25 YEARS AGO — 1998
• For Maj. William Warburton, the timing couldn’t be better. Crime locally and statewide is rising, troopers are retiring, and the call for more road patrols is louder than ever. So, Troop B being given its largest number of recruits in years is nothing short of a windfall. Warburton will get 14 recruits come November, with another 10 by February. That’s a jump from the usual two-to-six troopers the department receives. “This is great. I could use whatever they give me,” said Warburton, adding that the new blood will boost the troop’s numbers to roughly 233. As new recruits were assigned over recent years to downstate troops, Troop B has operated at a staffing loss, repeatedly coming short of its usual full strength of more than 220 troopers. Warburton said he wants to use the new troopers to plug holes at various substations. In the past, a handful of the troop’s 20 substations have suffered from a lack of manpower, leaving some unmanned as troopers were on road patrols.
• With three simple words, a legendary radio team was reunited. “Good morning, Steven!” said Tom Brennan, a.k.a. The Coach, when he marched onto the stage at the Sheraton and behind the microphone, making complete the famed radio team, “Corm and The Coach.” The 200 people present burst into cheers. This is a big deal. “Corm and The Coach” was a No. 1-rated radio show when the team was on 106.7 WIZN for several years. Steve Cormier left WIZN in a dispute with management, and Brennan quickly followed suit. However, both had non-compete clauses in their contracts that prohibited them from working for a radio station in the market. Cormier’s was for six months, Brennan’s for a year. Thursday morning’s show on WCPV 101.3 FM (Champ 101) marked the end of Brennan’s silence on the Champlain Valley airwaves. In front of a crowd of about 200 people, Brennan seemed a little rusty and tense at first, but in an hour or two, talked and joked with ease.
50 YEARS AGO — 1973
• If creatures from outer space are investigating our planet by hovering around in UFOs, they apparently aren’t leaving without getting a look at the North Country. Unidentified flying objects have been sighted nationwide recently, bringing to the minds of several area residents objects they have seen in the past. Robert Mackey of Champlain Park, a collector of UFO data for more than 20 years, describes himself as a non-believer. “But,” he quickly adds, “I’m not about to say they don’t exist.” He and his wife saw something back in 1950 that he still recalls vividly and still discusses with wonderment. “We were driving north from Schenectady,” he began. “It was about 20 below zero that night. I looked up and saw what I thought was an aerial beacon. But I realized it was too high up to be anything on land.” He described it as looking like a flying saucer that was turned at about a 45-degree angle. It kept turning. The top surface appeared shadowy, Mackey said. Then it was gone. “Your first instinct is to think it’s an aircraft of some kind, or an aerial beacon or a star or something. You try to make the object fit the description of what you think it is. Then, by the time you realize it isn’t what you thought it was, it’s too late. It’s gone, and you can’t take an objective look at it.” The feeling as he gazed at the object, Mackey explained, was one of helplessness. “You can’t hide from it,” he said.
• Democratic mayoral candidate Harry Demary Monday challenged incumbent Mayor Roland St. Pierre to a series of Face the City” programs, and at the same time charged that the city administration is withholding information regarding the Crete Memorial Civic Center from city taxpayers. Demary cited the “continued” efforts on the part of the mayor of the City of Plattsburgh to keep the people of the city “in the dark” as the reason for the challenge. He said that the programs would be held in the city’s three wards. If Demary’s challenge to St. Pierre were accepted, the two would probably begin the -programs in Ward 1 on Oct. 25, moving to Ward 2 the next day and ending in Ward 3 on Oct. 31. “Let the two candidates for the position of mayor face up to the questions of the people in each ward in town hall fashion,” the democratic hopeful said at a news conference. Demary charged that there is too much secrecy and deceit” in the present city administration, and cited the mayor’s recent treatment of the news media.
75 YEARS AGO — 1948
• “Miss and Tell,” the popular stage play by F. Hugh Herbert, is now in production at the Kitano Theater on October 11, 1948 in Osaka, Japan. Produced by the Army’s theatrical technicians, the lead role, that of Corliss Archer, is being played by Miss Mary Conwell of Upper Jay. Miss Barbara Bennett is playing the role of Mildred Pringle. After playing in Osaka, the cast will tour Nara, Gifu, Kobe, Otsu, and Kyoto.
• The body of Cpl. Ralph Brothers, a Chazy resident who was killed in action in France on September 13, 1944, will be returned tomorrow on the 5:11 o’clock train for reburial. Cpl. Brothers was born in Chazy on October 1, 1919, as a son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brothers. He graduated from Chazy Central Rural School and enlisted in the Army in 1940. In 1943, he was transferred to England. He participated in the D-Day invasion of France. Since Cpl. Brothers’ death, his father has also passed away. Surviving are Cpl. Brothers’ mother, three brothers: Arthur, James, and Russell, and two sisters: Mrs. William Litzelsen and Corrine Brothers, all of Albany, where the family has resided for the past five years. Upon arrival here tomorrow afternoon, the body will be met by a delegation of veterans from the Legion and VFW, together with city officials. It will be taken to Brown’s Funeral Home.
100 YEARS AGO — 1923
• Evidence that the game is not scarce in the woods these days was demonstrated yesterday morning when T.R. McCready, operator of an automobile service with a stand at the New Cumberland hotel, picked up a partridge on the sidewalk in front of Sharron’s store on Margaret Street. The bird had evidently come from some of the woods nearby but no doubt had flown a long distance before reaching the center of the city. It was flying at a terrific rate of speed when it struck the front of the Sharron building with such force that it was knocked to the sidewalk and was dead when picked up. These birds are said to attain over 60 miles an hour in flight, being one of the fastest flying birds. Further evidence that the game is seeking the cities was given a few days ago when George Brunell, turnkey at the sheriff’s office, discovered a hen pheasant among the chickens in a coop in the rear of the jail. The pheasant enjoyed itself for several hours but at night flew away.
• State and county officers are scouring the countryside night and day in an effort to locate the “Lone Bandit,” who on Saturday robbed Frank Perham and his aunt, Mrs. Fred Hurley of Elizabethtown, of more than $200 at the point of a gun after having begged a ride in their automobile on the Pokomoonshine road between Elizabethtown and Keeseville. Mrs. Hurley was on her way to visit friends in this neighborhood and had taken with her considerable money to defray expenses. She had with her a six-year-old son. Perham was driving his aunt and her son north on the Pokomoonshine road when a man walking along the roadside asked for a lift. This has become a common practice along country roads, and Perham readily consented to take the stranger into his car. After they had proceeded about an eighth of a mile along the road, the stranger whipped out a revolver and called upon Perham and Mrs. Hurley to hand over their money. Mrs. Hurley, fearing for the safety of her son, promptly complied with the demand and turned her money over to the robber. She begged Perham to do the same, and he, having no other recourse, gave up what money he had.
— Compiled by Night Editor Ben Rowe