This Week in History (6/24 - 7/1)
10 years ago:
Construction was underway on Wilmington’s new town garage. Voters had authorized a bond for the construction at Town Meeting. Although the total cost was projected to be about $963,000, the town bonded for only $340,000. Over the previous decade, several bond votes had failed. However, voters recognized the need for a new highway department garage and continued to sock money away in a garage building fund, eventually amassing more than $647,000 for the project.
15 years ago:
Twin Valley School Board members voted to terminate a purchase and sale agreement for land near the Wilmington and Whitingham border. The land had been considered as a site for a proposed school that voters had rejected in an earlier bond vote. Board members had considered keeping an option on the land in anticipation of a future school facility vote, but residents from both towns objected, sometimes angrily, at a public meeting on the matter.
The Vermont Attorney General joined a lawsuit against the town of Readsboro after an employee alleged the town had discriminated against her by denying her employment because she “might require time off for medical reasons” following an automobile accident.
20 years ago:
Wilmington School Board chair Cheryl LaFlamme Rothman announced that the Whitingham School Board suggested a meeting between the two boards “to explore the possibilities of collaboration.” The meeting would be the first in a process that would eventually lead to the formation of the Twin Valley joint contract school district.
The state’s reapportionment committee recommended a new district in the Deerfield Valley that would include Wilmington, Dover, and Stratton. Dover Board of Civil Authority members offered no objection to the plan, but Wilmington board members were concerned that Wilmington and Dover would lose representation by two members. At the time, Bob Rusten, of Halifax, represented Wilmington, and Rick Hube, of Londonderry, represented Dover.
25 years ago:
Former downhill mountain bike world champion Missy Giove totaled her 1996 Volvo 850 Turbo Wagon on Country Club Road in West Dover. Giove said she swerved to avoid “a mama deer and a baby deer.”
Don DeJong was appointed to the Wilmington Selectboard after the resignation of Ann Manwaring. DeJong was selected from a slate of seven candidates.
Dover Planning Commission members turned the hose on a proposed car wash when they denied a PUD for the project, which was to be built on land adjacent to Mount Snow Motors.
30 years ago:
Dover voters raised $350,000 in taxes to extend a sewer line to Dover School. The total cost of the project was estimated at $450,000, but $100,000 was slated to come from surplus funds.
Lensey “Buzz” Cole was named Lions Club president during an installation dinner at the Ironstone Lodge.
The Deerfield Valley Elementary School band was invited to play in the Brattleboro Bicentennial Parade.
To the chagrin of Handle Road Associates, a research engineer for the Vermont Agency of Transportation said no study indicated that paving increased traffic volume on a road. He said land use has a bigger impact on volume.
35 years ago:
Chanley May retired from his position as postmaster of the Wilmington Post Office. May had been postmaster for 28 years, since 1958. May’s father, Leslie May, had been a rural mail carrier in Marlboro and Wilmington, and his uncle Dwight May was postmaster in Marlboro. May’s father retired in 1961, saying it was time to quit when he was working for his brother and his son.
Wilmington Selectboard members objected to some speed limits proposed by police chief Tom Donnelly because they were “slower than the speed at which people normally drive.” Donnelly said he only sought an “enforceable policy” because some drivers knew how to beat the system by taking a traffic ticket to a jury trial.
45 years ago:
The citizen band radio craze reached the Deerfield Valley, and local CBers were chatting with each other even without joining a convoy. Some local CB fans had colorful “handles,” like Dung Fork, Short Circuit, Nightstick, Sapbucket, Cheesy Rider, and Huggy Bear.
Wilmington was apparently having problems with late-night tennis playing at the municipal courts. The town installed metered lighting (25 cents for 35 minutes of light), but the board set a strict “lights out” policy of 10:30 pm “to curtail people from playing at all hours of the night and disturbing nearby residents.”
50 years ago:
The Wilmington Health Officer closed a trailer park on Higley Hill because it was “unfit for human occupancy.”
100 years ago:
The Deerfield Valley Times reported on plans for North Adams’ Independence Day celebration, said to be the biggest celebration of its kind ever held in the northern Berkshires. Among the biggest attractions was an exhibition auto race, and auto polo. Famous racers on the track would include “Wild Bill” Endicot and Zenita Neville, “the only lady driver now appearing on the race track.” The events would kick off with a parade including the race cars, polo cars, and personal cars. Prizes were to be awarded for the oldest cars and the cars carrying “the most disabled soldiers and the largest number of crippled children.” Other attractions included a frankfurter vendor, games of skill and chance, and a midway.
The Wilmington Savings Bank was suing the owners of the Field and Stream Club (which was located at Chimney Hill) for nonpayment of their mortgage. According to the legal notice, the owners still owed $1,900 on the $3,000 mortgage.
