HOMETOWN: A recent proclamation by Bradford City Mayor Tom Riel thrilled one native son.

At last week’s city council meeting, Tom announced Feb. 15 would be Hagen Kearney Day in Bradford.

Hagen, a snowboarder and Bradford native, performed on the U.S. ski and snowboard team. He is a great-grandson of George G. Blaisdell, founder of Zippo Manufacturing Co.

He was honored to hear that Bradford was rooting for him through a special proclamation.

“I’m beyond excited to receive this,” he said. “I am very grateful to have the support of the people of Bradford. I’m proud to call Bradford my hometown.”

Hagen’s performance made Bradford proud, too.

He was just one spot shy of qualifying for his event’s final round.

1951: Clayton Vecellio of Lewis Run shared with us some pages that appeared in The Era in January 1951.

At the front of a stack was a full page of “News of the World in Pictures” that appeared in the Jan. 26, 1951, edition, and it was fun to see what people around the world are talking about.

There was a photo of a woman showing a film — literally holding out the end of a roll of film on a reel. The film, made in Sacramento, Calif., was to be shown as part of a March of Dimes campaign.

One photo showed Swiss watch workers, who “form the backbone of Swiss economy,” as well as provide the “basis for a very high standard of living.”

We loved the picture of “one of the most popular traffic cops” in Rome, Italy, who was standing in a pile of gifts while trying to do his job. The gifts included “wine, food and radios presented by motorists.”

A photo of women enjoying the sun in swimsuits has this caption: “Two-hour lunch time gives Biennois plenty of time to relax at beach in summer, or ski on nearby mountains in winter.”

Another photo showed people retraining greyhounds that were formerly used to hunt hares. Britain’s National Canine Defense League was trying to make the retired dogs suitable household pets by teaching them not to attack the household cats.