Forty years ago this week, and two days after Christmas, Gates-Chili high school was damaged by fire.  The fire started in a chemistry lab, and ended up spreading to two classrooms and a storage room.   Those rooms were destroyed, and the entire east side of the building was damaged by smoke and water.  At the time, the school was just 8 years old.

Thirty years ago this week, a Christmas snowstorm dumped 19 inches of snow in Rochester.  The city was put under a snow emergency.  Flights were canceled at the airport., and some churches even put a halt to Christmas services.

Twenty years ago this week, in Lockerbie, Scotland, 270 people were killed in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.  Among those killed: Syracuse University student Karen Hunt of Webster, and Fairport resident Lorraine Halsch.  A Libyan intelligence officer was later convicted of mass murder.