Controlled releases of water will be made from Tully Lake and Birch Hill Dam in Royalston and Winchendon on April 8 and 9 to provide adequate river flows for the 31st River Rat Spectacular on the Millers River. About 800 participants and 15,000-20,000 spectators are expected for the event.
The Athol Finance Committee opposed a teen curfew but favored a recall provision for school committee members as deliberations on warrant articles continued.
Traci Rickert, 16, daughter of Al and Cheryl Rickert of Orange, competed in the YMCA New England Swimming championship, at Brown University in Providence, R.I. recently. She placed first in the 100 yard freestyle and third in the 50 yard freestyle. She is a member of Montachusett Regional YMCA Swim Team. She is headed to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. To compete in the YMCA National swimming championships.
Pat Roix, health enhancement director, with Donn Deane and Ruth Cormier, Nautilus instructors, introduced the Athol Area YMCA’s new cardiovascular machine, a Nordic Walkfit, to members of the “Never Too Late” class, strength training for adults 55 years old and up.
Members of the Mahar Key Club in Orange delivered cut daffodils to faculty and staff members at the school recently. The Key Club took orders and delivered 115 bouquets of daffodils as a service project for the American Cancer Society. The sale raised a total of $575 for the society.
Junior Girl Scout Troop 144 at North Orange visited Gauvin’s sugarhouse recently and learned how much sap it takes and how much sap it takes and how much wood has to be burned to get one gallon of maple syrup. Girls sampled syrup and maple-flavored ginger cookies.
Cub Scout Pack 40, sponsored by St. Mary’s Church in Orange, participated in a Pinewood Derby recently. Winners were, Mark Wingertsman, first place; Chris Gauvin, second place; Tim Powling, third place; Billy Mehr, fourth place and Matt Colturi, best looking car.
A vote by the Pioneer Valley Regional School District Committee to set their operating budget at $6,396,877 for the 1995-96 school year may force Warwick into an override position. The town’s assessment set at $423,568, a 12.1 percent increase, “is $50,000 more than last year,” said selectman Larry Carey, “I find it surprisingly high.”
The Medical Arts Building at the rear of Memorial Hospital is scheduled for opening April 1. Keys to the six-room, $202,000 facility were handed over to Thomas J. Gilgut, chairman of the corporation building committee.
“Spanking new and a thing of beauty,” according to Fire Chief Armand Dugas, the $16,000 forest fire truck arrived in Athol replacing one purchased in 1954. The truck, equipped for work in heavy woods, has a four-wheel drive, radio systems channeled for communications with Tri-State and Mid-State Mutual Aid Systems, a 240-gallon tank, automated and portable pumps, 3,000 feet of light hose and a 2,000 foot booster line.
Commenting on reports there will be a widespread layoff of clerical workers at the Union Twist Drill division of UTD Corporation, Litton Industries, Francis Holland, president of the division, said, “Business is hard to come by. We’re taking a look at what the projection of our sales will be and how many people we will need.” The company employs an estimated 225 clerical workers including executive and professional people. They are not included in the contract between the company and Local 273, United Electrical and Machine Workers Union which represents production workers at the plant.
Rodney Hunt Company in Orange announced the start of Phase 2 in the company’s five-year expansion program. Phase 2 will provide a 16,500-square-oot addition to the machine shop west and will increase capacity for the manufacture of water control equipment. Before construction begins, several old buildings will be demolished and old equipment removed.
Five dogs in the Tully area have been reported missing in a two-week period. Residents, fearing the presence of “dog-nappers”, have solicited the aid of Orange police. Dogs are missing from the homes of Raymond Rivers, LeRoy Taylor, Charles Noel, and Edward Bushey. Several months ago four dogs in the North Orange area were reported missing, according to residents of the neighboring community.
President Nixon asked Congress to increase penalties — even to the death penalty — and to extend federal jurisdiction to deal with the rash of bombings by “potential murderers.” The president proposed extending and strengthening laws involving the transportation and use of explosives in the wake of what he called an alarming increase in criminal bombings and threats in recent months that “have sent fear through many American communities.”
Chandler Newton, Radioman 3/c, appeared at the Y after having arrived in Athol on a 20-days leave to visit his mother, Mrs. Arthur N. Newton of Athol, and presented General Secretary A. P. Johnstone with a pair of wooden shoes obtained in Belgium. Radioman Newton told Secretary Johnstone that the shoes will be good for him to wear this summer at Camp Wiyaka.
Blood donations received by the Red Cross Mobile Blood Unit from Atholites and residents of surrounding towns totaled 745 pints, the result of the first three-day visit ever made by a unit here in Athol.
Miss Gladys C. Green, librarian, announced that she was “very pleased” with the 120 books turned in for servicemen.
Boatswain’s Mate 2/c Frank A. Gravlin, 22, USNR, of Athol, who is currently on active duty in the South Pacific, received a commendation from his commanding officer. He is serving on a destroyer.
Pfc. Peter Salkauskas, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Salkauskas of Athol, has been reported missing in action in Germany since March 4.
Mrs. Irene Cetto of Athol received a telegram from the War Department stating that her husband, Staff Sgt. Herman Cetto, 27, was “killed in action somewhere in France on March 15.”
Mrs. Edward Hudson of Orange has received word that her husband, Pvt. Hudson, who was reported missing Dec. 21 in Germany, has died of pneumonia in a German prison camp. He was reported prisoner of the German government by the International Red Cross on March 6. He and his wife came to Orange from New Hampshire about five years ago. They have two small daughters, Beverly and Natalie. He was employed as foreman at the Minute Tapioca Co., before entering service.
Cpl. Lloyd Mitchell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Mitchell of Petersham, veteran of Bougainville and Guam, was killed in action in the battle for Iwo Jima on March 20, according to a War Department telegram received by his parents.
More than 3,000 Allied warplanes, the greatest armada ever to fly from England at one time, swarmed toward northwestern Germany and joined thousands more bombers and fighters streaming up from continental bases in lashing Germans east of the Rhine.