Looking Backward

The north

10 years ago

July 2, 1999:More than 100 volunteers and government biologists rounded up 931 wild Canada geese for tagging at the Wilson Hill Wildlife Management Area, Massena.

25 years ago

July 2, 1984:The state Department of Motor Vehicles has, without warning, begun requiring two types of identification from people applying for a driver's license. The move has caught local DMV officials in the Jefferson County clerk's office off guard, and is creating problems for young applicants who have not obtained many of the approved forms of identification, such as credit cards.

50 years ago

July 2, 1959:A late evening tornado, apparently bouncing along the ground in the Adams area, left a leveled barn and three-stall garage and a roofless house in its path Wednesday night. No injuries were reported.

75 years ago

July 2, 1934:Delos M. Cosgrove, vice chairman of the trustees of the Power Authority of the State of New York and member of the law firm of Cobb, Cosgrove, Harter & Wright, died at his home, 143 Winthrop St., Saturday night. He was 59 years old.

100 years ago

July 2, 1909:There will be a wireless telegraph station in Watertown soon. That is what H.N. Horton, representing the United Wireless Telegraph Co., thinks. The company is now furnishing commercial service between New York and Chicago and has established stations at most of the principal cities on the Great Lakes, so Mr. Horton believes they will come into Watertown, Oswego and some of the towns to the north.

125 years ago

July 2, 1884:The new roller-skating rink building at Ogdensburg opens this evening. It has the finest floor in the state.

The world

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Today is Thursday, July 2,the 183rd day of 2009. There are 182 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution saying that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States."

Thought for Today:"The instinctive feeling of a great people is often wiser than its wisest men." — Louis Kossuth, Hungarian statesman (1802-94).