Plymouth – a look back: Dec. 22

50 years ago

Joseph Silvia of Hermosa Beach, California, a former resident, was pictured in the Old Colony Memorial dated Dec. 22, 1971, with five Borzoi showdogs that he planned to enter in the East Coast dog show competition in Boston and Philadelphia. He was currently visiting with local relatives in Plymouth. Silvia had established his own line of champions and had won many prizes countrywide with the dogs, which were also known as Russian wolfhounds.

Bernard "Bunny" Davis Sr. was honored at a retirement party the previous Thursday. For 43 years, he had worked for the Plymouth Highway Department. He was pictured in a cushy recliner that was a gift from coworkers.

For the Main Street Quiz, four women and one man were asked, "What's the one thing you like about Christmas?" Answers varied from the lights, music, presents, and seeing everyone happy. One woman said, "Getting up and possibly finding a man in my stocking. I'm going to hang up a pair of pantyhose this year. This way he'll not escape."

An article by Atty. General Robert Quinn warned shoppers of seasonal sellers. He said to beware of the sidewalk peddler or hustler selling jewelry or watches on the street or from the back of a pickup truck. The merchandise may be shoddy or overpriced and if consumers returned for a refund they would probably find that the salesman had disappeared. Quinn also said that new toy stores frequently pop up during Christmas season and many dealt in toys poorly or carelessly made.

An editorial about the dangers of hitchhiking mentioned that especially during the holiday season, when colleges and universities were recessing, the number of girl hitchhikers was "shocking" and that they appeared totally oblivious to the dangers they may encounter. At the time, hitchhiking was illegal on only one expressway in the state, the Mass Turnpike, and police were authorized to make arrests.

Coincidentally, "Scared Motorist" had another letter published, saying, "I didn't realize that my little note to you, that you generously published im the Dec. 2 issue of your paper, would bring such sudden defense of apparent lawbreaking hitchhikers, from two of your readers...I imagine that the 'hand signal' they give all of us, meaning the letter 'Y,' could mean that they are 'Yellow,' therefore cannot provide for themselves, so they 'bug' the rest of us."

Pupils at Kingston Elementary School, Maple Avenue School and the Sacred Heart Elementary School were surprised by a visit Dec. 14 from Bobby Orr, star hockey player of the Boston Bruins. He visited every classroom in the schools and answered all the questions the children asked. He was going to send autographed pictures to each pupil since he did not have time during his visits. He also visited an ardent Bruins fan and former teacher at Kingston Elementary School, Elspeth Hardy, at her home in Kingston.

25 years ago

The Tickle Me Elmo contest winner was announced in the Old Colony Memorial dated Dec. 26, 1996. The newspaper had obtained one of the season's most sought-after toys and auctioned it. Russell Little of Carver had the highest bid, "a mere $100," and donated it to a needy child. The money was given to the newspaper's Children's Community Fund.

Friends and relatives of the late Charles Harrington packed Corpus Christi Church in Sandwich that Monday to pay tribute to the missing lobster fisherman from Manomet. His boat had been found a week earlier, empty and running in circles in Cape Cod Bay. Authorities theorized he had been pulled into the water by fishing lines as he fished southeast of Manomet Point. An extensive search was carried out by the Coast Guard but was not successful in finding him. The search had been called off Wednesday.

Anticipating changes in health insurance, changes were planned at Jordan Hospital. Up to 20 employees were to be given notice in January that their jobs would be eliminated over the next year. Alan Knight, the hospital president, said, "We're cutting in some areas. We're growing in others. Managed care is driving the industry." The changes would shift focus slightly off inpataient care and toward outpatient services.

Joe Gallitano, a local attorney, was the incoming representative for the First Plymouth District. During his campaign he promised he would go out and solicit companies like L.L. Bean to locate in Plymouth. He had not been successful in convincing L.L. Bean but said he would keep trying. He met with Bill Shea, vice president of retail sales for L.L. Bean. The company had one retail store in Freeport, Maine, but 90% of its business was done by catalog. Shea said he was willing to visit Plymouth but made no promises.

A 55-year-old Pinehurst Mobile Home Park resident took a cab from Melrose to his home Monday then told the cabbie he had no money but would give him an IOU for the $132 fare. The cab driver turned the intoxicated man over to police. The man was charged with fraudulently hiring an auto and petty larceny.

An article titled "Wired for Christmas" was published about people's problems with their new computers. Brian Stone was co-owner of Computer Advantage in Carver and said, "With people getting computers at Christmas, we get a lot of calls." Most calls were people having trouble setting up and getting online. Stone said one person called and wanted to know how to use the foot pedal. "That was the mouse," Stone said. America Online had flooded the nation with 3.5-inch diskettes containing the software needed to connect personal computers over the telephone lines in the service, but Eric Brattlof, co-owner of Outtasight Web Production of Plymouth, said, "America Online controls all aspects of what you see. As access to the internet, it's big, clumsy and slow." The fastest personal computers sold two Christmasses ago had 75 megahertz of power. The machines under the tree in 1996 had 200 megahertz. Motorola had a demo model of a 500 megahertz machine. "Telephone lines were not conceived for this," Brattlof said. "The expansion is too fast. NYNEX can't keep up." Traffic was clogging the phone lines and the internet. Adelphia Cable planned to offer internet connection over its fast fiber optic lines in the spring.

UMass Dartmouth joined the Plymouth North High School/Boston Edison robotics team, and the Plymouth team would now be able to enter the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics compretition. The team would have eight weeks to design, build and experiment with its machine, learn the year's game and practice to be a competitive driving team and crew. The regional competition was to be March 13-15 in Manchester, New Hampshire, then the final international competition would be April 10-12 in Orlando, Florida. Michael Bastoni, PNHS teacher and team advisor, estimated that the UMass volunteer engineers could expect to put in about 2,000 man hours on the project.

The top video rental that week was "Chain Reaction" rated R, starring Keanu Reeves. Capsule summary: "It's like Bill and Ted's excellent adventure without Bill or Ted, or a Keanu Reeves thriller without a bus." In second place, "The Frighteners," rated R, starring Michael J. Fox: "This is the kind of movie that could drive a guy back into a weekly TV series, even a bad one."