20 years ago:

A subsistence harvest of sea otters by Alaska Natives in Kachemak Bay earlier in the week led to a petition drive asking the Alaska Sea Otter Commission to ban future hunts on beaches between the Homer Spit and Seldovia Bay made off limits to otter-pelt hunters. Kevin Bell, who operates a kayak tour business in south Bay waters, and Little Jakolof Bay resident and water taxi operator Marsha Million Hopkins said they were appalled at the sight of bloody carcasses strewn across beaches on Hesketh Island on Thursday, Aug. 22 where hunters where hunters were shooting and skinnning the animals for their fur. Otter hunts are legal for persons who are enrolled in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act or at least one-quarter Alaska Indian, Aleut or Eskimo to harvest sea otters for subsistence or the creation and sale of Native handicraft or clothing, provided the harvest is not wasteful, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Protection officials. It is lawful to leave the meat behind, as it is eaten by wildlife like eagles.

– From the issue of Aug. 29, 1996

30 years ago in the Homer News:

Mt. Augustine had been in a state of continual eruption since Aug. 21, threatening to dust Homer with volcanic grit if winds and rain turned in an unfavorable direction. “I’d say it’s still fairly vigorous,” said geologist Betsy Yount on Tuesday, Aug. 26. “We’ve been seeing fairly constant tremors.” A fly-over on Aug. 22 showed a dense ash plume rising to about 17,000 feet and pyroclastic flows — a fast-moving current of hot gas and rock moving away from a volcano that can reach speeds of up to 450 miles per hour — off the north side, much like those of the previous March and April.

– From the issue of Aug. 28, 1986

50 years ago in the Homer News:

Mr. and Mrs. Gus Lofgren came home to find their tractor sitting in their kitchen on Saturday, Aug. 27. The tractor had been parked a short distance from the house on a hill and rolled down the hill, crashing through the kitchen wall. The uninvited farm machinery broke cupboards, dishes, kitchen sinks, plumbing and in general wrecked most everything in the kitchen. The havoc left by the 1964 earthquake was nothing compared to this, said Mrs. Lofgren.

– From the issue of Sept. 1, 1966