This week in Shelter Island history
50 YEARS AGO IN HISTORY
The National Organization for Women issued a Statement of Purpose declaring, “The time has come for a new movement toward true equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the sexes, as part of the world-wide revolution of human rights now taking place within and beyond our national borders.”
Then a congressman, Gerald Ford, in a speech at a Republican dinner in Fayetteville, Arkansas, decried a Congress that he said bent to every whim of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and “eager to implement every hare-brained social welfare scheme that emanates from his Great Society administration.”
Matt Drudge was born in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Woody Allen’s “What’s up, Tiger lily?” was wooing moviegoers.
And on Shelter Island …
50 YEARS AGO
Firefighters to host children
Fifty years ago, Fire Department Chief Fred Ogar announced the Center Firehouse would host children for a Halloween celebration. Plans called for a parade of the costumed children to be followed by games and contests.
The department staged the event in appreciation of support the community gave during the fund-raising drive that had been conducted that summer.
POSTSCRIPT: Good ideas are perpetuated and once again on Halloween, the parade will be staged from the firehouse. Added to the tradition are neighbors who fill bags with candy and youngsters trek to houses on Smith Street to collect their holiday gifts.
30 YEARS AGO
Sprinkler, pool ban urged
The year was 1986 and the Water Advisory Committee was recommending restrictions on automated underground sprinkler systems and swimming pools in coastal areas.
The WAC was created after John Hallman’s company determined that a six month drought would affect drinking water in shoreline areas of the Island. Committee members called for a water conservation program that would protect the fragile aquifer.
POSTSCRIPT: Mr. Hallman went on to chair the Water Advisory Committee for many years and also served on the Irrigation Committee, which last year recommended changes to use of automatic sprinklers. The Island has long required that swimming pools be filled with trucked-in water.
20 YEARS AGO
Closings set for affordable houses
Just 20 years ago, the town was preparing to close with new owners on five of six affordable houses built on Bowditch Road. There were several delays in the process and the result at the time was that while the owners had expected to start paying mortgages months earlier, they had actually been able to live mortgage-free from June through October when the closings finally happened.
POSTSCRIPT: The focus this year is on rental units, but the first project vetted by the Community Housing Board got a turn down by the Town Board at a work session on October 18. It will be official at the October 28 regular Town Board meeting. Members said there were sufficient concerns about an undersized lot and traffic issues to convince them this was not a project they could support.
10 YEARS AGO
Ketcham bristles at cuts
Mark Ketcham was highway superintendent 10 years ago and battled with the Town Board over his proposed budget for the following year, arguing that he had already cut his request by $235,000. Town Board members were determined to try to slice more out of his spending plan.
The Town Board was looking at an overall budget that was already up by 25 percent from 2006 and trying to eliminate as much spending as it could in various department’s proposals to lessen the impact on taxes.
POSTSCRIPT: Jay Card Jr. is the man on the hot seat today, frustrated in his efforts to get money for a capital projects account so that town assets his department is expected to maintain can be put on a regular maintenance schedule. The Town Board expects to adopt a 2017 budget on November 18.
