Turning Back The Pages

100 years ago — December 1921

SALISBURY — Several from this place went up on Mt. Riga last week to witness the devastation caused by the ice storm. While it was a magnificent sight, the sun lighting up whole forests of glittering diamonds, it made all heartsick to see the terrific destruction of valuable trees.

LIME ROCK — Mr. Walter Boardman was out of town a few days the early part of the week buying Christmas goods.

The State Police Department has condemned the town hall at Canaan. The Selectmen of that town are contemplating making the necessary changes and improvements.

LAKEVILLE — The frame work of E.J. Vosburgh’s new cottage on Bostwick Hill is up and Edward McCue’s new cottage on Main Street is also progressing.

Work on the new concrete road from Canaan to New Milford is to be started very soon.

Wm. Judd has installed a pipeless heater at his barber shop

50 years ago — December 1971

That old Canaan — Falls Village — North Canaan confusion cropped up again this week. This time it clouded the picture as to which town gets how much aid under the Emergency Employment Act of 1971. Thousands of dollars in services may be at stake. The mistake occurred when unemployment figures for the town of North Canaan were originally attributed to Falls Village, giving that town an unemployment rate of 22.5 percent.

Although journalistic gremlins caused a mistaken headline on The Lakeville Journal’s front page last week, this ​​Saturday is the proper Saturday for the glass collection at the Salisbury town garage. The conscientious recyclers who left their accumulated jars and bottles at the appointed spot last week needn’t worry; their contributions will be included in the regularly scheduled collection, which will be this Saturday morning from 8:30 to noon. The recycling committee of the Housatonic Audubon Society is sponsoring the project.

Irate Kent property owners remained up in the arms this week as efforts continue to find a way around tax revaluations that have increased local assessments by as much as 3000 percent. More than 150 property owners voted last Friday night to seek redress of their grievances through a special town meeting, but Town Counsel Thomas F. Wall advised later that such action would not be legal or binding upon the Kent Board of Assessors.

One of the early casualties of the winter weather was state trooper Dean Hammond, who lives on Twin Lakes Road in Salisbury. While patrolling on Mt. Riga on his snowmobile last Thursday, Trooper Hammond fell from the vehicle and dislocated his shoulder. Salisbury’s resident state trooper Robert Smithwick, who was with Trooper Hammond, on his own snowmobile, came to the rescue and transported the injured man down the mountain.

Milt Machlin of Brinton Hill Road, Amesville, has been appointed editor of Argosy magazine. Mr. Machlin has been with Argosy since 1958. He was promoted from picture editor to managing editor in 1961 and to executive editor in 1967.

The Berkshire-Litchfield Environmental Conservancy Council in Lakeville has obtained 1,000 “SAVE CANAAN MOUNTAIN” bumper stickers as reminders of its opposition to the Canaan Mountain pumped-storage project. They are available to members and friends.

The 1971 edition of the White Oak, Housatonic Valley Regional High School’s yearbook, recently was honored with an award in journalism. The award was presented by the New England Scholastic Press Association for last year’s publication.

East Cornwall is a small rural community situated at the top of Great Hill, lying in the eastern part of Cornwall. Houses are at least a quarter mile apart. In the past two or three years, several newcomers have moved into this community and have not become acquainted with each other or those who have lived here for many years. Miss Harriet L. Clark, a lifetime resident, decided to do something about it. On Tuesday, she and Mrs. Marjorie Osuch held a coffee klatch at Mohawk Farm, Miss Clark’s home, to enable these neighbors to become better acquainted. Twelve were invited and nine were able to attend. An enjoyable hour was spent by all.

Dr. Richard Collins of Lakeville has accepted the post of Director of Health for the Town of North Canaan. Selectmen announced last week their appointment of Dr. Collins, a specialist in internal medicine and a member of the Sharon Clinic staff since 1968. Dr. Collins fills the vacancy created this fall by the death of Dr. Robert Sellew Jr. With Dr. Sellew’s death North Canaan lost its only resident physician.

Adv: Cook in minutes, not hours... with the new Hotpoint Portable Microwave Oven. Operates on standard 115V outlet. Needs no special wiring. Perfect for kitchen, patio, poolside, cabin, boat or campsite. Cuts conventional cooking time 50 to 90 percent. Do a meat loaf in 18 minutes. Ideal for instant menus, snacks, reheating or defrosting. $399.00  Kustom Kitchens of Litchfield Inc.

Mr. and Mrs. Isadore Tadiello of Canaan and Mrs. and Mrs. Roy Stanard of Norfolk left Saturday for Pearl Harbor where they will participate in a reunion of the veterans of that fateful day. Mr. Tadiello was stationed on the USS Curtiss during the attack while Mr. Stanard served aboard the Thornton.

25 years ago — December 1996

Michael Flint, the man who characterizes himself as the Northwest Corner’s Rush Limbaugh, is giving up his Sunday morning radio show “Straight Talk.” After 30 months on the air, Mr. Flint’s next broadcast is his last. Pressures from various sources forced him to give up the show, he explained in an interview Wednesday morning.

Jennifer Martin was recognized as an Iris Honor Scholar at Elmira College earlier this semester. Ms. Martin is the daughter of Arthur and Carol Martin of West Cornwall.

Citing serious radio transmission problems due to the area’s topography, Litchfield County Dispatch, which handles emergency 911 calls for 19 area towns, has plans to erect a communications tower in Canaan. The free-standing lattice-type tower would be located on the Foley Farm on Lower Road. Fire company volunteers often have difficulty getting signals on their pagers. For example, firefighters who work at Brewer Brothers in downtown Canaan have to rely on the fire siren directly above them to alert them to an emergency, since the radio signal does not reach their pagers there.

Kent Center School students have a thriving business in returnable cans and bottles. They collect them and use the deposit returns to enlarge their financial account for laptop computers, which will be delivered in January, and for field trips. Cans and bottles may be left in the red shed next to the school entrance.

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