Week of October 25

October 24, 1874 –150 YEARS AGO

Rockland County Journal

AROUND HOME

     ☞  Company B., 16 Battalion, N. G., S. N. Y., of Nyack, will go to Peekskill on the 27th inst., where the Battalion will parade for the purpose of muster, discipline, inspection, and review, armed, and equipped and uniformed according to law and regulation, at 2 o’clock P.M.

     ☞  Last Saturday the following gentlemen were nominated at the Democratic county convention, held at New City: Assembly, James C. Brown; Co. Clerk, Cyrus M. Crum; Supt. of the Poor, James. A. Barnes; Justice of the Sessions, Henry L. Haight; Coroner, Wm. M. Westervelt.

     ☞  We learn from Haverstraw that when those who chartered the steamboat to attend the Wednesday night ratification meeting could not sell tickets, they offered them gratuitously, but even at that price they could find but few takers. Aren’t Democratic ratifications a little flat this year?

     ☞  We understand that our late County Treasurer, Matthew D. Bogert, is now an inmate of New City jail, on a charge of embezzlement preferred by the Board of Supervisors. His bail has been fixed at $20,000, but, as yet, he has procured no sureties that are acceptable to the Board.

     ☞  Last Thursday afternoon, while A. D. Westervelt’s team were tied to a post on Washington Avenue, they became frightened and started up to Hillside Avenue, where they ran into a carriage containing three ladies. Two of the ladies jumped out, and the third one was thrown out; one of them was run over and quite badly injured. Mr. Westervelt’s carriage was badly shattered.

October 23, 1924 – 100 YEARS AGO

Pearl River News

LITERACY TESTS TO BE HELD IN LOCAL SCHOOL

       Conforming with the provisions of the amended election law of 1923, the Pearl River school authorities have made arrangements for literacy tests and the issuing of literacy certificates to new voters on the following dates.

       October 23, at the high school between the hours of 7 and 9:30.

       October 30, at the high school between the hours of 7 and 9:30 p. m.

       November 4, at the high school between the hours of 9 a. m. and 4.

CHIEF OF POLICE IS OUSTED AS ELECTION INSPECTOR AT POLL — Commissioner Oldfield Ruled That Municipal Officer Can’t Serve Following Formal Complaint

       Chief of Police Fred Fenton of South Nyack is no longer a Republican inspector in District No. 11 of the Town of Orangetown, and his removal raised a point that has never before arisen for consideration in Rockland County.

       Whether or not a political enemy of the chief started the hue and cry which led to his post being at present vacant is a matter of conjecture. At any rate, a complaint was made that being a municipal officer, Fenton could not act as an inspector, a place he has held for several years.

       The matter was taken up unofficially and submitted to Commissioner of Elections Oldfield and he ruled that Fenton was entitled to serve, declaring that the Election Law governing that particular matter referred only to New York City. Later, however, the commissioner found he was in error and so notified the Orangetown committee.

       Fenton’s place will be filled at a meeting of the Orangetown Committee.

October 25, 1974 – 50 YEARS AGO
  The Journal News

THEY LEARN TO FIGHT ANOTHER TYPE OF FIRE

[Image: Sisters learn to use fire extinguisher at Fire Training Center. Journal News Staff photo - Warren Inglese.]

       Fifty nuns with their habits flying manned the hoses Thursday night to fight an oil fire at the

Rockland Fire Training Center in Pomona.

       It was a practice fire, and the nuns’ efforts were part of a wide-ranging firemanic program which included instruction in first aid and fire pump operation and meetings of a fire advisory board and an emergency helicopter agency.

       The nuns, members of the Dominican Sisters in Blauvelt, were warned by county Fire Coordinator William Herman that fires could be sneaky and shifty and should be respected. Then they were sent out to the fire pits.

       County firemen were available to aid the sisters if the blazes got out of control.

       The nuns are participating in a hospital fire safety course.

       They live in a convent in Blauvelt which includes a home for 200 children and housing for 35 nuns, according to Sister Michaela Connolly. Dominican College is also part of the complex.

       “We’re here to learn about fires and how to extinguish them. Before we came here, we had a water extinguisher near electrical equipment, and we’ve learned that wouldn’t do the job. You have to have a dry chemical to put electrical fires,” Sister Connolly said.

       As the first of three pits was ignited, Sister Joan Clark and Alice Kirk approached the cardboard blaze, brandishing a water extinguisher.

       Looking like real smoke eaters, the sisters quickly extinguished the blaze, but had trouble controlling the spray after the fire was out.

       Herman and Anthony Coriro, a fire instructor, scampered about the area to avoid a drenching, while a round of applause rang out for the sisters.

       After battling her first blaze, Sister Clark, a teacher in St. Dominics Home said, “I feel just great. Maybe someday we’ll be able to save a life after getting this experience.”

       Her partner, Sister Kirk, said, with a laugh that she felt wet, but that actually using the equipment is good experience.

       Sisters Eileen Tierney and Alberta Crandell had the privilege of extinguishing the night’s first oil fire.

Approaching the 20-foot-high flames, the sisters found themselves forced back by the heat.

       Coriro cautioned them to watch wind direction before going near the inferno.

       When the wind shifted, they went in for a second time with veils waving in the early evening wind and smothered the ail fire with a dry chemical extinguisher.

       “This training gives us the confidence needed if we should ever have to fight a fire. We need it if we’re to save lives,” Sister Tierney, who works in the college library, said after the fire was out.

        Sister Crandall said the training offers a good opportunity to learn how to fight a fire before it goes out of control. “We might be called pioneers in this, and if we succeed, it might give other groups confidence to take the courses,” said Sister Crandell, who works in the children’s medical department.

       While all this was going on outside the center’s main building, inside, members of the Helicopter Emergency Lift Program (HELP) coordinated their plans after the county legislature voted Oct. 10 to fund the organization with $45,000 until 1975.

       The meeting was attended by county police and chiefs, ambulance workers, and other emergency personnel.

       Donald Hastings, chairman of the HELP board of directors, said the participants discussed obtaining equipment and developing a procedural manual to save time in emergencies.

       The group, which will aid in search and rescue operations, as well as fighting fires from the air, has two Army surplus helicopters. They are now trying to get a water bucket which can hold up to 1,252 pounds of water, for battling blazes.

       “We also need stretchers, radio and first aid equipment, cargo books, and rescue nets, said Hastings, who hoped that towns and villages would donate supplies.

        Every county, fire, police, and ambulance department is a unit member of HELP, said Hastings, a 44-year-old Spring Valley resident, who is a former village fire chief and now serves as county deputy fire coordinator.

       The meeting meeting of the Rockland County Fire Advisory Board, composed of 21 area volunteer firemen, discussed funding for the center and charging groups like the Dominican Sisters for use of the facilities.

       Organizations can now enter programs for free. A final decision on the matter has not been made, but county firemen will be able to continue their free use of the center.

       Gov. Malcolm Wilsons’ pledge to appoint a state deputy fire commissioner was viewed favorably. “Local firemen have been petitioning for the re-establishment of this office for a long time,” said Stuart Gates, board chairman.

       The deputy commissioner would be responsible for developing a state fire prevention code, expanding training programs, and exploring the creation of a state arson investigating agency. Arson is now investigated on a local level with assistance from the Bureau of Criminal Identification, Gates said.

This Week in Rockland (#FBF Flashback Friday) is prepared by Clare Sheridan on behalf of the Historical Society of Rockland County. © 2024 by The Historical Society of Rockland County. #FBF Flashback Friday may be reprinted only with written permission from the HSRC. To learn about the HSRC’s mission, upcoming events or programs, visit www.RocklandHistory.org or call (845) 634-9629.