20 years ago

Some Homer residents said they supported Ballot Measure 5, a comprehensive reform of Alaska’s cannabis laws that would make marijuana legal again and also make legal growing and processing hemp. Richard Olson called the measure “an experiment” and said some of the sticking points would be fixed by the Legislature.

— From the issue of Oct. 26, 2000

30 years ago

Cannabis activist Irwin Ravin went on record as opposing Ballot Measure 2, a measure that would recriminalize marijuana under state law. Ravin, who won an Alaska Supreme Court decision that allowed personal use of cannabis in the privacy of one’s home, said there’s more to the 1972 amendment to the Alaska Constitution that guarantees the right to privacy “shall not be infringed.” He said the Legislature has a mandate to protect Alaskans’ privacy rights.

Challenging state marijuana laws was about more than making personal use legal, Ravin said.

“The fight was always for privacy,” he said.

— From the issue of Oct. 25, 1990

50 years ago

The M/V Tustumena ran aground on rocks about a mile from the Kodiak harbor as it left early Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1970. The state ferry was refloated and returned to Kodiak later that day. The accident caused no injuries. The skipper told the Kodiak Mirror newspaper that the ferry went aground because of an electrical failure in communications between the bridge and engine room. The failure caused the vessel to veer toward the rocks.

— From the issue of Oct. 22, 1970