand jury.

50 YEARS AGO

Aug. 2, 1960 — Southcentral Alaska Democratic Chairman Steve McCutcheon of Anchorage today proposed that Ladd Air Force Base near Fairbanks should be acquired as the new state capital.

McCutcheon, a former territorial senator, declared: “The facts show that there are ample permanent concrete and steel structures at Ladd Field to house all the employees and all the government functions of our state for a long time to come.”

75 YEARS AGO

Aug. 2, 1935 — “Unfortunate” is the way the United States government characterized the tearing of the German National Socialist swastika flag from the steamship Bremen last Friday night by a mob in New York and the throwing of the emblem into the Hudson River, but Germany has been emphatically told the American authorities were not to blame for the incident.

100 YEARS AGO

Aug. 2, 1910 — Among the losers by the fire in Peoples’ warehouse Sunday afternoon was Si Scrafford, one of the most indefatigable workers who parted company with the first joint of his left thumb.

Si jumped into the building as soon as he arrived and began passing out the canned goods. Later, as the crowd of workers was handling some nested tubs and pails, one of the stacks caught Scrafford’s thumb, the edge severing it quite neatly.