Canajoharie

Twenty Years Ago

The residents of the Canajoharie Central School District will be asked for their approval of needed repairs at the Nellis Memorial Complex during a special portion of the Canajoharie Board of Education meeting. The session will be held in the Nellis Memorial gym so those attending will get a first-hand look at the deteriorated condition of the gym’s padding. Last fall, voters in the Canajoharie District approved a referendum for asbestos removal from several areas in district buildings, of which some $146,611 remains in a contingency fund.

Floyd Houghtaling, a member of the Smith-Schultz Post, American Legion, Canajoharie, was elected and installed as commander of the Montgomery County branch of the American Legion. Houghtaling, a past commander of the Smith-Schultz Post, will have as his adjutant Glenn B. Mitchell, also from the Canajoharie post and a past post commander and county commander.

The students of Canajoharie East Hill Elementary School has collected 16,500 labels from Campbell’s Soup products during the 1991-92 school year. The Palatine Bridge Grand Union also helped the kids earn various supplies for their school by contributing certificates toward the purchase of school supplies.

Thirty Years Ago

The Village Board noted that water and sewer fees will have to be increased again to meet the rising costs of operation of the village’s water system and the new sewage treatment facility. Bruce Van Evera, village finance officer, pointed out that the costs of both operation are increasing and the state is now mandating that the water system be updated. Van Evera added that the state Audit and Control also require the water and sewer systems be self-sustaining, which Van Evera says, “is impossible without another rise in the water and sewer fees.”

The first annual Canajoharie-Palatine-Ames Pre Teen Baseball league tournament, held in conjunction with the Canajoharie-Fort Plain Elks Club was won by the Canajoharie A team all-stars, who turned in an 8-1 victory over Fonda in the Pre-Teen Park.

Forty Years Ago

Ralph McEwan was elected president of the Canajoharie Central School Board of Education at the annual organizational meeting. Malcoln Pulver was elected vice president.

Robert D. Barshied, son of Mr. and Mrs. Willis Barshied, received his Master of Science degree with a major in Environmental Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.

The Matt Pharmacy of Canajoharie advertised a warning to women who came in to their noontime-only restaurant and tried to touch the clerks. “A long-standing policy of hands off is no longer effective,” they said, and posted a list of fines for those women who could not resist. Among those fines were: Touching Arms or Body — 50 cents; Touching Scalp or Curly Hair — $2.25; Kissing Feet or Legs — $2.50; Blowing a Kiss From Under One Mile — $1; Kissing Cheek — $50; Kissing Lips — $127.50. “No credit granted, cash and carry only.”

Fort Plain

Twenty Years Ago

Fort Plain High School, noted by the state Department of Education as a school with many innovative programs in place, has been selected as one of only 12 high schools in New York state as a pilot site for the implementation of a work-based Career Exploration Internship Program.

Robert Sitterley was reelected president of the Fort Plain Board of Education, beating fellow board member John Vesp for that position during the last meeting of the school board. Elected to serve with Sitterley were John Grimm, first vice president, and Virginia Michalik, second vice president. The oath of office was administered to the newly elected officers and to the newly elected board member Michele J. Whiteman.

Alfonso Pineyro, a sophomore at Fort Plain High School, recently was selected as one of the top ten participants in the New York Statewide Essay Contest. The contest, which was sponsored by the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators, was an essay contest based on the Quin-Centennial of the Exploration of the New World by Christopher Columbus. It was open to all sophomore students through the state and Pineyro’s entry was selected as of the top ten of more than 200 submitted. He was awarded a Certificate of Merit from the New York State Assembly and received a letter of congratulations from Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano, chairman of the contest. Pineyro is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Alfonso Pineyro.

Thirty Years Ago

They come from the State University of New York at Albany and Oneonta. They are not digging for gold or oil. They are looking for buried treasure of another kind. The historical treasure is a Mohawk Indian hamlet, probably from the 15th century, buried amid the farmland in the Fordsbush section of the town of Minden. “What we are interested in,” says Dr. William Starna, department chairman of archaeology at SUNY Oneonta, “is how and why the Mohawk Indians went from being hunters and gatherers to agricultural people. We want to know why this shift took place.”

Robert Grimm was reelected president of the Fort Plain Central School Board of Education at the last reorganizational meeting. Also reelected were John Cunnan, first vice president, and Fred Stockwell, second vice president.

The Fort Plain Small Fry League all-stars finished second in the recent eight-team tournament at East Springfield.

Forty Years Ago

A referendum to decide the fate of the proposed $400,000 Water Bond Proposal issue, which was designed to upgrade the municipal water system was ordered by the Village Board.

Residents of the Fort Plain Central School District went to the polls and left in their wake the wreckage of five propositions and two advisory proposals representing items and services deleted from the original budget be a resounding vote margin of 530-246.

The Luxuray plant on Willett Street was searched thoroughly by local police and company officials after an anonymous called the previous night told police to “beware, something will happen at 9 o’ clock.” Shortly after 9 a.m. full production at the plant resumed.

St. Johnsville

Twenty Years Ago

Mini-streaks seemed to be the order of the week for the Morris J. Edwards American Post 168 baseball team as they opened up their Herkimer County League action. The 168ers, under new coach Jeff Carter, opened the week with a pair of wins — defeating Herkimer, 3-2, and Mohawk, 16-3, but then dropped a pair of nail-biters, 9-8, to Little Falls, and 5-4 to Ilion, in what could be termed a very busy week of action.

Thirty Years Ago

“I just don’t want to see the kids walking Route 5 to school.” Those words, spoken by St. Johnsville Central School District Superintendent Clifford Crandall, came after district voters soundly defeated all six proposition presented by the Board of Education, including one, which if passed would have provided transportation for students living three miles or less from the elementary and high schools.

Donald W. Klemme II, was reappointed president and Mamie Wytrwal replaced Sue Snyder as vice president at the school board’s annual reorganizational meeting.

The oath of office was administered to two new members of the Oppenheim-Ephratah Central School Board of Education. They were Mrs. Mary Ann Charon, serving a two-year term and Cyrus Frasier, a one-year term. Gerald Gray, reelected for a three-year term, was named president of the board, and Robert Peruzzi, vice president.

Forty Years Ago

The Village Board adopted a resolution to sell its garage to SAVAC at a price of $500.

An appropriation of $500 was granted by the Village Board to be used toward the annual parade to climax the Firemen’s Fair.