June 4, 2014
This is the seventh column in my series on
the decades of change from 1960 to the present as reported by Bradford’s local
weekly newspaper. In retrospect I could have entitled the series Decades of
Decision, Decades of challenges, indecision, controversy, anxiety, uncertainty,
continuity or growth and decline. All of those terms could characterize the
events described in the previous columns and in the five-year period from 1990
to 1994. Those other Decades of change can be found at
larrycoffin.blogspot.com.
The early 90s included several momentous
events for me and my family. I was teaching social studies at Oxbow High School.
I was active in a number of community affairs and turned the milestone age 50.
My wife Carolyn worked in the family practice of Dr. Lance
Osadchey. One daughter graduated from
college, the other was married and we became “empty nesters.”
My mother died as the result of
an automobile accident in Piermont, my mother in law died of a heart attack, my
father moved to a rest home in Chelsea and my brother was diagnosed with
terminal lung cancer. I am sure that
readers who lived locally during the period will bring their own perspective to
the events described below.
While the Journal Opinion ran fewer articles on agriculture and almost no ads
for grocery stores during the period, it continued to devoted significant space
to school and town government affairs, weddings and anniversaries, political
campaigns, business openings and closing, local neighborhood columns, business
ads and letters to the editor.
A 1990 editorial on those letters celebrated
this important “forum to reach people with divergent points of view,” but went
on to say that some writers suffered from “logorrhea” or excessive wordiness. In 1993, it published 331 letters. Regular letter
writers included Dick Fischer, Dick Monroe, Donald Valentine, Winnie Pino, Robert
Fillion, Clayton Placey and Marilyn Hatch-Ruiter. The number, length and tone of those classified
as “verbal darts” led one contributor to write “Have mercy on us, please!”
Many of those letters addressed local
schools. The reliance of schools on local property taxes and poor economic
times caused school budgets to be defeated often, sometimes repeatedly in a
single year. This was especially true of union schools that lacked community
identity.
The
replacement of traditional school meeting approach with the Australian ballot allowed
more voters to participate, but reduced open discussion of alternatives. School
Boards often got conflicting messages from voters. Hire good teachers, cut
salaries. Enhance programs, cut teachers. Adopt budgets one year, defeat the
next.
Escalating school costs and teacher
negotiations presented problems for school districts. It was not uncommon for
teachers and boards to undergo impasse, fact-finding and/or mediation. In 1993, teachers in several districts
considered striking to force a resolution. In March of that year, teachers at
Oxbow went on strike. Schools were also
criticized for every aspect of their normal operation from administration and
classroom techniques to sports.
Overcrowded and outdated facilities created
problems. Elementary schools in Newbury, Warren, Bradford and Piermont built
additions and Haverhill built a new elementary school. New equipment including
computers was purchased. Union 36 was renamed the Waits River Valley School.. New school and community playgrounds were
built in Ryegate, Wells River, Piermont and Bradford.
Next to the articles describing problems were
those that celebrated accomplishments of students and staff. Regular reports covered student projects,
academic awards and performances. Outstanding athletic accomplishments included
at least eight basketball, baseball, softball or soccer championships between the teams of Blue Mountain Union, Thetford
Academy and Woodsville, Orford and Oxbow high schools. Milestones for individual athletes and
coaches received special coverage.
No less problematic were the issues
confronting local town and village governments. Zoning and solid waste
management continued to confront elected leaders. There were landfill issues in
Boltonville, Corinth and Post Mills. In a period when Woodsville Fire District
expanded, voters in Bradford refused to merge their village and town, but did
initiate cooperate in local services and regulation. Police and fire protection, dog control
issues, personnel issues and the increased cost of local services were regular
items on local agendas. Newbury
discussed hiring a town manager, but didn’t. Haverhill did.
Locals gathered to express strong concerns
about Vermont’s Act 200 planning and development law with most local towns
voting their solid opposition. There was concern about industrial contamination
in Bradford and Pike, low-level flights by the Vermont Air National Guard and
milfoil in local lakes. Fears of a nuclear waste site led to overwhelming votes
against the suggestons in Corinth and Newbury in 1992.
Residents in Corinth opposed a proposed subdivision
at Goose Green in what they called “a struggle for the soul of rural New
England.” Similar opposition was
expressed against Reality Resources’ plan for low-income housing on Bradford’s
Upper Plain as well as the Stone Mountain development in East Orford, a 24-unit
low income development in Newbury and a 15-unit housing project in Piermont.
On
the other hand, the building of the Spear elderly housing complex in Wells
River was welcomed. Similar proposals
for elderly housing for Fairlee and Bradford village never evolved beyond the
planning stage.
There were other short-lived controversies
including a tree house in Newbury village, the placement of the memorial
flagpole on Newbury’s Common, the teaching of creationism at Blue Mountain
Union School, exotic dancers in Woodsville, Sunday races at Bear Ridge Speedway
and a proposed curfew for Bradford village as a partial solution to the problem
of vagrant youth.
The 1991 Gulf War placed the local
National Guard units on standby. Marcia
Tomlinson wrote a compelling article entitled “G. I. Joe” about an unnamed Bradford
man involved in Desert Storm. Demonstrators gather in downtown Bradford to oppose
the war. They were met by others who expressed support for the troops.
Around the region, old structures took on
new life. Plans were advanced for retrofitting the Bradford Academy Building .
The proposal to remove the gym and auditorium was defeated and an architect was
hired to present a plan to meet disabled access regulations. Closed elementary schools in Orfordville’s and
North Haverhill became the locations for town offices. The Methodist Church on
Newbury’s Common was restored and, after some delays, the Haverhill Academy
complex was sold to Haverhill Heritage
The bridge over the Connecticut River
between Bradford and Piermont and the Route 5 bridge in Bradford were both
closed for a time while they underwent major repairs. It became obvious that
the Woodville-Bath Covered Bridge no longer met modern demands and that the
Woodsville-Wells River Bridge needed repairs or replacement.
New projects resulted in the Woodsville
Water Treatment Plant and Fairlee’s Fire and Ambulance Station. Restaurants came and went as restaurants do,
but fast food came to stay with the opening of Subway and McDonald’s in
Woodsville. Wells River Bank constructed
a new building in that village, Fogg’s Hardware in Fairlee moved to a new
location and Ames moved from North Haverhill to a new building in Woodsville.
J&M Landscaping moved from Piermont to a renovated barn in Bradford. Warren
Village Market opened a new facility.
All of the following businesses closed:
Butterworth Publishers in Orford, Gove and Bancroft Pharmacy, Hale’s Furniture
and the Agway Plant in Bradford and Woodsville’s 111 Club. All of the following businesses operated for
a time, but have since disappeared: The Purple Plum, The Great Wok, Cheap
Thrills, Buck’s Worth Store and Figaro’s. Both Warren’s Morse Museum and
Orford’s Catholic Chapel closed permanently.
Another closing with wide-ranging
implications came in 1993 when the FDIC seized the Independent Bankgroup
including the former Bradford National Bank.
Local residents were shocked by the action, the charges brought against local
officials, loss of investments and the implications for the local economy. The
Bradford bank was purchased by Merchants Bank.
Lyme got a bank with the opening of a branch of the Mascoma Savings
Bank.
Residents became more conscious of recycling,
energy conservation, solar power and land preservation. Large pieces of farmland in many towns were
placed under conservation easements to protect against development. Recycling centers opened in several towns.
The Bradford Conservation Commission was established and led the successful
effort to portions of Wright’s Mountain.
An especially cold winter and major blizzard in 1993 led to the first mention
of global warming, albeit as “the new ecological bogeyman.”
In Ryegate the new woodchip power plant
went on line in 1993. A new hydroelectric dam on the Connecticut was completed between
East Ryegate and Bath and the CVPS dam on the Waits River in Bradford was
rebuilt. In response to local opposition, the proposed dam on the Ottauquechee
in Thetford Center was shelved.
Dairy farming played a smaller but still
important role in the local economy. Several local farms received state and
national recognition for outstanding and innovative practices. Lower milk prices caused a number of local
farmers to take “desperate measures” and join a milk strike in 1991. Bovine
growth hormone became an issue in 1993. Poor weather only added to farmers’
woes.
As
many as 12 obituaries appeared in the Journal
Opinion on a weekly basis, each
with its own short headline listing a significant characteristic of the
departed. While each of the deceased
played an important role in the lives of their families and friends, some
played a more significant part in their community. These include Julius Tueckhardt,
Vincent Polli, James Hood, Henry McGreevy, Dr. James Keating, Dorothy Dooley,
Ezra Mann, Lena Mason, Horace Palmer, Graham Blake, Bill Godfrey, Bradford
Farr, R. DeWitt Mallary, Judge Karl
Bruckner, Robert Roberge, Freddie
Miller, George McLure, K. Donald Welch
and Dr. Laurel Lyons. Centenarians Alice Taplin Hood and Charles Haskins died
after full lives, but life was tragically
cut for a number of young people struck down by disease or
accident.
Several murders, increased acts of
violence, frequent break-ins, arson and illegal drug operations caused local
towns to bolster police protection. Neighborhood Watches were introduced. There was just enough bad press to encourage
several letter writers to praise their hometowns as “the best place to live.”
For many it was. For others, more
government programs offered increased assistance to make life better. Volunteers
also worked to improve the lot of the homeless and poor. In fact, much of what
stood out as positive during the five-year period was the result of voluntary
efforts by local individuals, churches, organizations and businesses. Volunteers fought fires, assisted with
libraries, worked with youth groups, distributed food baskets, meals and
holiday gifts, raised money for needed operations, preserved historic artifacts
and buildings and improved natural sites.
Local annual festivals, fairs and parades
were the result of volunteer labor. In 1991 Vermont communities celebrated the
bicentennial of Vermont’s statehood with parades, balls and displays. Local schools joined in the celebration. Newbury
and Bradford both built new bandstands and Fairlee was “captured” by the
British in a reenactors encampment.
The period can also be remembered for
enhanced cable service with the choice of up to 13 channels, WYKR broadcasting
in FM, the Clean Air Act, the Census, the death of Governor Richard Snelling,
the election of President Bill Clinton, the
discovery of “Aunt Sally” at the bottom of Lake Morey, Lucky Kubheka’s
short-lived return from South Africa, Dad’s Peanut Brittle, the death of Rex
the Wonder Horse, the return of falcons to Fairlee, Blue Mountain Union’s “Chocolate
War,” I-91 rock slides, AIDS, SADD, DARE
and yellow ribbons.
Looking back from the present to the events
of this five-year period one can see how locals reacted to change, the results
of the changes that took place then and the groundwork that led to later
changes. Some residents embraced the
changes and others resisted. Some were
successful in their resistance, others not.
But times passed. As I reviewed my notes from the Journal Opinion and thinking of what
happened to my family and community, I
found myself humming the Sheldon Harnick’s lyrics from Fiddler on the Roof:
“Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset. Swiftly flow the years. One season
following another, laden with happiness and tears.”
