Fifty years ago this week, newspaper readers in Addison County could buy a copy of the Addison Independent for 15 cents. 
Here are some of the top stories that appeared in the Jan. 29, 1970 edition of the Independent: 
• New Haven volunteer firefighters pitched in to help build a new barn for their colleague Warren Whitcomb, whose old dairy barn burned to the ground during a snowstorm. 
• The Vermont House of Representatives passed a bill that would make it mandatory for town and city clerks to sell food stamps. 
• An exhibition of portraits by noted contemporary artists such as Elaine de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Jean Dubuffet and Alice Neel was put on display at Middlebury College. 
• Four or five inches of snow on the road caused a car crash in Middlebury, where two people were injured and the Middlebury Police Department’s cruiser was wrecked. In another crash, four vehicles were damaged in Ferrisburgh but nobody was injured. 
• The Addison County Republican Committee led a panel discussion to debate a proposed state law banning snowmobiles and other all-terrain vehicles. Some of the hundreds of snowmobile-owners in the county arrived at Bridport Central School to talk with landowners and conservationists who worried about damages to property and wildlife. 
• Professional auditors hired by the town of Middlebury revealed a $3,357.07 cash shortage in the town treasurer’s accounts. A significant portion of the missing money was blamed on a town employee, who was fired after allegedly admitting to have stolen the funds from the cash drawer. As a result, the 1970 town budget faced significant cuts. 
— Emma Pope McCright