Matthew Damion Susen, son of Jennifer Rathburn of Athol and Matthew Susen of Petersham, is the winner of the 1996 North Quabbin-Mt. Grace Region baby derby.
■With recent contributions, the Athol Santa Fund topped their goal of $11,000 with receipts totaling $11,586.36.
■The Athol Fire Department recently completed work on the “new” 1977 Dodge Powerwagon 4×4 forestry truck that they obtained for $325 (the cost of transportation) from an army surplus in Indiana. The truck replaces a 1952 vehicle.
■The former White Paper Box Shop owners are seeking $500,000 in damages from the Town of Athol after the old Island Street wallet factory was demolished last year. The town ordered the building demolished after two floors collapsed and a wall was bulging out.
■Athol-Royalston Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts will recycle discarded Christmas trees at Noel’s Nursery, in Orange. Trees will be chipped by Bob Shepardson of Vegetation Control Services, who has volunteered his time and a chipping machine. Last year’s tree recycling project netted $1,000 for the Olympic Trip Fund. Thirty area girls are expected to travel to Atlanta, Ga. For the Summer Olympics.
■Pete Gerry of Pete’s Tire Barns recently donated $1,500 to the Orange Fire Department’s Rescue Tool Replacement Fund, making good on his promise to match all private donations made Dec. 10-17. The contributions helped the fund pass its halfway mark on the way to $20,000.
■The Rodney Hunt Company of Orange recently helped the Orange Fire Department Rescue Tool Replacement Drive with a donation of $1,000. Rodney Hunt company has been an avid supporter of the fire department since the mid-1800s when the company’s founder, Rodney Hunt, became the town’s first fire chief.
■Orange American Legion Post 172 recently donated $500 for the Orange Fire Department’s Rescue Tool Replacement Fund.
■Six residents attended a meeting of the Orange Industrial Development Committee of the Orange-Athol Industrial Development District to discuss a proposed second industrial park. The favored site is Randall’s Pond off South Main Street between South Cemetery and the state highway garage. The parcel, owned by Fred Heyes of town, has about 67 acres, with 32 acres available for building.
■Citing a need to provide local police forces with the financial means to put additional officers on the street, U.S. Rep. John Olver (D-First District) has announced that Orange has received a $75,000 federal grant for community policing.
Carrie Ann Beland was the first new baby born in 1971 to parents in the region and is the winner of the 36th annual Athol Daily News baby derby. She and her parents will receive gifts from 35 merchants who are co-sponsors of the baby contest.
■All 200-300 L.S. Starrett Co. workers in departments shut down since Dec. 22 are apparently back to work as scheduled.
■Fire roads in the Bearsden Conservation area will be opened to snowmobilers for the remainder of the winter. The town conservation commission voted to drop cable barricades on the roads to permit snowmobiling.
■Douglas Starrett, president of the YMCA Board of Directors, received a check for $100 from Ronnie Janes, president of the Hi-Y Club. This represents the second payment on the club’s pledge of $300 to the YMCA Building and Expansion Fund. The money was earned in the recent Christmas tree sale by the club.
■The Athol Jaycees, Inc. will not collect and burn discarded Christmas trees in January. The practice, of several years’ standing, is being discontinued due to a combination of logistics, difficulties in burning and resultant pollution.
■Workers were back on the job at the sewage treatment plant after settlement of a dispute between the Fitchburg Building Trades Council and Butler’s Inc, painting sub-contractor.
■Saturday mornings have been set aside for hockey playing at the Butterfield Park, Orange, skating rink. If inclement weather prevents Saturday playing, selectmen said it will be allowed Sunday mornings. Selectmen Chairman J. Arthur MacKnight noted vandalism has been prevalent at the rink since its establishment. He warned that unless young people take better care of the rink, it might be abandoned.
■The first of six homes to be built in Tully by Rural Housing Improvements Inc. of Westminster arrived by truck. A modular home, completely set up and ready for occupancy, was delivered in two parts to the site.
■Mary Jane Williams, 20, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Williams of Royalston, is the first area resident under 21 to seek election to a major town office. Miss Williams is a candidate for a three-year term on the Royalston Board of Selectmen.
Nancy Ann Parker, born to Pfc. and Mrs. Merle Parker of Athol, is “Miss 1946” and winner of the 12th Annual Baby Derby sponsored by the Athol Daily News and local merchants.
■Hotels and dine and dance places in Athol remained open until the wee hours of New Year’s Day to see the New Year in. Many out-of-town parties were held at Maroni’s Café, Athol House and Pequoig Hotel.
■The Athol Chamber of Commerce voted to take over the Selective Service celebration on Jan. 21, at which time members of the draft board are to receive bronze medals for five years or more of faithful service.
■One of the big jobs of the war was carried through successfully by an Athol woman, Miss Wynona A. Goddard, American Red Cross director, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A.R. Goddard. Miss Goddard has had a wide and colorful experience, and the work she has been engaged in was of untold benefit to the Pacific veterans. She has just returned from the Pacific area after a year in the Hawaiian Islands where she was in charge of nine clubs, with a staff of 32, who served, in the seven and one-half months, no less than 1,470,000 men, many of whom were returned combat veterans from the battle lines of the Pacific.
■An estimated damage of at least $1,200 to the store of M.H. Fishman Company and the office of Dr. Ray Fessenden was caused by water, which backed up in the gutters on the Exchange Street side of the Fishman block and seeped through the roof into the building. The damage was not discovered until morning when the store and office were opened.
■First known as “Canada’s National Violinist,” Arthur LeBlanc, now one of the most outstanding violinists of the younger generation, will appear at Memorial Hall in Athol when he will present the second in a series of concerts to be presented this season by Athol-Orange Community Concert Association.
■Representatives of the Orange UNO Presentation Committee said that they have been “well received” at their appointments in Boston and said they believed “much progress” had been made.
■At the Orange Planning Board meeting there was further discussion about building laws, sub-division control, zoning and adopting a capital budget.