This Week in History: November 6 - 12
10 years ago:
Wilmington’s development review board denied a request by Hermitage Club developers to rescind a condition requiring them to fund the construction of a garage to house a fire department ladder truck as part of their permit for a condominium hotel complex. The acquisition of the ladder truck and the construction of the garage were required as part of a waiver to the town’s zoning restriction limiting the maximum height of buildings to 35 feet.
A roofing company that was awarded a bid for roofing work on the West Dover fire station was a no-show, despite a $23,000 down payment made by the town.
15 years ago:
Wilmington voters overwhelmingly chose to continue operating the town under a town manager form of government in a 527-226 vote. The question was prompted by a petition signed by 32 voters. It marked the fourth time Wilmington voters had been asked to weigh in on the question, and the fourth time voters approved the position. The town manager form of government was first approved at Town Meeting in 1967.
Dover Road Commissioner Gary Carruthers retired after 36 years of serving the town. Carruthers began working for the town in June 1973, just days after graduating from Wilmington High School.
20 years ago:
Local entrepreneurs Jen and Steve Photenas opened an art, jewelry, and craft store called Earth, Rock and Oils. One of the store’s attractions was jewelry made with fluorite, a green gemstone similar to quartz. Although the mineral is commonly used in industrial applications, the Photenas’ partner, Bob Borofsky, supplied them with what was said to be the only “cuttable grade” gem-quality fluorite ever discovered. As a result, they offered the only hand-cut fluorite jewelry in the world.
Marlboro residents attended a public meeting to support the purchase and conservation of more than 560 acres of land at Hogback Mountain. Abutting property owner Ken Fisher warned against using public money to purchase the land, but offered pro bono legal work to help a private organization conserve the land. Other residents agreed that it would be unwise for the town to borrow the $2.1 million needed to purchase the land, and suggested that a private, nonprofit group could seek grants and donations from the town and other sources.
25 years ago:
The state’s on-again, off-again plan to rebuild Route 9, west of Haystack Road, was back on again. But Mark Sinclair, of the Conservation Law Foundation, said there were still issues to be settled, but that most of the group’s major concerns had been settled. At issue was a proposal that would have rechanneled 1,200 feet of the West Branch of the Deerfield River.
Groups opposed to civil unions were active locally and across the state, some claiming that schools would soon be teaching homosexuality. Area schools said they hadn’t been contacted by Outright Vermont, a group that offered a “safe schools” diversity program.
30 years ago:
Speaking before a group of community members, Dr. Harry Haroutunian said there were people in the Deerfield Valley who were starving, and he said that congressional cuts to programs that provide funding for state and local programs were beginning to make life harder for the poor. Pointing out the disparity of wealth in the community, Haroutunian said “People in $30,000 vehicles with their $10,000 skis are driving past people who are starving.”
35 years ago:
Ann Manwaring, Judy Rifkin, and Mickie Mill were referred to as “the lost women of Somerset” after they went for what was to be an afternoon hike on the Green Mountain Power trails below Somerset Dam. After darkness fell and it became clear they wouldn’t walk out of the woods until morning, the three women gathered wood “by using the Braille method of foraging for sticks in complete darkness,” and built a fire. After they were spotted by rescuers in the morning, Manwaring learned that she had been honored as the chamber’s “citizen of the year” at their annual dinner, which she had missed. Rifkin said “In retrospect, I had a great time.”
40 years ago:
“Pope annoyed at Dover developers” read a Deerfield Valley News headline. But it wasn’t the Catholic pontiff that was ticked off by the failure of Dover Watch developer Eugene Ettlinger to complete his Act 250 requirements in the allotted time, it was District Environmental Commission Chair Frederick Pope.
A local woman gave birth to a baby girl in a sports car in the parking lot of the Deerfield Valley Health Center. The couple had driven to the health center to see a doctor about what they thought might be false labor. With no time to get the mother to the hospital or into the health center, Dr. Sargent delivered the baby on the spot.
45 years ago:
A Deerfield Valley News editorial hailed the “overwhelming victory of President-elect Ronald Reagan” as an ideological victory comparable to the Roosevelt landslides 40 years earlier.
Rep. Stephan Morse (R – Newfane) announced that he would seek the leadership position in the House. As Speaker, he said, he would continue the tradition of a bipartisan House.
55 years ago:
Mount Snow was building an addition at the main base lodge to house a ski shop. The shop, which was to be operated by sporting goods retailer Sports Trends, more than doubled the retail space at the base lodge.
Dover Selectboard members put the issue of a proposed Route 9/Route 100 bypass back on the front burner with a letter to state highway officials asking them to improve Route 100 and build the bypass. Wilmington officials were on record opposing the bypass.
A small group of Wilmington residents turned out to clear brush and undergrowth from the old town site on Lisle Hill. The group’s long-range goal was to build a re-creation of the town’s first meeting hall, a log building constructed in 1781.
