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This week in Shelter Island history

REPORTER FILE PHOTO Chief Jim Read at a Town Board meeting 10 years ago appealed for support to hire a consultant to help East End towns and villages develop disaster mitigation plans.
REPORTER FILE PHOTO | Chief Jim Read at a Town Board meeting 10 years ago appealed for support to hire a consultant to help East End towns and villages develop disaster mitigation plans.

50 YEARS AGO IN HISTORY

Three Ku Klux Klan members in Alabama were convicted of murder in the death of white civil right activist Viola Liuzzo.German figure skater Katarina Witt, who won two Olympic gold medals — one in Sarajevo in 1984 and the second in Calgary in 1988 — was born.

The USSR launched its Lunar 8 rocket that crashed on the moon.

The Beatles released their sixth studio album, “Rubber Soul,” and began a United Kingdom concert tour in Glasgow, Scotland.

Bonanza was the most popular television show and appeared on NBC.

And on Shelter Island.

50 YEARS AGO
Luxury community planned for Hay Beach

If you went to last year’s Shelter Island Historical Society program focusing on Hay Beach, you may already know that plans for the area’s development were under way at the end of 1965.

What had originally been a proposal on the 460-acre tract for plots of 20,000 square feet had been doubled to comply with zoning laws at the time.

POSTSCRIPT: It took a lot of negotiation to bring Hay Beach into reality and today Islanders are similarly watching as plans are rolled out and changes made to a planned development on the former St. Gabriel’s property on Coecles Harbor.

30 YEARS AGO
Evidence of oil spill found in Mashomack

Following a fuel oil spill in “the Race,” a passage off Fisher’s Island, resulting from a sunken 240-foot barge, oil was detected miles away in waters off the Mashomack Preserve.

The result was the death of a duck found by preserve manager Mike Laspia, who said a dead deer was also found.

POSTSCRIPT: This summer, concerns arose from dead fish found on shores in Riverhead and extending into parts of the western end of Southold. While Shelter Island wasn’t affected, the realization that nitrogen in Peconic Bay affects the entire area has resulted in a consortium of East End towns and villages and Brookhaven to work on addressing issues of water quality.

20 YEARS AGO
Sherman proposes two-year capital plan

Supervisor Hoot Sherman outlined a two-year plan calling for spending $215,000 to consolidate the Recycling Center and garbage drop-off areas; restoration of the town-owned Goat Hill clubhouse; construction of a new highway department building; state mandated handicapped access to Justice Court; restoration of the second Ram Island Causeway; and payment for recently acquired diesel-powered chipping equipment.

POSTSCRIPT: Twenty years later, the Town Board has taken a conservative approach to funding of most capital projects, rejecting calls to create a long-term maintenance plan sought by Highway Superintendent Jay Card Jr. and Town Engineer John Cronin.

10 YEARS AGO
Chief calls for disaster mitigation plan

Ten years ago, Police Chief Jim Read was seeking town funds to support hiring a consultant to assist in development of a disaster mitigation plan for East End towns and villages.

Under the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, those areas that wanted Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance in the wake of a disaster such as a major storm had to have a plan in place to mitigate damage that could occur.

The plan was designed to address those issues that could lessen damages that would need remediation, the chief said.

POSTSCRIPT: Shelter Island  recently received money from FEMA to offset costs of some of the damage experienced here as a result of Superstorm Sandy.

Chief Read continues to lead the emergency management effort here and with each storm, tweaks the program to improve responses based on lessons learned.

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