This Week In Valley History: 1975

Get your bell bottoms on, throw the kids in the back of the station wagon and crank up Gordon Lightfoot because we’re going back to 1975!

IT’S THIS WEEK IN VALLEY HISTORY!

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 1975

Ansonia, Naugatuck Meet For 77^th Time
ANSONIA – The Lavendar Chargers will be at Nolan Field at 10:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day this Thursday to meet their oldest rival Naugatuck High School in the 77^th meeting of the two keen rivals.

The long-standing rivalry began in 1900 when the local eleven won by a score of 5-0. They played twice in 1901, splitting the games, Ansonia winning 18-0 and Naugatuck taking the second one 6-0. In 1904 they played three games, with each team winning one and the last one ending in a scoreless tie.

They played two more times in 1905 with Ansonia winning the second one 18-0, after tying the first match 6-6. The clubs tied 5-5 in 1907 in the first battle and then the Greyhounds won the second game 5-0. They did not play in 1911 or in 1915, and World War I halted play in 1918. The streak really has gone continuously since 1925 without interruption.

Three Scouts Get Awards In Rocket Race
ANSONIA – Cub Scouts of Pack 4 recently met at Christ Church. The feature of the meeting was a rocket race.

Rockets were constructed by each boy with help from their fathers. Trophies were awarded to Robert Ardito, Billy Evans and Mario Guigno.

Derby Investigating Fight By Two Youths
DERBY – Police are investigating what they report as “a cutting” involving two 11-year old boys.

Police were called by Griffin Hospital last night to report that they were treating a youngster in the emergency room for “a cut.”

Police said today that a fight broke out between the two 11-year olds and one suffered a small cut. They were to be referred to juvenile court authorities.

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 1975

Carol Sing
DERBY – “The Things On The Green,” a Christmas carol sing, sponsored annually by the Republican Women’s Club, will be held at 3 p.m. Dec. 21 on the Derby Green. Schools and organizations will be asked to participate. The public is invited. The annual Christmas party of the club will be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 at Lorie’s Restaurant. A grab bag will be held.

85 Units In Annual Seymour Yule Parade
SEYMOUR –About 85 units will take part in the fifth annual Seymour Christmas Parade which will usher in the Yuletide season in the Valley at 2 p.m. Friday.

Herman Mackenstein, parade chairman, said that many new features have been planned by participating organizations which are certain to make this year’s holiday parade a most outstanding event.

Mackenstein said the marchers and floats will begin to assemble at 1 p.m. Friday at the Seymour Junior High School grounds at Pine and Broad Street.

Among the highlights of the parade will be a Wizard of Oz display prepared by the Girl Scouts of Bungay School, who with their leaders, have built an entire castle during the past three months.

Senior Center In Seymour Limits Members
SEYMOUR –Arthur W. Bendler, chairman of the Commission on Aging, said that because of the increasing number of persons attending activities at the Senior Center, 271 Bank. St., it had been decided to close membership at the center to non-residents.

Bendler said the Commission on Aging made the decision at a recent meeting at Town Hall.

He said that in the future, only Seymour senior residents will be able to join the Seymour Center. However, all non-residents who are currently members may remain in the group as long as they keep their membership card up to date, Bendler said.

Thursday, Nov. 27, 1975

Thanksgiving Day – No Paper Published

Friday, Nov. 28, 1975
Holiday Games Rescheduled

VALLEY – The annual Thanksgiving Day games between Ansonia and Naugatuck, Derby and Shelton, were postponed yesterday because of the rain. Both games have been rescheduled for tomorrow. Derby hosts Shelton at 10:30 a.m. at Ryan Field, Derby. Naugatuck and Ansonia clash at 1 p.m. at Nolan Field, Ansonia.

Derby Aldermen To Ask Study Of Road Work
DERBY – A section of Third Street, which has been narrowed by construction, may be torn apart and rebuilt.

Several members of the Board of Aldermen noticed that the section of the street between Olivia Street and Roosevelt Drive had been narrowed and that new curbing had been put in place.

The work was done by J.F. Barrett & Sons of Milford, the company that is doing the road construction that is part of the $1 million downtown redevelopment project. Roads are being rebuilt and widened and sidewalks are being replaced with new wide walkways.

But Third Street was not widened. Somehow it was made narrower and the Board of Aldermen wants to know why.

First ward Aldermen Nardi Benanto, Elmer Voytek and Nebi Hassan have said that if the street was narrowed without proper authorization from the Board of Aldermen, they would insist that the curbing be taken out and the street be rebuilt and widened.

Ticket Winner
SEYMOUR – Miss Carol Mary Manus, nine-year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Manus, won tickets for each family member of her family to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus at the New Haven Coliseum in a clown-coloring contest. She is a fifth grader at Maple Street School.

Students Seek Toys For Needy
SEYMOUR – Under the direction of Mrs. Karen Tischer and Robert Martin, teachers at Seymour High School, Project Santa has been started for needy children of Oxford, Seymour and Beacon Falls.

Project Santa is a program planned to get the students and faculty of the high school organized in a charitable cause. The project will end in a party for needy children from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Dec. 16 at Trinity Episcopal parish hall.

Toys collected by students in Mrs. Tischer’s sociology classes at the high school and Martin’s distributive education classes will be presented to the children during the afternoon by Santa Claus.

Saturday, Nov. 29, 1975

Ansonia Stockpiles Salt, Sand
ANSONIA – Sixty-six tons of rock salt and more than 200 tons of sand are being stockpiled by the public works department in anticipation of winter and its icy roads.

Geroge Weaver, superintendent of streets and bridges, said yesterday that the salt and sand would be mixed and sprinkled on city streets when cold weather made the roads slick and dangerous. The salt cost about $4,000 and the sand about $8,000.

Anaconda Gets Copper Contract
ANSONIA – The U.S. Mint has awarded a contract for than 44 million pounds of copper alloy materials to the Anaconda Co., Brass Division.

The copper alloy will be made into blanks for coins at Anaconda’s Buffalo plant. Anaconda also has a brass division in Ansonia.

Man Killed In Derby Said To Be Escapee
DERBY – A man killed in an accident on New Haven Avenue early Thanksgiving morning has been identified at Donald J. Hicks, 31, an escaped convict from Norfolk State Prison in Massachusetts.

Positive identification was made by fingerprints taken from the deceased by the detective bureau.

Police said Hicks used an alias of Donald J. Robertson. He had been free since Aug. 11, 1975 when he failed to return to prison from a furlough.

He had been sentenced to two terms of life in prison on two counts of murder and armed robbery, according to police.

When freed from the wreck of the small foreign car by members of the Storm Engine Company ambulance corps, he had been carrying identification papers belonging to an Oklahoma man that had been stolen.

Grange Seeks Yule Gifts
SEYMOUR – Seymour Grange will sponsor a Christmas collection of articles for distribution among patients at Laurel Heights Hospital, Shelton.

Mrs. Diane Godin, chairman of women’s activities for the Grange who is arranging the collection said that among donations which can be used are tray favors, shaving lotion, pencils and pads, pens and candy.

She said that visitors to the hospital would be welcome. The Grange hopes to organize a group to visit the hospital to sing Christmas carols to patients.