‘Jungle Book’ swings into Falls Village
The Falls Village Children’s Theater production of “The Jungle Book” played April 5-7.
Patrick L. Sullivan
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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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Faced with the choice, the Fed considers unemployment a greater threat to the economy than higher inflation. It is why they lowered interest rates again by one quarter point to close out the year.
Stocks rallied on the news on Wednesday afternoon but fell back on Thursday and Friday. At least the major averages did, but what went on under the hood spoke volumes about how investors are interpreting the news.
Commodity stocks of all kinds were up and outperforming, as were precious metals. Silver was the standout this week, outpacing gold, platinum, and palladium. The equal-weighted S&P 500, which allocates the same weight to each stock in the index, outperformed the benchmark index.
Why is that significant? A mere handful of stocks (around 10 overall), which represent 40% of the benchmark, have consistently beaten the remaining 490 stocks in performance for several years.
Why would the Fed’s interest rate decision create this kind of dispersion? The central bank not only cut rates but also promised to begin buying $40 billion worth of short-term Treasury bills starting today, Friday, Dec. 12. Their buying spree is open-ended, but many believe it could taper off by April. I have my doubts.
Investors were also surprised by several other comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. In the Q&A session after the FOMC meeting, Powell mentioned that the policy board expected the economy to accelerate next year to above 2%, which was higher than most investors had expected. Powell also said that while inflation was still not at the Fed’s 2% target, the effect of tariffs would be a one-off price jolt and not the beginning of a spike in inflation rates.
As for the employment picture, he thought it might be faltering a bit. He revealed that the data in every monthly non-farm payroll report was 60,000 per month too high, due to how the data is collected and processed. As such, labor gains are often overstated. In summary, Powell believes the fed funds rate is now at a level where monetary policy is in equilibrium, neither too tight nor too loose.
Investors could not help but conclude from his comments that the Fed seems willing to run the economy “hot” in 2026. A faster-than-expected growth rate in the economy, moderate inflation, and an injection of $40 billions of additional liquidity into the financial system is a recipe for investing in ‘real economy’ stocks.
Consumer discretionary, financials, industrials, small-cap, and cyclical stocks suddenly began to outperform. These are stocks with attractive valuations, reasonable growth, and that should stand to benefit from Fed policies in the overall economy. Traders began to rotate out of the narrow, more focused speculative “AI” momentum stocks that have outperformed everything else in the last 18 months.
The problem with that scenario is that technology stocks, in general, and Mag 7/AI Five in particular, comprise such a large share of the main equity averages that selling them cannot help but sink the entire market. Friday’s sell-off was an example of the impact of this rotation. However, stocks have been climbing nonstop for the last several days, so this bout of profit-taking was overdue.
For me, the Fed’s move to shore up the credit markets by buying $40 billion in short-term bills and treasury notes is the first shot across the bow of what I believe will be the monetization of the nation’s debt. Short-term government debt accounts for two-thirds of all sovereign debt outstanding.
Both Treasury Secretaries Janet Yellen and Scott Bessent have steered clear of auctioning off long-term debt securities to cover our burgeoning debt costs. They knew that doing so would force yields on the ten- and twenty-year bonds to rise much higher. Instead, they have used short-term treasury notes and bills in the auctions.
Enter the U.S. central bank. Does anyone else see this circle forming? The U.S. central bank (which prints money) is now buying $40 billion of U.S. short-term debt each month as the U.S. Treasury sells it to a shrinking market. This is not quantitative easing. This is the U.S. government buying back the securities it sold to cover our debt obligations by printing money.
I know most will disagree with my premise. After all, this is early days, and we won’t truly know for sure until the spring, when supposedly these Fed purchases will no longer be needed. In the meantime, I will be listening for moves of this sort out of the government.
Readers should also prepare for the Supreme Court decision, expected in the next week or so, on the Trump tariff question. The way they address the legality of these tariffs will likely affect markets. I expect stocks to fluctuate for the next week or two. This pullback in the process has a little more to run, but then we should bounce back and test, if not exceed, highs.
Bill Schmick is a founding partner of Onota Partners, Inc., in the Berkshires.Bill’s forecasts and opinions are purely his own and do not necessarily represent the views of Onota Partners, Inc. (OPI).
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Sharon Town Hall is located on Main Street.
Leila Hawken
SHARON — A town meeting is set to be held at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18, to authorize First Selectman Casey Flanagan to formally accept the $1 million in funds the town received in the 2025 round of Small Town Economic Assistance Program, commonly known as STEAP grants.
The funds, matched by $700,000 from the town, are dedicated towards the repair of River Road, which has been limited to single-lane travel since the structural failure of the roadway in the summer of 2023.
Sharon’s award of $1 million was the maximum amount allocated to any one town in the program.
Thursday’s vote is to allow Flanagan to sign the agreement for the grant, and does not involve the additional movement of funds.
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The little ones attending the mom’s group at Sharon Hospital were surprised by a special visit from Mrs. Claus last week. The children received a few special gifts and treats from the North Pole. Mothers interested in joining the group at Sharon Hospital can contact Candy Osborn at candy.osborn@nuvancehealth.org
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