This Week in History - March 12-18
10 years ago:
Sue and Al Wurzberger celebrated the 50th anniversary of their 1836 Country Store. The Wurzbergers put a down payment on the key village building in 1965 during a visit to Sue Wurzberger’s uncle. At the time, Al Wurzberger was an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers, and had to return to duty in the Dominican Republic. He completed the purchase later the next year. Although they initially considered turning the building into a lodging establishment, they decided retail would be “more fun.”
15 years ago:
Mount Snow announced they would replace the Summit Local triple chair lift with a new high-speed, detachable “six-pack” bubble chairlift. The new chairlift marked a return to the bubble chairlifts Mount Snow installed in the early 1970s, and removed in the late 1970s.
20 years ago:
There were more empty chairs than voters at Whitingham’s Town Meeting, and local residents passed the warned articles with little discussion and without the controversial financial issues that had filled chairs at previous meetings.
Wilmington resident Alan MacDougall announced he would run for state legislator after Rep. Bob Rusten announced he would not seek another term. MacDougall had served in several federal defense- and intelligence-related roles, and as a legislative assistant to Sen. Frank Murkowski, of Alaska.
25 years ago:
Voters trudged through 2 feet of freshly fallen snow to get to Town Meeting. In Wilmington, voters briefly considered adjourning the meeting to a later date when only 90 people were present when the meeting opened. As the motion was under discussion, however, another 30 or so people showed up, and the motion was defeated.
30 years ago:
Haystack developers, including Don Tarinelli, of Stratfield Associates, and Deborah Purvin, of HS Development, won an appeal in Environmental Court that reduced their permit fees from $26,000 to $16,000. The decision overturned an earlier decision by the board not to waive the standard application fee. Tarinelli and Purvin had argued that they should only pay a $25 amendment fee to build their Cedar Creek timeshare condominiums.
Wilmington voters passed a school budget that reflected an 11.42% increase in spending.
35 years ago:
Readsboro voters turned down a proposal to acquire electricity from Hydro-Quebec even though Readsboro Electric Light Company and 22 other Vermont utilities had signed on to a contract with the Canadian firm. Matthew Mukash, a Cree Indian from Great River, Quebec, said the Hydro-Quebec project would flood a million acres of his people’s ancestral lands. “To flood these lands will cause my people to die,” he told Readsboro voters.
40 years ago:
Wilmington police were investigating an unusual act of vandalism at the Bucket O’ Suds laundromat. Someone had shattered the glass entry door and written “Viva La Revolution” on a window, along with a picture of a dolphin made with fingerprints.
Local lodge and restaurant employees were getting ready to compete in the Great Waiter/Waitress, Bartender, Bellhop/Front Desk Clerk Race. Competitors had to perform a task related to their job – while on skis. Waiters and waitresses, for instance, balanced a bowl of soup on a tray while skiing a slalom course.
45 years ago:
Local representatives opposed a plan by Gov. Richard Snelling to fund state education grants through a statewide tax on commercial, agricultural, and other property, excluding residents’ homes and up to two acres of property. The state would “pool” the taxes collected and redistribute it to local communities based on a state-supplied formula. It was estimated that Dover’s tax rate would jump by 220% under the proposal, and Searsburg’s tax rate would rise by 281%.
50 years ago:
Despite rumors to the contrary, Mount Snow assured The Deerfield Valley News that they had no intention of closing their doors for the season after a warm and rainy week. General manager Alan Fleischman said crews were preparing to top off the base with some freshly made snow.
The town of Wilmington was negotiating a deal to purchase the Crafts Inn. Two town committees were studying the use of the structure.
55 years ago:
More than 55 local, county, and state police raided five different locations in Wilmington at 3 am on a Friday in what was, at the time, the largest drug bust in Vermont history. Police arrested 11 people and seized drugs from marijuana and hashish to cocaine and LSD. A raid at a Higley Hill commune known as “The Family” resulted in no arrests.
The Vermont Senate passed a bill dropping the drinking age in Vermont from 21 to 18.
