Turning Back The Pages

100 years ago — October 1919

SALISBURY — Miss Marie Dubois went to New York last week, and has entered the Metropolitan Hospital Training School for Nurses.

ORE HILL — Mrs. Jeanette Sanford of Long Hill is visiting relatives in this place and Lakeville.

SALISBURY — James R. Melvin is driving a new Buick touring car.

Dwight Cowles of this village having leased the garden and greenhouse of Charles Day will conduct a market garden business there next summer. Lakeville has badly needed a truck garden the past two or three years and this young man ought to receive the support of the public for its own benefit. He has already started to repair the greenhouse and get things in shape.

SALISBURY — Fred Seeley has improved his place by installing a new cement sidewalk.

The potato crop which promised to be a large one will be much depleted owing to rotting of the tubers. It is said potatoes will be high in price this winter. The apple crop is also very light in this part of the country.

Work on the state road to Sharon is being rushed as rapidly as possible. Work is carried on night and day, two shifts of men being employed. Motor trucks are drawing slag from the old furnace at Sharon Valley. When completed the road from Sharon to Smith Hill will be excellent.

Philo Lyon is moving his household goods from Lime Rock to Torrington.

Lost — Auto crank between Lakeville and Hotchkiss School between 8 and 10 o’clock Wednesday evening. Will finder please notify I.M. Whiting, Lakeville.

CANAAN — Lewis C. Rhoades has moved into the house vacated by K.W. Gray on Reed Street.

50 years ago — October 1969

Mrs. Maude Whitford, who has been a member of the First Church of Christ Congregational for 68 years, was honored by the congregation Sunday at the morning service. As she entered the church, Senior Deacon Dr. Walter Lukens surprised her with a corsage of small pink roses. Then the President of the First Church of Christ Congregational, Ted Drumm, presented her a birthday card signed by the members of the church.

It became legal in Connecticut last week for women to be served drinks at bars. This resulted from a new law passed by the 1969 General Assembly to take effect on Oct. 1. Included in the dozens of other new laws which went into effect on the same date were statutes which: 1. Prohibit utility companies from turning off gas, electric and water services for non-payment of bills on any weekend or holiday; 2. Require the Motor Vehicles Commissioner to notify, in writing, persons whose licenses are to be suspended; 3. Raise the parents’ liability for damage caused by their children from $750 to $1,500; 4. Bans the piercing of ears by anyone except by licensed physicians; 5. Provide a learner’s permit for motorcyclists over 16, allowing travel on all but major highways for a 60-day period; 6. Permits newspapermen to enter polling places during elections at the discretion of the moderators; 7. Permits accused persons to examine police and court records; 8. Establishes penalties of $1000 fine or one year in jail for those convicted of credit card crimes; 9. Extends the food stamp program throughout the state, previously limited to Hartford and New Haven areas; 10. Raises the penalty for practicing medicine without a license from present $200 to $1000 for first offender plus a possible two years in jail and $500 to $2000 in fines and not less than one year in jail for subsequent offenses; 11. Lowers the residency requirement for filing for divorce from present three years to one; 12. Grants immunity to witnesses testifying in cases involving organized crime, and 13. Extends exemption from liability to licensed practical nurses who offer first aid in emergency cases. PREVIOUSLY THIS “Good Samaritan” law covered only physicians and registered nurses.

The Connecticut Historical Society will hold a “Dig-In” Sunday at 1 p.m. in the Dark Entry Dudleytown area. Discoveries of artifacts will be for the benefit of the society.

25 years ago — October 1994

SALISBURY — Norman Sills, 72, has just finished climbing the 111 peaks in New England over 4,000 feet high and wishes everyone, particularly schoolchildren, did more hiking and that more people would tackle the same high peaks. For his climbing efforts Mr. Sills has received a pin and a badge from the Adirondack 46Rs, a club which honors those few who have climbed not only the 46 peaks in the Adirondacks, but also the 48 peaks over 4,000 feet in New Hampshire, the 12 in Maine, five in Vermont, plus two in the Catskills.

Items originally appeared in past issues of The Lakeville Journal.