20 years ago

This edition of the Homer News marks an anniversary of sorts, as we believe it to be our 2,000th issue. It’s hard to pinpoint the exact count — in fact, we’re not even sure when to begin counting. The Homer News as we know it today was the second incarnation, and borrowed the name of a local paper which had a brief press run in the 1950s. In 1963, Homer readers got their news from the Cook Inlet Courier, which begin printing four years earlier. The Courier’s motto, run across the top of the typewritten and mimeographed paper, billed it as “the only newspaper in the world that gives a damn about Homer, Alaska.”

— From the issue of June 12, 2003

30 years ago

Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic this week begins offering a much more discreet way to get the blood test for HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, than previous testing that been available in Homer. Kim Smith, the clinic’s director, said the clinic signed a contract May 4 with the hospital to provide HIV testing and counseling services on a regular, once-a-week basis. Testing is already available through the South Peninsula Hospital, but fewer people will have access to the tests conducted at the clinic. The added layer of confidentiality could entice more people to be tested for the deadly virus, Smith said.

— From the issue of June 10, 1993