50 Years Ago
A couple of years back, when sit-ins were all the rage in San Francisco and Mario Savio was holding forth in Berkeley, a favorite phrase was “participatory democracy.” The phrase was dismissed by many people as just so much rhetoric. They were dead wrong. It is a good bet that when the history of the 1960s is written, the idea, if not the phrase, of participatory democracy will be the most significant development of the decade.. —Editorial, 9/17/69
40 Years Ago
The reclusive [George] Lucas and his wife, Marcia, caught by Darth Vader and his press corps in the narrow halls of Civic Center, reluctantly answered a few questions… Lucas is a small, slight man with a beard beginning to grow gray, a man who doesn’t grant interviews, a man whose films are being edited in small nooks and crannies in San Anselmo and San Rafael.
—Joanne Willams, 9/14/79
20 Years Ago
William Cenkner was five months into a 16-month term at “The Ranch,” the minimum security section of San Quentin. He was due to be released in April. Do the time? Nope. He escaped (actually just walked away), was picked up in Bakersfield and now faces three to five more years. —Steve McNamara, 9/15/99
