Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — 1922

Mr. Stephen Newberry has been suffering from an infected leg caused by the falling of a stick of cordwood, while he was sawing wood recently.

— William Parmalee is moving to Mr. Sanger’s house, where he will be the caretaker.

— Halloween night passed very quietly and with little damage. Signs were changed, wagons and other loose articles moved from one place to another and the same old stunts carried out.

50 years ago — 1972

Austin Barney, his wife Faye and their 10-year-old daughter Darlene fought their way through smoke and heat to escape their burning home shortly after 7 Saturday morning as fire leveled Town and Country Motors on Route 4. Little over an hour later, despite efforts of firefighters from Sharon, Cornwall and Lakeville, flames had consumed the building.

— Sharon Hospital’s $2.5 million modernization program took center stage last Thursday at the annual meeting of the Sharon Hospital Auxiliary as the auxiliary presented a $10,000 check to the Building Committee.

— William Barnett, Salisbury’s First Selectman, is recovering at Sharon Hospital from injuries suffered in a fall from a ladder last Wednesday. Mr. Barnett was painting a section of the exterior of his home when the accident occurred.

— A state grant of $10,500 has enabled the Housatonic Valley Regional High School to purchase several new business machines to expand and improve their program in typing, dictation and office procedures.

25 years ago — 1997

Twice the stately red brick building on the hill on Route 7 has been closed. The last time it was scheduled for demolition. What seemed like a hopeless situation took a dramatic turn last week with the news that Geer Corp. will receive a $1.9 million federal grant to renovate the old Geer Memorial Hospital building, turning it into apartments for the elderly.

— Veteran Northwest Corner journalist Ruth Epstein of Kent will become editor of The Lakeville Journal effective Nov. 17. David Parker, Journal editor since January 1995, announced the appointment this week.

— Bettina Bucklin of Clinton Corners, N.Y., and Stephanie Wakelin of Fort Myers, Fla., have donated 60 acres of land next to Route 112 in Lakeville to The Nature Conservancy. The women are the children of former Lakeville residents Bettina Verbeck and the grandchildren of Ruth Bauer, who also lived in Lakeville.

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Lakeville Journal and The Journal does not support or oppose candidates for public office.

Latest News

State awards $2M to expand affordable housing in Sharon

State awards $2M to expand affordable housing in Sharon

Local officials join Richard Baumann, far left, president of the Sharon Housing Trust, as they break ground in October at 99 North Main St., the former community center that will be converted into four new affordable rental units.

Ruth Epstein

SHARON — The Sharon Housing Trust announced Dec. 4 that the Connecticut Department of Housing closed on a $2 million grant for the improvement and expansion of affordable rental housing in town.

About half of the funding will reimburse costs associated with renovating the Trust’s three properties at 91, 93 and 95 North Main St., which together contain six occupied affordable units, most of them two-bedroom apartments. Planned upgrades include new roofs, siding and windows, along with a series of interior and exterior refurbishments.

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Bumpy handoff in North Canaan after razor-thin election

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Jesse Bunce, right, and outgoing First Selectman Brian Ohler, left, exchange a handshake following the Nov. 10 recount of the North Canaan first selectman race. Bunce won the election, defeating Ohler by two votes, beginning a transition marked by challenges.

Photo by Riley Klein

NORTH CANAAN — The transition from outgoing First Selectman Brian Ohler to newly elected First Selectman Jesse Bunce has been far from seamless, with a series of communication lapses, technology snags and operational delays emerging in the weeks after an unusually close election.

The Nov. 5 race for first selectman went to a recount, with Bunce winning 572 votes to Ohler’s 570. When the final results were announced, Ohler publicly wished his successor well.

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Officials, firefighters and community members break ground on the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department’s new firehouse on Dec. 6.

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NORFOLK — Residents gathered under bright Saturday sunshine on Dec. 6 to celebrate a milestone more than a decade in the making: the groundbreaking for the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department’s new firehouse.

U.S. Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-5) and State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64) joined NVFD leadership, town officials, members of the building committee and Norfolk Hub, and 46 volunteer firefighters for the groundbreaking ceremony.

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It may look dormant now, but the Emery Park pond is expected to return to life in 2026

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At its Tuesday, Dec. 2, meeting, the Commission voted in favor of a bid to rehabilitate Emery Park’s swimming pond, bringing the town one step closer to regaining its municipal swimming facility. The Commission reviewed two RFP bids for the reconstruction of the defunct swimming pond, a stream-fed, man-made basin that has been out of use for six years. The plans call to stabilize and level the concrete deck and re-line the interior of the pool alongside other structural upgrades, as well as add aesthetic touches such as boulders along the pond’s edge.

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