This week in Shelter Island history
50 YEARS AGO IN HISTORY
The Warlocks debuted as The Grateful Dead with lead guitarist Jerry Garcia at Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.The first Peanuts television special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas, debuted on CBS and has become a holiday classic.
“The Yearling,” the story of a boy who learned about life through his friendship with a young fawn, opened on Broadway after 11 preview performances but lasted only three performances.
Concerns about looming inflation prompted President Lyndon Johnson to call his top economic advisers to his Texas ranch for discussion despite their protests that the economy was just fine.
And on Shelter Island …
50 YEARS AGO
Plans afoot for Heights disposal pipe extension
Shelter Island Heights, the only part of the town with its own sewer system, was working on plans to extend its sewer disposal pipe from 200 feet offshore to about 400 feet offshore.
The pipe, located 400 feet east of the North Ferry slips, discharges wastes after they have been treated through a septic tank and chlorinating chamber. The extension would allow the discharge to go into deeper water where tidal action is more active.
POSTSCRIPT: Through the years,the Heights Property Owners Corporation has continued to upgrade its system to meet changing requirements. HPOC general manager Stella Lagudis said it meets all necessary current standards in compliance with the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Suffolk County Health Department.
30 YEARS AGO
Cable overhaul on schedule
Despite the winds and rain of Hurricane Gloria that lashed the area, Viacom Cablevision promised that work to upgrade the Island’s cable service would be finished in December of 1985 as planned. Residents were given dates when crews would be on the Island to install new converters to access additional channels.
POSTSCRIPT: Islanders are now waiting for a decision on new electric cables to ensure reliable service with the latest plan to run the power lines between Shelter Island Heights and Greenport Village.
20 YEARS AGO
Unanimous board establishes West Neck Water District
In 1995 the Town Board approved the establishment of the West Neck Water District that had been privately owned by Bill Payne, who relinquished ownership the previous year.
Various proposals had been on the table. Even the Suffolk Country Water Authority was trying to get into the act. But its efforts were rejected. Only a referendum to reject the new district could have overturned the decision and that didn’t happen.
POSTSCRIPT: The West End Water District continues to operate today with its finances coming from system users, not from the larger community of Islanders.
10 YEARS AGO
Protocol calls for nearest hospital
Unless your illness or injury was one requiring special treatment at Stony Brook or another hospital, it was likely in 2005 that what was then the Shelter Island Red Cross Chapter ambulance squad would take you to the closest hospital — Eastern Long Island.
It wasn’t some special arrangement between the ambulance squad and the hospital to pump up business, but rather a policy, according to Dr. Frank Adipietro, who was then medical director of the ambulance service.
POSTSCRIPT: Several years ago, the three East End hospitals united under an umbrella designed to allow each to specialize in certain areas instead of competing with one another.
That changed some of the protocol given that certain services were only offered at one of the three East End hospitals. For example, a woman in labor would be taken to Southampton, not Eastern Long Island Hospital.
With new affiliations for the three area hospitals this year, that protocol could potentially change, although it’s still likely someone with acute needs would be airlifted to Stony Brook, while patients with less severe illnesses or injuries would be taken to either ELIH or Southampton.
