County’s pheasant bounty; voter registration record; teacher job action

The following excerpts from The Millerton News were compiled by Kathleen Spahn, Vivian Sukenik, Nancy Vialpando and Rhiannon Leo-Jameson of the North East-Millerton Library.

November 2, 1933

‘Pheasant Season Opens with Bang’; The pheasant season opened literally with a bang, followed by many more bangs at daybreak on Monday morning when scores of khaki clad hunters began their annual invasion of the area populated by the now much pursued feathered denizens. The fusillade is to continue for six days, ending at sunset Saturday night. The pheasants, on whom open warfare was declared without so much as a warning, were in a general retreat within a few minutes after the bombardment began Monday morning, many of the feathered gentry falling before well aimed hunters’ bullets.
With the opening of the season on pheasants Monday, the hunting season is now in full swing. Dutchess County is experiencing one of the best hunting seasons in many years with game more plentiful. Because of private breeders and game clubs, pheasants are more abundant throughout the county than ordinarily.

‘Registration in Dutchess Sets Record’; Exceeds Total Number of Eligible Voters for 1932, Previous High Mark
Dutchess County has established an all time registration record this year with 1,919 more persons eligible to vote Nov. 1 than in 1932, which was the greatest previous registration . The records of the commissioners of electron disclosed that 57,026 registered for the presidential election last year, while this year the total registration for the county is 58,965.
Although an “off;” or local year, the total registration this year exceeds by 4,453 the 1928 registration when the Smith-Hoover campaign stirred up considerable political activity in the county. In that year, the city of Poughkeepsie set an all-time record of 18,000 voters.
When personal and non-personal registration ended Oct. 21, a check-up disclosed that both Poughkeepsie and Beacon dropped a trifle below their 1932 registrations, with only seven out of twenty-four election districts exceeding last year’s mark, while only two districts in Beacon surpassed the 1932 registration. Forty-one of the remaining fifty-five election districts in the county, all of which are located in townships, have increased registration totals. SOme townships and districts reported several hundred new voters having been added to the enrollment…
The town of North East has a registration of 866 in the first district and 751 in the second this year, representing a total increase of 132 over 1932. The town of Amenia has a registration increase of 253 this year, and the town of Dover has an increase of 198 registered voters over last year for the election on Nov. 7…

‘Dutchess Celebrates Birthday’; Anniversary Observed by Historical Society Wednesday; Fitting Pragram [sic]
The 250th birthday of Dutchess County was observed yesterday with a fitting program arranged by the Dutchess County Historical Society. A meeting at the county court house in the morning and a luncheon at the Nelson House at noon comprised the formal observance.
Originally The Duchess’ County, the County continues to spell its name with a “t” at the age of 250, although the letter does not really belong in the name. The county was named after Mary Beatrice d’Este of Modena, and was one of the original counties of the Province of New York. It was almost exclusively settled by Indains, and there were not more than three or four white people dwelling within its boundaries by 1700.
The Duchess for whom the county was named was Italian by birth, daughter of the Duke of Modena and second wife of James Stuart of England from 1685 until her husband as from 1673 till 1685 and Queen of England from 1685 until her husband as James II, was deposed in 1688 and fled into exile. Mary Beatruce’s life was eventful and tragic. She was married at fifteen to a man thirty years older than herself, lived in an alien county and was involved in turbulent political and religious disturbances, finally fleeing into exile with her baby son.

November 7, 1974

‘Webutuck Teachers Cut Extracurricular Activities’; Webutuck teachers pressed their job action one step further this week calling for a stoppage of “all non paying extracurricular activities and all voluntary duties until a new contract is negotiated.”
The Webutuck Teachers Association also stated that effective Monday this week, high school teachers would leave the school building at 3:45 p.m. and primary school teachers would leave at 3:30 p.m.
In a letter sent to Webutuck school administrators from the teachers association, the association stated: “you are fully aware of the present situation of the Webutuck Teachers Association in regard to their lack of current contract.
“At this time we find that we are being forced to adhere to the existing binding contractual agreement. According to the agreement, the teachers shall leave school every day at 3:45 from the high school building, and 3:30 from the elementary and primary school.
“At this time we also are stopping all nonpaying [sic] extracurricular activities and all voluntary duties until a new contract is negotiated.”
Kiau Loi, chairman of the teachers association negotiation committee, stated that the boycott is on activities not in the old teachers’ contract, which expired this past June 30, 1973. These include such activities as teachers participating in dances,

‘Halloween No Longer Fun’; (Letter from the Editor)
Halloween is longer fun. The merry pranksters have disappeared and abusive, irresponsible vandals have taken over.
In Millerton well over $3000 [sic] damage [sic] was done to five different stores and a fire was set. B-B guns and wrist rockets with steel marbles were the weapons used by the brash infiltrators.
Although these metal pellets penetrated only one section of the large display windows at Delson’s, the Village Toggery, J.B. Reed’s and Barnard’s Florists, the entire window must be replaced. In freezing weather the relatively small hole and air pressure will force the whole window to crack.
Although the fire on John Street was minor, the fire company had to be on the scene and thus its attention was directed away from any other possible emergency.
In another incident a man guarding a store was forced to dodge B-B pellets. A friendly jest is one thing, but physical abuse is another. It was also reported that apples were thrown through windows of village residences.
Shaving cream, soap, and tissue paper are harmless tools that allow kids to break the rules innocently one night a year. But heavy artillery is not amusing and no one should be proud of committing crimes like vandalism, arson or assault.
Millerton thought it would do a favor for the revellers and set the curfew for 9 p.m. on Halloween, Armenia had a 7 p.m. curfew and no trouble. Next year Millerton will know better.

November 4, 1999

‘Wind Whammy’; High gusts of wind brought down this enormous tree branch into the front yard of Basil and Maha Gabriel on Highland Street Tuesday. Mr. Gabriel’s Chevy Blazer was seriously damaged, but no one was hurt. Mrs. Gabriel and her son Matthew were at home at the time. Neighbor Mary Ann Sullivan saw the huge limb come crashing down. It took out electrical, phone and cable service for the Gabriels. The family praised both the Millerton Fire Department for guarding the live wires and Central Hudson for its help.