Thils Week in History October 29 - November 4

10 years ago:
In a tongue-in-cheek Halloween story, reporter Lauren Harkawik wrote about “witch windows,” the windows often seen angled at 45-degrees on the gable end of the two-story section of many historiic New England homes. According to folk tales, the windows have the advantage of confounding witches who are trying to fly into the house through an upstairs window. Another explanation, perhaps even less credible than flying witcheswitches, is that the windows were angled in order to more easily remove a coffin from the upstairs of the house.
15 years ago:
James Barnes, the Connecticut businessman who had recently purchased the Haystack Ski Area, Haystack Golf Course, and a number of properties that would connect the ski area to his Hermitage Inn, held a luncheon for real estate agents to present his plan for what would become the Hermitage Club. The plan included the sale of memberships at the private club, starting at $20,000 for the first memberships, and increasing annually to $85,000 or more. Barnes also planned to offer “founder” memberships for a $250,000 investment, and for $1 million, members would get a seat on the Haystack board of directors and an executive home site on the mountain. Barnes said he already had a verbal commitment for four of the $1 million memberships.
20 years ago:
Wilmington School Board members got an earful from parents after they proposed a budget that included cuts to the physical education program, library, music, and art programs at Deerfield Valley Elementary. Parents advocated for all of the programs, with one parent noting that children who take music education have higher scores in math. “Music is not just music,” she said.
25 years ago:
Complaints to the state public service division from customers of Gateway Cable, a cable television provider in Dover and Whitingham, were piling up. One public service department representative said the complaints were so frequent that it was becoming a challenge for her office to deal with them all. Customers complained of missing channels, disappearing channels, unscheduled outages, and unresponsive customer service. One Jacksonville resident said the service was so bad, it was almost funny.
30 years ago:
Wilmington Town Manager Sonia Alexander was named manager of the year by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. The VLCT said they were impressed by her lengthy tenure, commitment to public service, and commitment to the town of Wilmington.
Scott Pierpont was hired as vice president of mountain operations at Mount Snow, replacing Dave Buckley, who was leaving to pursue other interests. Pierpont was returning to the mountain after several years at a California ski resort.
35 years ago:
Deerfield Valley News reporter Dana Cole took a look at buildings in the valley that were purported to be haunted. The White House of Wilmington was reputed to be haunted by the ghost of Clara Brown. One guest, whose name was also Mrs. Brown, reported that she awoke one morning to a vision of a white-haired lady sitting in the overstuffed chair next to the bed. The ghostly woman asked her to sleep in a different room on future visits because “one Brown in this room is quite enough.”
40 years ago:
Wilmington High School Assistant Principal Frank Spencer was chosen the Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the University of Vermont.
In answer to the question “How do you make chocolate pudding,” a young Aaron Scott Dupuis said “It’s easy; put chocolate in the pudding.”
45 years ago:
In a survey of almost two dozen fuel dealers in southern Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, The Deerfield Valley News discovered that local fuel dealers were offering the lowest prices for home heating oil.
Members of the Haystack Ski Racing Team flew back from Switzerland. According to coach Topper VanBacker, racers averaged 12 runs a day down the 11,000-meter Flimms glacier. VanBacker said it snowed every night the skiers were there, adding a few inches to the 45- to 60-foot base that the slopes already had.
50 years ago:
Local cryophiles were celebrating a mid-October snowfall with snowball fights, snowmen, and cross-country skiing. Others, however, were speculating that there would be an “Indian summer” in November.
55 years ago:
Alaska Senator Michael Gravel tapped Mount Snow president and founder Walt Schoenknecht to undertake a worldwide survey of environmental and pollution problems for use by the Committee on Public Works and its subcommittee on air and water pollution. Schoenknecht had already served on a number of environmental committees and lectured on conservation. Schoenknecht’s plan was to meet with officials from as many nations as possible, and to visit places with the worst misuse and best use of natural resources. He had already visited much of the Far East on his mission.
Jay Silverheels, who portrayed Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s companion, was representing Okemo in a marketing campaign. As part of the campaign, Silverheels appeared in print and radio advertising, skied at the mountain with his family, and was even rumored to have called the ski area “Okemo-sabe.”