Summaries of local news stories from the pages of the Intelligencer Journal and Lancaster New Era appear in this space each Monday. They are researched and compiled by staff member Tim Buckwalter. Full versions are available on microfilm at Lancaster Public Library, 125 N. Duke St.

25 years ago

TROLLEY BUS: A new trolley-style shuttle bus made its maiden trip in Lancaster County. The green-and-red vehicle was to link several downtown Lancaster historic sites with a number of tourist stops along Route 30 East. (July 8, 1985)

AG ZONING: Manheim Township commissioners unanimously rejected a new agricultural zoning designation, effectively killing the prospect of an agricultural preserve in the fast-growing suburb. Several months earlier, 20 farmers who would have been affected by the zoning change expressed support for the plan. But at least half had subsequently changed their minds, the commissioners said. (July 9, 1985)

BENSON MURDERS: A powerful car bomb killed two members of a prominent Lancaster County tobacco family and critically injured another in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home. Killed instantly in the blast were Margaret Hitchcock Benson, 63, and Scott Benson, 21. Carol Lynn Kendall, Mrs. Benson's daughter, was severely injured in the explosion but later recovered. Mrs. Benson was the widow of Edward H. Benson, former board chairman of Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co. Their son, Steven Benson, was later convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison. (July 10 and 11, 1985)

50 years ago

SHOT ON STREET: A 32-year-old Reading steelworker shot his ex-girlfriend on a North Queen Street sidewalk, throwing downtown Lancaster into turmoil during the afternoon rush hour. The perpetrator was arrested at a nearby store, where he had gone to give himself up. He told police he was angry because his co-workers had told him that his ex-girlfriend had made a fool of him. The victim, 34, was reported to be in satisfactory condition at Lancaster General Hospital with wounds to her shoulder and chin. (July 9, 1960)

SAVED AT POOL: Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was credited with saving the life of a 4-year-old Lititz R2 boy who nearly drowned in Overlook Swimming Pool. He had been found by lifeguards floating facedown in 4 feet of water. (July 9, 1960)

DIES IN RIVER: A 23-year-old Conestoga R2 man was fatally stricken while waterskiing on the Susquehanna River between Shenk's Ferry and Pequea. The man's family said he had been under treatment for a heart condition. (July 11, 1960)

75 years ago

PLANE CRASH: A Lancaster stunt pilot performing at Elizabethtown's July Fourth celebration died when his plane went into a tailspin at 1,200 feet and crashed at the entrance to the Masonic Home grounds. Thousands of people witnessed the tragedy, and many of them rushed to the crash site. The pilot, Virginio Marchetti, 28, was killed instantly. His plane narrowly missed striking an automobile driven by H.M. Merryman of Erie, who was on his way to visit friends at the Masonic Home. According to the Lancaster New Era, Marchetti was the fourth local pilot to lose his life in an air accident. Roy Musselman of New Holland crashed in June 1920 on the Oregon Pike. J. Harry Jones of Willow Street died in a crash at Coatesville in 1925, and William Hart of Brownstown crashed near the Belmont water tank outside Lancaster in September 1932. (July 5, 1935)

FORD RUMORS: Officials of Ford Motor Co. denied rumors that Henry Ford was considering taking over a Lancaster industrial plant. Officials at Ford's plant in Chester said Ford was not interested in any city that did not have water-transportation facilities. (July 11, 1935)

100 years ago

CITY HALL: Declaring that the city had outgrown its "unsightly and unsanitary" headquarters on Penn Square, Lancaster Mayor Frank McClain recommended the building of a new City Hall, either on the current site or somewhere else. He proposed that the question be submitted to the voters in the November election. (July 7, 1910)

FAMOUS WALKER: Adam Hess, a young Quarryville man who had become a telegraph operator and moved to the West, met and traveled with world-famous pedestrian Edward Payson Weston in Arizona. And Hess sent home a photograph to prove it. Hess described Weston, then 71, as a marvel who was able to travel at a pace  that no ordinary man could match. Weston had first gained fame in 1861, when he walked 478 miles from Boston to Washington, D.C., in 10 days and 10 hours, arriving in time to attend Abraham Lincoln's inaugural ball on March 4. In the years after that, Weston walked thousands of miles in the United States and Europe. (July 8, 1910)