The Middle East is a dangerous place.

Local residents are banding together to fight some big projects they don’t want in their backyards.

There is new life for an old hospital.

If you didn’t know otherwise, you’d probably think these are headlines taken from early 21st century editions of The Daily Star. Oddly enough, they were taken from editions during the holiday season of 1956.

There was also good news interspersed, as residents around the region got ready for Christmas and Hannukah, shopping for the right gifts, preparing festive meals and helping out the needy.

The Associated Press reported on Nov. 29 about the Middle East worries in 1956: "In a new move to support the friendly government of Iraq, the United States warned tonight that any threat to the territory or political independence of the four Middle Eastern nations in the anti-Communist Baghdad Pact would be viewed �with the utmost gravity.’"

Meanwhile, President Eisenhower kept a continuing watch on the "powder keg" Middle East and appointed a coordinator for the United States’ Hungarian refugee program. Some of those refugees came to our region, and you’ll read more about it in just a few weeks. Eisenhower launched an American Red Cross drive for $5-million in Hungarian relief.

In the early 21st century, we’ve read about resistance to the NYRI power line, wind turbines and renewable energy plants proposed around the region.

In December 1956, communities were banding together to fight several flood control projects planned for the area. They were "big dam" projects. Boards of supervisors from Chenango, Otsego and Delaware counties opposed what the Army Corps of Engineers had planned, and a rally was scheduled for Dec. 11 at the former South New Berlin Central School. That was the beginning of the resistance that eventually cancelled the planned dams, a battle that lasted just a little more than 20 years.

In December 2006, we’re hearing how a state commission is looking into closing hospitals across New York to attempt to contain skyrocketing health-care costs.[an error occurred while processing this directive]