Turning Back the Pages

100 years ago — December 1923

J.G.  Kimmerle last Saturday while attempting to drive his Reo delivery truck up the hill near the Salisbury Iron Co. came to grief. The road was icy and the wheels failed to hold. The truck slipped backward down hill going over a small embankment, and overturning. A number of men from the iron company helped to right up the truck which was unharmed.

Thirty headlight devices now allowed upon motor vehicles in Connecticut will become void on March 15, 1924, according to announcement made by the State Motor Vehicle Department Thereafter only devices which have been approved by the Eastern Conference of Motor Vehicle Administrators will be allowed in Connecticut. The decision of the Connecticut department is in line with the effort to reduce the menace of the headlight glare and the inconvenience resulting from the enforcement of different headlight regulations in adjoining states. Member states comprising the Eastern Conference of Motor Vehicle Administrators are Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Miss Josephine O’Connell spent the week end with Miss Alice Visconti in Torrington.

50 years ago — December 1973

A gasoline drought overtook the Tri-state area this week on the eve of the Christmas holidays. Two of Lakeville’s three service stations — Frank’s and Service Plus, both of which handle Mobil products — were out of gas Wednesday afternoon. The third, Lakeville Service Station, which handles Shell, was limiting sales to $3 a purchase.

The Tri-state area awaited the possible lash of a new winter storm Wednesday night after Storm Felix had brought the season’s first substantial snow combined with sleet and sub-zero temperatures. Felix left seven or more inches of combined snow and sleet in the area Sunday night and Monday, and the ensuing cold wave dropped temperatures Wednesday morning to a reported 15 below zero at one point in Millerton. 

Peter Reilly admitted under intensive questioning by police that he may have killed his mother, Barbara Gibbons, in their Falls Village home the night of Sept. 28. Tapes made during exhaustive interrogation immediately following the murder were played last Wednesday and Thursday during a hearing on a pre-trial motion in the murder case at Litchfield Court House. Defense Attorney Catherine Roraback of Canaan is seeking the return and suppression as evidence of tapes and other material gathered by the state against Reilly, a senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She contends they were gained in violation of his constitutional rights and by “coercion.” Young Reilly’s taped acknowledgement that he could have slashed his mother’s throat with a razor and broken her legs by jumping on them came only after police had repeatedly suggested the idea to him during questioning. Statements made and tapes heard in open court in Litchfield revealed that he was held in custody for more than 26 hours between 10 p.m. Sept. 28 and the moment of his arrest, 12:30 a.m. Sept. 30, during which period he did not have the services of a lawyer. During this initial detention he was questioned for a total of about 12 hours in Canaan and in Hartford. He was told the interrogation was not taped, when in fact it was. Questioning continued despite his repeated complaints of hunger and exhaustion. 

The appealing child featured on the cover of the Christmas issue of Time magazine, on the newsstands this week, is five-year-old Nathaniel Binzen of Brinton Hill, Salisbury. Nathaniel’s picture was taken by his father, Bill Binzen, widely known as a photographer and illustrator of children’s books.

The lifestyle of many Canaanites will be changed markedly shortly after the beginning of the new year when Jack’s Meat Market closes its doors for the last time. The little market, which has been operated by the Bergenty family for the past 35 years, is being forced to close by relatively new state regulations governing the sale of meat.

25 years ago — December 1998

CANAAN — This Saturday morning, the original Snack Shack, the tiny wooden structure from which burgers and ice cream have been dispensed to locals and travelers alike over the years, will be demolished, with plans to replace it by a log cabin of the same size. It will be erected by Country Log Homes of Sheffield, Mass., over the winter months, with the reopening of the seasonal business expected sometime in the spring, as usual. Canaan resident David Ohler recently bought the business and is leasing the property from Burt Veronesi of Canaan. Plans are to construct a miniature golf course on the site next summer, along with a screened patio. The shaded picnic area and tables will remain.

Michael Hodgkins has been appointed Director of Food and Beverage at the Interlaken Inn Resort and Conference Center. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the center’s restaurant pub, banquet and catering department.

These items were taken from The Lakeville Journal archives at Salisbury’s Scoville Memorial Library, keeping the original wording intact as possible.