This week in Shelter Island history
50 YEARS AGO IN HISTORY
Richard Nixon was inaugurated as the nation’s 37th president.
The Vietnam peace talks began in Paris with representatives of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and the United States at the table.
The Soviet Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 performed the first transfer of a crew in space.
United Airlines Flight 266 crashed into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.
And on Shelter Island . . .
50 YEARS AGO
Magic road to Orient
Governor Nelson Rockefeller was pushing to extend the Long Island Expressway all the way to Orient and Sunrise Highway all the way to Montauk.
Voters two years earlier had approved a transportation bond issue of $2.5 million that in 1969 the governor said would pay for the two projects.
POSTSCRIPT: To date, there has been a lot of talk, a few trolley efforts tried, but no real solutions to lessen traffic congestion on the East End.
30 YEARS AGO
Funeral home changes hands
The Shelter Island Funeral Home, then located on Route 114, was sold by Stewart Havey to North Fork funeral director David DeFriest. The Havey family had run the business since 1978.
POSTSCRIPT: What’s significant today is some of the reasoning Mr. Havey expressed 30 years ago about the direction he saw Shelter Island taking, which prompted his decision to sell the business. He said there was a lack of opportunity for young people on the Island and it was becoming too expensive for them to live here.
Today, the Gerth administration is dedicated to creating affordable housing through rental apartments.
10 YEARS AGO
Mundy seeks community input on school spending
Board of Education President Rebecca Mundy encouraged Shelter Island residents to get involved in creating a budget for the 2009-10 school year. Her appeal came in the wake of the stock market crash that had created havoc with economies around the world.
“We need input from everyone,” Ms. Mundy said.
Art Williams, a member of the Board of Education, said residents would be upset about any increase in taxes.
Sharon Clifford, who was district superintendent at the time, told the Board of Education this was not the time to put anything new into the budget.
POSTSCRIPT: The Board of Education has just begun work on the 2019-20 school district budget, determined to try to avoid piercing a 2 percent state-imposed tax cap.
