Fifty years ago this week people in Addison County had things on their minds other than COVID-19. Here are some of the top stories that appeared in the April 2, 1970, edition of the Addison Independent:
• Forty census-takers, headed by Robert Herrick of Middlebury and Ruth James of Orwell, took to the field to collect U.S. census data for Addison County.
• Four local men were arrested and charged with burgling several fishing camps and breaking into the New Haven town shed.
• More than 200 people filled the Congregational Church of Middlebury for the funeral service of Dr. Howard I. Slocum, a much-beloved local figure. Among his many achievements, the World War I veteran practiced osteopathy in the community for over 50 years and served for 25 years as moderator at Middlebury town meetings.
• Spec. 5 Michael Williams, a Cornwall native and helicopter pilot serving in Vietnam, was awarded the Soldiers Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for “heroism involving a hostile force” after he rescued several wounded men.
• The ongoing saga of the proposed Orwell rock festival was taken to the State Senate, where lawmakers passed a bill that required music promoters to obtain permission from both the local selectboard and the state government and pay a $200 fee to the town before staging any event.
• Despite new methods and technologies such as plastic tubing to improve production, research by the National Geographic Society and the Vermont Department of Agriculture reported that Vermont’s maple syrup industry was on the decline. The Society reported that there were fewer farms producing less syrup and cited the invention of “realistic” synthetic maple flavorings as a threat to the industry. This report, coupled with the news that so far in the season Vermont sugarmakers were only harvesting one-quarter of the normal amount of sap, spelled dire news for the local maple industry — but although the sustainability of the industry continues to be in question, Vermont’s sugarbushes are far from tapped out.