FFA Holiday Market shoppers undeterred by snow
Ty Ford puts the finishing touches on a handmade wreath at Housatonic FFA’s Holiday Market production night Dec. 12.
Patrick L. Sullivan
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Thanks for supporting Salisbury Winter Sports
The directors of the Salisbury Winter Sports Association would like to thank all of those who donated, purchased and attended our annual Ski and Skate Sale this past weekend.
We also greatly appreciate the use of the space that the Lakeville Hose Company allows us to use and their continued support for our community organizations.
Ken Barker
President
Salisbury Winter Sports Association
Salisbury
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125 years ago — December 1900
A beautiful bronze memorial tablet was recently placed on the organ in the Congregational church in Norfolk in memory of Miss Sarah Eldridge who died a year ago last June. Miss Eldridge gave the organ to the church in 1892. The inscription on the tablet is surrounded by a wreath with foliage in which are several little birds.
Jimmie, the 8 year old son of Milton Rice, sustained a serious and unusual accident on Thursday morning. Walter Loucks was drawing water in barrels in an old fashion spring lumber box wagon, and Jimmie in company with some other boys climbed up the back. The wagon was slippery with ice and in some way Jimmie slipped, and his left leg became caught between the wheel and spring breaking the bone just above the knee. The break was of such a serious nature that the boy after being made as comfortable as possible by Dr. Bissell was placed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital in Pittsfield where he will receive the best of treatment. He bore the pain with great fortitude and exhibited much grit.
T.F. Dexter of Litchfield has been in town the past few days, shipping the machinery from the bicycle factory to Bantam.
Dr. Sellew, who has been very dangerously ill from an abscess of the lungs, has been steadily improving under the care of Doctors Beebe and Bissell.
100 years ago — December 1925
LIME ROCK — The Casino has been closed for the winter, and there will be no more movies until spring.
The United States Gypsum Co. of Chicago has purchased 75 acres of land, including what is known as Point O’ Rocks at Falls Village. It is said that the Gypsum Company will manufacture building material from the stone, and will soon erect a plant to employ a number of men.
Charles Miller is giving his residence a new covering of asbestos shingles.
The Connecticut Power Co. this week is advertising a reduction in residential lighting rates, as may be seen by their large advertisement elsewhere in this paper. This will, in the opinion of the Company, result in a larger use of electricity the lower rates making it possible from an economic point.
Adirondack balsam Christmas trees may be purchased at Martin’s Garage in Lakeville or Salisbury at prices from 75 cents to $1.50 each.
50 years ago — December 1975
Crews from CBS television network have been stalking the area of Barbara Gibbons’ murder and interviewing those who have been involved in the Peter Reilly case for the filming of a documentary for television’s “Sixty Minutes.” Over the weekend, Mike Wallace interviewed Reilly as well as some of those involved in his arrest and in the effort to exonerate Reilly from the conviction of first-degree manslaughter in the death of his mother.
On display at Sharon’s Hotchkiss Library is a marvelous large handmade dollhouse, hinged to let children get a good view of the detailed miniature furnishings. Loaned by Martha Boll, age 7, the dollhouse was built and furnished by her parents, Ray and Peggy Boll. It can be seen during regular library hours.
A.J. Rosenstein, owner of the large Clayton Farms just across the Massachusetts line in New Marlboro, announced that he is donating 28 acres of land and 5 housing units on the farm to the United Nations International School. UNIS will seek endowment funds for the acquisitiion of approximately 472 additional acres and farm buildings. The funds would provide for the land purchase, alterations required to produce dormitory facilities, and support for initial stages of a new approach to environmental and food production studies by UNIS students.
Reaction was mixed this week to a proposal by Falls Village First Selectman David Domeier that the town’s landfill be opened to Sharon and Salisbury. Domeier suggested the move as a means to raise enough money to finance a substantial upgrading of the appearance of downtown Falls Village. The town’s appearance was recently criticized by 27 residents of the community who asked the new selectman to find a means to improve it.
About 100 persons attended a simple ceremony Sunday dedicating a little park at the North Canaan Elementary School to the memory of 6-year-old Michael Joseph Dunn. The park, with memorial stone and plaque, overlooks the kindergarten that Michael attended. The boy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Dunn, was drowned in an accident last June in Lime Rock.
CANAAN — Housing Authority Chairman Arthur Baldwin this week reported that the first month of operation at Wangum Village has gone smoothly. The housing for the elderly project was opened early in November.
Construction of Templeton Farms Apartments, the 24-unit project for senior citizens in Kent, is progressing rapidly. Completion of the project located on the edge of the village near the intersection of routes 7 and 341, is scheduled for June 1976.
25 years ago — December 2000
A problem with the water supply to the building forced the closing of Housatonic Valley Regional High School on Wednesday. A 90-minute delay had already been called because of an overnight snowstorm when the word went out that high schoolers would get the day off.
Worldwide business conditions are blamed for the need to cut jobs — possibly 10 percent of the work force — at the Specialty Minerals plant in Canaan.
These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original
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Can it happen here?
It Can’t Happen Here is Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel about a fascist demagogue who is elected president of the United States and establishes a dictatorship. Given the 1933 rise to power of Adolf Hitler, it was a chilling read in its day.
It remains a chilling read today, because we are living through the gravest attack on our democracy, and the rule of law that sustains it, in the history of our country. Donald Trump claims the powers of a dictator. He asserts that the Constitution allows him to do “anything [he] want[s],” including the right to “terminate” it.
His conduct has been consistent with his aspirations. Just for starters, he has called for the execution of members of Congress for daring to remind military personnel that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders. His so-called Department of War murders helpless civilians on the high seas. The masked agents of ICE terrorize and brutalize innocent women, children and clergy members. He has tried, through coercion and punishment, to silence law firms who challenge his policies in court or speak out against him. He has claimed the power to abolish the constitutional right to birthright citizenship.
But, one year into Trump’s second term, we have not yet descended into a full-blown dictatorship. The courts have rejected many of Trump’s power grabs and unconstitutional acts. Millions of citizens publicly protest his administration’s actions. Governors and members of Congress – including Republicans - continue to speak out, and bipartisan Congressional oversight investigations have begun.
Yet the question remains: Can it happen here? As grim as things look, I think the answer is probably not. Compared to Hitler’s Germany, the path to dictatorship in the U.S. contains major roadblocks not easily overcome. Among other things:
• Our First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of assembly – the most important bulwarks against tyranny. As Adlai Stevenson said, “the first principle of a free society is an untrammeled flow of words in an open forum.” Nazi Germany banned all dissent and protest.
• Under our Constitution, the federal government must share power with the states, which have their own governments, police forces, and taxing authorities. In Nazi Germany, there were no power centers other than the federal government.
• We have an independent judiciary that can check, and has checked, Trump’s illegal or unconstitutional acts. In Nazi Germany, the courts were nothing more than rubber stamps for Hitler and his minions.
• We have an opposition party that continues to speak out against, and shine a light on, the excesses of the Trump administration. The Nazis banned all opposition parties.
• We have a 250-year history of democracy and freedom that has been ingrained in us. Our country was founded on opposition to tyranny. Germany had no such tradition when Hitler rose to power. Until the short-lived and troubled Weimar Republic of 1919-1933, Germans had no experience with democracy.
But how reassuring are these roadblocks? After all, the Weimar Republic also had these features (except for our democratic tradition). And yet Hitler was able to consolidate his power and establish his dictatorship within two months of being named chancellor.
The answer is that the obstacles in Trump’s way would be far harder to surmount than those Hitler faced. The Weimar constitution contained a kill switch: a provision declaring that all of the civil liberties and other protections it provided could be eliminated simply by a decree pronouncing a public safety emergency. And that is exactly what happened when a fire destroyed the Reichstag (the seat of parliament) in February 1933. Using the fire as a pretext to claim that communists were threatening to overrun the country, the Nazis issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, which eliminated freedom of the press and free speech, and allowed the Nazi party to take over the state governments and eliminate opposition parties.
One month after the Reichstag Fire Decree, through physical intimidation and terror, the Nazis forced through parliament an amendment to the Weimar Constitution known as the Enabling Act.The Enabling Act gave Hitler, rather than parliament, the power to make and enforce laws. The Reichstag Fire Decree and the Enabling Act formed the foundation of the Nazi regime.
Our Constitution is made of sturdier stuff. It has no self-destruct mechanism; the civil liberties it provides cannot be abolished by decree. And Congress alone cannot enact constitutional amendments. Instead, an amendment requires the approval of at least 38 states — which explains why they are so rare.
The last year has shown us how much damage a man of bad faith, bent on grabbing as much power as possible, can do to our democracy. And there is likely more damage yet to come. But thanks to the genius of our Constitution’s drafters and the resolve of much of our citizenry, I believe it will survive Donald Trump.
James Speyer is a lawyer and lives in Sharon.