Chronicled History

compiled by Joseph Gresser

Five years ago

July 9, 2003

Derby Selectmen — Town gravel supply is closely examined

by Richard Creaser

DERBY — The selectmen received a crash course in gravel quality on Monday night as Steve Gendreau, road commissioner and selectman, discussed gravel with Coventry gravel pit operator Mike Rogers.

Mr. Rogers asked the board to reconsider its decision to buy more expensive gravel from Northeast Sand and Gravel and Couture Sand and Gravel.  The price difference between the gravel Mr. Rogers was offering and that which the town had agreed to purchase was based on several factors, said Mr. Gendreau.

“The cost of the material really isn’t the issue,” Mr. Gendreau told the board.  “It’s the cost of screening and hauling it.”

Screening the gravel adds another dollar per cubic yard of gravel, and trucking costs are added on top of that,” he said…..

Ten years ago

July 8, 1998

Profile — Tim Pratt — cooking with care in Greensboro

by Steve Blake

GREENSBORO — Residents at the Greensboro Nursing Home have a friend whom they see every day, and he cooks for them, too.

Not only does Montpelier-area native Tim Pratt cook with the needs of the elderly in mind, he makes the meals enjoyable.  Along with the improved menu he has brought to the nursing home kitchen, Mr. Pratt has introduced public restaurant-like features such as ice sculptures for holiday meals.

The nursing home now also has a bake shop, which boasts 200 items.

The 38-year-old Berlin resident, who has worked at the nursing home for nine and a half years, knew as a boy he would have a career involving food.

He calls himself a “blue-collar chef” who learned by observation.  He is certified by the state of Vermont as a dietary manager as well as in sanitation….

Fifteen years ago

July 7, 1993

On Derby Plaza — Newport City gets chance to be heard

by Chris Braithwaite

DERBY — Thanks to a last-minute decision by its city council, Newport City will have a chance to be heard on the economic impact of the proposed Derby Plaza.

But it was a close call.

Two Newport aldermen and the city manager came to Derby last Thursday morning for the second session of the plaza’s critically important Act 250 hearing.

Over the objections of developer Greg Fleming and after a brief scolding from Joe Newell, the crusty chairman of the District 7 Environmental Commission, the city was given limited “party status” to take part in the hearing.

The city’s right to participate is limited to just one of the development act’s ten criteria, the impact of growth.

The question is: “Will any increase in population associated with the project create an undue financial burden upon the ability of the town or region to accommodate such growth?...”

Twenty years ago

July 6, 1988

Hours cut at Lowell mine

by Charles Tenny

LOWELL — Fewer and fewer people are buying asbestos these days, and the effect is being felt at the asbestos mine in Lowell.  Working hours at the mine were reduced by ten hours per week on Monday last week.

The mine’s roughly 75 employees began working 40 hours last week, down from the 50 per week they had been working since this year’s mining season began in April.

“Orders are soft these days,” said owner Howard Manosh of Morrisville.  “The asbestos business isn’t booming.”

Once used widely in buildings for insulation and for fire-retardant pipe covering, asbestos is now thought to cause cancer.  In recent years several area school districts have paid for expensive removals of the material.  Others, among them North Country Union High School, still face the problem….

Twenty-five years ago

July 6, 1983

Large crowd gathers for Barton celebration

by Bethany M. Dunbar

BARTON — “How’s the weather down there?” Peter Schumann of the Bread and Puppet Theatre asked parade goers Monday.  He must have thought it was different atop his nine-foot stilts.

“Good,” answered most of the spectators.  They must have liked the heat.

The horses pulling 9,500 pounds at the fairgrounds weren’t complaining.

The people selling ice cream on the corner didn’t seem upset either.  Apparently that much heat hits northern Vermont so infrequently that people would rather relax and enjoy it than complain….

Thirty years ago

July 6, 1978

Snelling auctioneer for Republicans

BARTON — “I can’t tell you for sure it works, but it’s a beautiful piece of equipment,” the auctioneer said, holding up a seedy old radio.  “And I don’t know it doesn’t work,” he added hopefully.  “It’s got tubes in it, and you never know when you’re going to need a tube.”  The radio sold for $4.70.

The auctioneer was the Governor, Richard Snelling.  He got high marks from one observer who buys and sells used things for a living. “I’ve heard worse professionals,” commented Ralph Swett, proprietor of the Evansville Trading Post.

The Governor was in town to help the Orleans County Republican Committee earn campaign funds for local candidates at its second annual auction, Friday night at the fairgrounds….