Index Pages in this issue: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The Amity Star
A Weekly Newspaper Published at The Bethany Press
Litchfield Turnpike, Bethany, Connecticut
Telephone – New Haven 3-1682
George D. Vaill
Editor & Publisher
Alice M. Vaill
Business Manager
Subscription Rates
One Year 52 issues $4.75
Six Months 26 issues 2.40
Three Months 13 issues 1.20
Editorial Comment
The strength of democratic government and democratic institutions stands in direct ratio to the extent of voter-participation in public affairs. And yet, even while we sententiously boast of our accomplishments as a democracy, we stand in unmistakable peril of losing our heritage through public apathy and careless indifference to what is going on around us. Recent revelations of unbridled crime in high places provide but one type of evidence of our disintegration. Another type, no less dangerous to our institutions, exists right in our midst: a general lack of interest in local affairs as they are reflected in town meetings, hearings, elections, and the conduct of public business. Although these remarks on the subject are directed primarily at the voters of Woodbridge, they apply equally to most other towns.
Last year, for the first time in the history of Woodbridge, the total annual budget was over one-quarter of a million dollars. This is big business, deserving the closest possible attention of all the taxpayers who share the cost. Yet, at the Budget Hearing, when this tremendous expenditure was being publicly discussed for the benefit of all, there were only 38 citizens present (other than town officials and members of spending agencies). At that time the population of Woodbridge was estimated at 2,845, of whom 1,392 were taxpayers.
This does not necessarily mean that criticism of the conduct of local affairs has been restricted to only 38 voters – not in the least. Too often the loudest bleater is the one who will not take the time to help make the decisions or give the elected officials the benefit of his counsel.
Only at the open Hearing can the members of the Board of Finance hear the opinionis and receive the guidance of all the taxpayers.
Frequently the individual voter takes the position that his one vote will not make any difference in the proceedings. If everyone indulged in the luxury of such muddled thinking, there would be no votes cast.
Much good work can be undone, and much bad legislation permitted to pass, in a situation which allows an organized minority to rule. And too often, by heckling or by ridicule, a spokesman for such a minority can bring about a decision to suit his own selfish purpose.
At public hearings on budgets, it too often happens that only those in favor of certain expenditures appear to express their views. Those who may have reasonable and logical objections are sometimes not heard from until they receive their tax bills – when it is too late to make a change.
Sometimes a town official or the head of a spending agency becomes too greatly impressed with the importance of his own sphere of activity. If he makes demands which extend beyond the needs of the town for any one department, he should be trimmed down to size – but it may take more than a handful of voters to do the trimming.
The annual Budget Hearing in Woodbridge comes next Wednesday evening. Nothing could give greater assurance of the continuation of sound government than a packed auditorium. Furthermore, those who have to manage the Town’s affairs, and make the decisions which affect every taxpayer’s share of the load, would be greatly cheered if the townspeople considered the occasion an appropriate one for a full house.
Mail Deadline for License Renewals Tuesday, April 20
Motorists are reminded that next Tuesday, April 10, is the last day on which mail applications for renewal of Connecticut operators’ licenses will be accepted by the Motor Vehicle Department for processing before May 1. Those who fail to act before Tuesday place themselves in manifest danger of having to endure a long wait in line to secure their new licenses.
The Bethany Fire Department was called to the home of Lloyd Williams on Cheshire Road shortly after 9:00 o’clock on Sunday morning for a fire in a brooder-house. Damage was slight. Mrs. Williams has asked this paper to express her thanks to Jack Haines, the first person on the scene to help, and to the members of the Fire Department, who responded in a very short time.
Notice to Woodbridge Readers
Those of you who are subscribers will probably receive two copies of this issue, since a general mailing is being sent to all Woodbridge boxholders this week. In addition to giving wider currency to certain notices of a public nature, this distribution will serve to remind non-subscribers that this paper, which is now being read by over 1,600 families, offers the most complete coverage of local news available. New subscribers are asked to include their RFD route numbers with their addresses, to facilitate sorting for mailing.
THE STAR REPORTER
James Beehatch is back. He just dropped in late Monday afternoon, as though nothing had happened, and asked us if we’d like to print some of his stuff. It may not be right to encourage him, but it can’t do any permanent harm – not to him, at any rate. Personally we’ve never gone along with his ideas, but you can’t help feeling sorry for a man who’s been through so much, what with his accident and his third wife’s tumor and all. WE told him we’d give him just one more chance, as long as he’d agree to keep off Communism, religion, and women’s hats. This (which he calls “The Origin of the Horse”) is what he pulled out and handed to us for a starter:
“People are divided into two classes: strong, small, and women. The first are quite frequent, although not as frequent as the second are rampant. The third are only half as frequent (but twice as rampant) as the sum of the first and second plus the remainder of any given part of whatever results if the first is deducted. Therefore, and for other reasons, people are said to be divided into two classes.
“People are also said to be divided against themselves. This is more difficult, since a person subtracted from other persons, as in the former example, cannot be divided or multiplied again in the same quarter, local ground rules to the contrary notwithstanding somewhat.
“If, then, conclusions are to be drawn, let them not presume to stand upon their own merits alone, but rather upon the division thereof. Conclusions, in the long run, may be said to be divided into two classes: strong, small, and women.”
We read it over a couple of times and handed it back to him. After a decent pause, conversation spring to life between us.
“Beehatch,” we said, “we can’t print that. It’s too controversial. People would begin to talk. We’ve got to keep people quiet.”
“People?” said Beehatch.
“Subscribers,” we said.
“Oh,” said Beehatch.
So we refused to print it, and Beehatch walked out and slammed the door, mad as a hornet. He’s probably gone for good this time.
DOUBLE-DUTY PAPER
If you do not keep a file of your copies of The Amity Star, or use them to wrap fish, or stuff them into rat-holes, we suggest that you tie them up neatly in a bundle and save them for the next paper drive in your area. Organizations in Bethany, Orange, and Woodbridge conduct regular waste paper drives, notices of which appear in our columns.
THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK
Under the heading “A Few Hints for the Season,” the Detroit Free Press printed, in the Spring of 1880, advice on how to throw trash over the fence into your neighbor’s yard, how to borrow tools so that the owner will forget where they are, how to kick down a stove, and so on. Included are the following:
“If one of the gate hinges is missing, take off the other and throw it away. It is better to have a gate on no hinges than on one hinge, and it is cheaper to throw away a hinge than to buy one.”
“Seeds should be planted in the Spring. Several years of experience have conclusively proven that seeds planted in the Fall are certain to have the mumps before January. Five dollars’ worth of sunflower seeds will produce shade for at least twelve cats and an old hen. Sunflowers can’t be trained to climb up the side of a house; but neither can an elephant. Therefore, by planting sunflowers you avoid planting elephants.”
Any other questions?
ORIGIN OF “RACE BROOK”
Among other things which Orange and Woodbridge have in common is Race Brook Road, which serves them jointly as Amity Road serves Woodbridge and Bethany. People frequently ask where the name “Race” came from. As authentic an answer as we know is to be found in the History of Orange, 1639-1949, compled by Miss Mary B. Woodruff. As an assistant in the establishment where this book was printed, we had the pleasure of working with Miss Woodruff on her manuscript and proofs, and we developed a considerable interest in Orange and its past. She has this to say:
“. . . . Despite much investigation, the origin of the name Race is still unknown. One tradition is that farmers living in Milford, and owning land up through Bethany, were accustomed to go to their land in companies and on horseback. Some of the younger men were believed to have tried out their horses that way. But the fact that many of the deeds which describe land as located ‘at the Race’ refer to tracts located a considerable distance from the road indicates that the origin of the name Race (or Homes Race, or Holmes, his Race, as it was promiscuously called) has no definite explanation.
“In the writings of Silas J. Peck of Woodbridge, the following item is found: ‘Seventeen years before the settlement was made in New Haven (about 1620), the Dutch took formal possession of all the land from New York, or New Amsterdam, as they called it, and set up a trading post and fort at or near Milford. Holmes is a distinctly Dutch name, and I believe that some seafaring men of that nationality sailed up the shore to Milford, probably on a voyage of discovery. If they landed, as they must have done, they saw that the land was good, and decided they would acquire a portion of it for themselves. I can plainly see them asking the Captain for shore leave. The consent was finally given, on the condition that all who went were to travel as far north as they could go in a given time, and the one that went the farthest was to have all the land he covered. Holmes must have had the greater advantage, and when he had made the allotted time, he found himself at that place a good half-mile beyond what is now the Bethany line, at a natural fortification, a pile of rocks that had the appearance of a fort. It is in fact a place where one man could hold off an indefinite number of enemies, and, since the dim past, has been known as Holmes, his fort.’”
(Continued on page 3)
Anne Buckley
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246 Church Street Phone SP 6-2788
VISIT THE MARGOLIS Shoppe for newest spring fashions
246 ORANGE STREET
NEW HAVEN
PHONE 7-4384
Home Tel 6-7661 NEW HAVEN
Jean Kerin
HATS MADE TO MATCH COAT OR SUIT
ON CENTER NEAR TEMPLE STREET
38 Fountain St. Tel. 3-1690
Heritage Shop
Gifts – New Brasses and Glasses
Our Famous Kitchen-fresh Krum’s Candies
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Phone 5-6161 For Our Bonded Messenger
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“New Haven’s Leading Furriers”
964 Chapel St.
Dry Cold Storage On Premises
Sweeney’s Art StorE
A PLEASANT PLACE TO SHOP
ESTABLISHED 1880
The Card and Gift Shop
213 Church St., Naugatuck, Conn.
Shares Available
Connecticut Light & Power Company – to yield about 5.24%
United Illuminating Company – to yield about 5.51%
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DAY, STODDARD & WILLIAMS DIVISION
5-6151
Frank K. Murray, 3-1625 Reg. Representative