Whether it was physical, political, or just having the name, power made news across our region in July 1995.
No longer did you have to drive 55 in your vehicle, as The Daily Star of July 31 reported, “Tuesday marks the day that the informal 65-mph speed becomes formal on stretches of rural highway in New York state, including 115 miles of I-88.” Going faster required a little more horsepower.
“There are two schools of thought on the move back to a 65-mph limit, one being that the new limit simply reflects the speed of which drivers have been going since the maximum was reduced from 65 to 55 in 1974. The other is that the drivers who were doing 65 before will now be doing 75, making New York’s interstates more dangerous.”
You need lots of power to transport passengers over rails, and as The Star of July 27 reported with a dateline of Stamford, “The roar of an old diesel locomotive will again become a familiar sound in Delaware County as the Catskill Revitalization Corp. received the go-ahead to begin rebuilding 45 miles of dormant track.
“According to Donald Kerr, Kortright town supervisor and Catskill Revitalization Corp. administrator, the agency was cleared this week by the state Department of Transportation to begin a $1.3 million reconstruction project of 19 miles of track between the Ulster County line and Highmount.
“The project will also establish a rails-to-trails path from Bloomville to Grand Gorge on the old New York Central rail bed. The path, part of which will be paved for handicapped accessibility, will provide a separate 19-mile path for bikers, horseback riders, hikers and cross-country skiers.”
There already was the Ulster & Delaware Excursion train, but it covered four miles, and planned to expand to the full 19.
From physical force we switch to power in politicians. Star readers of July 10, with a dateline of Norwich learned, “Sunday’s bash at the Canasawacta Country Club may have been the last Lobsterfest Clarence D. ‘Rapp’ Rappleyea attends as a state lawmaker — but it won’t be the last time he feasts on crustaceans with local Republicans.
“‘This is not the end — but it is a very important beginning for Rapp,’ Lt. Gov. Elizabeth McCaughey said during a short presentation honoring the 61-year-old Assembly Minority leader, who will resign by Aug. 15 and is expected to be named the new chairman of the New York Power Authority.
“More than 1,100 state officials, local Republicans and political hopefuls turned out for the annual fund raiser Sunday to wish Rappleyea well and laud Gov. George Pataki for the long-awaited tax and spending cuts he delivered during his first six months in office.”
Pataki was making his way around the state that month. In addition to Norwich, he was in Cooperstown, as The Star of July 10 reported, “Gov. George Pataki visited a local bed and breakfast Sunday morning to sign legislation designed to help such establishments stay in business across the state.
“Amid a small gathering of local officials at the J.P. Sill House on Chestnut Street, Pataki said the new law would ease earlier safety regulations governing bed and breakfasts that were typical of the red tape strangling New York from top to bottom.
“‘Bed and breakfast owners are small business men and women who deserve more freedom to compete in New York’s economy,’ Pataki said. ‘This new law will bolster New York’s vital tourism industry and help reduce the regulatory burden shouldered by our small businesses.’”
Even a new toy was making a power surge locally, as The Star reported, “Walk into 9-year-old Andrew Wayand’s bedroom and enter Mighty Morphin land. Red and blue Power Rangers decorate the bedspread, the sheets, the curtains and the beach towel draped over the headboard. A framed ‘Go Go Power Rangers’ poster hangs on the wall.
“Under the bed are boxes and boxes of Power Ranger toys. Andrew doesn’t know exactly why he’s so fascinated by the Mighty Morphins. He just is.
“For Wayand, of West Oneonta, and scores of other area children, Power Rangers are a fascinating new breed of superheroes. A high tech, futuristic blend of Chuck Norris, Robocop, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Rangers are an ever-changing, harmless source of entertainment, many parents say. But some local educators argue that the Rangers set a dangerous example of violence as the only way to resolve conflicts.
This weekend, several local transportation stories from 1930.