CHIEF PEATT
second in command
25 Years Ago
The abrupt closing of the Ridgefield Family Y, which was heavily in debt, was under investigation by the state Department of Consumer Protection, the July 12, 1990 Press reported.
“We received a number of inquiries on this,” said the director of the Fraud Division. “There were a couple of investigators out on it yesterday. People had entered into agreements with the Y very close up to the day they closed.
“Right now we’re trying to determine what’s going on down there.”
Not all prices were going up back then: The fee for a token to use the transfer station was dropping from $6.25 to $5 because of new contracts the town signed with Wheelabrator, the waste-to-energy operation that took away and burned the town’s trash.
Limestone Service Station was seeking a zoning variance to become a U-Haul business.
Just down the road, Marty Motors was an outlet for Ugly Duckling rent-a-car, “America’s second car,” according to an ad that week.
Ted Peatt was elected deputy chief of the Ridgefield Volunteer Fire Department, a position that placed him second in command of all paid and volunteer firefighters at major fires.
The state was repaving Route 7 from Route 35 south to the Wilton line — just what it’s been doing this year.
Republican Town Committee Chairman Sue Reynolds was pictured with Prescott Bush Jr. at a dinner honoring his late father, Sen. Prescott Bush Sr. Senior’s other son and junior’s brother is President George H.W. Bush, father of President George W. and hopeful Jeb Bush.
Susan Mushlin, who had joined the Democratic Town Committee in January, resigned because her family was moving to Spain.
The selectmen approved lengthening their terms of office from two to four years — effective in five years.
Robert J. Creamer, son of Charles and Ruth Creamer of Sprucewood Lane and a 1982 RHS graduate, received his juris doctor degree from Ohio State University College of Law. He was already a CPA, having graduated cum laude from Old Dominion University.
50 Years Ago
The Board of Finance approved $58,000 to build a new firehouse in Ridgebury, the July 15, 1965 Press reported. Bacchiochi Inc. had bid on the construction that included a three-bay building. The land at the corner of Bennett’s Farm and Old Stagecoach roads would cost $5,000.
Work was nearing completion on the new 14-bay town garage across from the dump and sewage plant on Old Quarry Road that would serve the town highway department.
After nine years of battling over permits, a gas station was about to be built on Catoonah Street.
Mrs. Theodore C. Jessup was elected president of the Ridgefield Library and Historical Association.
James H. Hackert had obtained a zoning permit to erect a one-story business building at the corner of Catoonah and Main streets where, for more than 100 years, the Methodist church had stood. The church was razed the year before, and Hackert’s new office was in the rectory.
Work was progressing well on the new junior high school at East Ridge and Branchville roads, reported Morganti Inc., the contractor.
New voters included John K. Kinnear of Poplar Road, Miss Irene M. Tulipani of Ramapoo Road, and Mrs. Gordon Pettit of Main Street.
D.F. Bedient hardware on Main Street was selling a “big 2-door” 1965 General Electric refrigerator-freezer, 28 inches wide and 11.8 cubic feet in space, for $210.
Walter Valentine, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Valentine of Woodland Way, celebrated his 16th birthday July 12. He was a member of the band, the Castaways, that appeared on the Sonny Fox TV show July 10.
Hardwick Nevin of Nod Hill Road, a playwright and poet, died at the age of 68. Two of Nevin’s plays were Broadway hits in the 1930s — Whatever Possessed Her and Young Alexander. He had earlier been a Broadway actor.—J.S.
THE PLAYBILL from Hardwick Nevins’ play, Young Alexander, at the Biltmore Theatre in 1929. One of the actors in the play was Jessie Royce Landis, who later lived in Ridgefield and is buried at Branchville Cemetery. He’s buried in Wilton.
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