Canajoharie

Twenty Years Ago

The Canajoharie Village Board will hold a legal public meeting to discuss and answer questions concerning the proposed development of a Womens Resource Crisis Center on five acres of land located in an area that is proposed for annexation to the village. Although the proposed annexation would cover 145 acres of land, including the village owned Wintergreen Park and a closed village landfill, all of the controversy swirls around the five acres and the construction of the crisis center.

Canajoharie Town Supervisor Robert McMahon took to the campaign trail with state Senate candidate Roy J. McDonald as the Republican supervisor and Independent McDonald went door to door to boost in Canajoharie. McMahon is the Republican candidate for reelection as town supervisor in the November election, while McDonald is challenging 16-year incumbent Sen. Hugh T. Farley in a September Senate primary.

Canajoharie Town Supervisor Robert McMahon announced that Canajoharie has received a $43,900 grant from the Land Preservation and Enhancement Program of the Iroquois Pipeline Co., for us in development of Wintergreen Park and the development of a six-mile long nature trail along the abandoned railroad right-of-way.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Canajoharie Getty Mart, which closed unexpectedly some time ago, is now under new management. Bob and Vicki Flint have formed a new corporation for the purpose of running the 48 Erie Blvd. gas station. But the shop is not being run by the couple, rather by Vicki Flint, who has gained considerable experience in recent years working for several area gasoline/convenience/beverage stores. While Bob Flint keeps himself busy running Flint Liquors, a little farther west on Erie Boulevard, Mrs. Flint is trying her hand at management.

Thirty Years Ago

Canajoharie Central School reported its 1982-83 student registration in grades K-12 is now 1,184 down from 1,224 last fall, but eight more than reported in June. Student population however, shrunk at all levels compared to the September, 1981 figures.

Mary Young, Palatine Bridge, a member of the Palatine Hustlers 4-H Club, attended the New York State Fair. She gave four public presentations on how to “Take a Bite Out of Inflation,” by preserving tomatoes. Miss Young demonstrated the actual procedure of both canning and freezing tomatoes. Young, a teen demonstrator, is also a teen leader responsible for making public relation tapes.

Peter R. Oertel, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter H. Oertel, West Grand Street, Palatine Bridge, has been officially accepted into the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Cadet Wing as a member of the Class of 1986 during the annual acceptance parade.

Forty Years Ago

Miss Barbara Lee, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lee, Palatine Bridge, a senior at Canajoharie Central School, was named a semi-finalist in the 1972 National Merit Scholarship competition.

Fort Plain

Twenty Years Ago

It’s said that practice makes perfect. If that’s so, then the Fort Plain Heritage Days Committee is striving toward perfection — the historic kind. The committee will be sponsoring its third annual Heritage Days, a celebration of the history of central New York’s Mohawk Valley and of the people who settled the village of Fort Plain. The Heritage Day weekend is chock full of events scattered throughout the village, but settled primarily in and around Wiles Park. An encampment composed of members of the Third New York Regiment will be at the park.

Four Fort Plain High School seniors will be taking part in an experimental pilot program sponsored by the state Department of Education. The Career Exploration Internship Program will place the youths, after some seven weeks of classroom training, into several area businesses to “Gain a variety of work-related experience,” according to the program coordinator, Fort Plain Central School District business teacher Kathy DeKalb. Of the seven local businesses currently involved, a total of 150 hours of non-paid internship are required by each student. Completion of the program will earn each student one full credit toward high school graduation.

The Fort Plain Class of 1942 held its 50th class reunion recently at the Canajoharie-Fort Plain Elks Lodge with 25 class members attending, as they renewed acquaintances and shared memories of the past 50 years. Class members attending came from Florida, Massachusetts, Arizona, New Jersey and the surrounding local area.

Thirty Years Ago

The Fall Harvest Festival of the Fort Plain-Nelliston Merchants Association has been scheduled. Tentative plans were made at a breakfast meeting of the association at Frank’s Pizzeria. Will include a flea market, the possibility of a farmers market, sidewalk entertainment, music by the Fort Plain High School Pep Band, fire truck rides provided by the Fort Plain Volunteer Fire Department and a coloring contest, according to Sandra Cronkhite, who has been coordinating events. A chicken barbecue is also projected.

Enrollment is the Fort Plain Central School System is down from 1,226 to 1,172, a dip of 54 students despite only a nominal loss of 11 reported at the senior high school level. The entering kindergarten class was somewhat lower than a year ago, but it jumped considerably from June estimates to 83, with the result that four sections were retained. Kindergarten enrollment in September 1981 was 98, the highest in five years.

Forty Years Ago

Earl J. Stock, Jr., department commander of the New York State Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member and past commander of Mohawk Valley Post No. 3275, of Fort Plain, was honored with a cocktail party and dinner held at the local post, during which he made a presentation of a silver medal and plaque to retiring Congressman Alexander Pirnie for his work in behalf of veterans and the armed forces of the nation.

St. Johnsville

Twenty Years Ago

The St. Johnsville Central School District Athletic Department will hold a sectional meeting concerning the district’s hosting of the fourth annual Courier-Standard-Enterprise Boys-Girls International Varsity Soccer Tournament.

Thirty Years Ago

A ribbon cutting ceremony officially opened the newest Licari’s Foodland in St. Johnsville. Several local officials and dignitaries attended.

More than 80 crafts people came to display and sell their wares at the tenth annual Fort Klock Craft Fair.

Fourteen members of the Modern Mohawks 4-H Club recently entered exhibits at the Montgomery-Fulton County Fair and received “Best of Show” ribbons.