28 YEARS AGO — 1997
• After a couple of live albums, the man who immortalized “Mr. Bojangles” has down-shifted just a little bit. Jerry Jeff Walker, known among other things for “Mr. Bojangles” and “Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother,” stops off at The Strand at 7:30 this evening with his band, the Gonzo Compadres. Jamie Lee and the Rattlers open the show. Walker will play songs from all over his repertoire, including selections from Scamp, his 27th album—but the first since 1969 made up entirely of songs he composed. The studio recording also breaks from recent form in that it is the first album in some time not recorded live. Walker and his band took to the studio for artistic reasons. His wife, Susan, who with Walker runs their own Tried & True Music label, had more practical reasons. “I tell Susan, ‘Ya know, I can cover songs pretty well, but my wife wants me to record my own stuff because she doesn’t want to pay for the royalties.” Walker has a joke for every story and a story behind every joke. But his music—well, he’s reasonably serious about that.
• The flames of speculation about a major aviation company setting up a large operation at the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base were fanned mightily Wednesday. For weeks, unofficial word has been that Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corp. would announce a deal with a major aircraft-completion company. Word is that the company would bring about 1,000 jobs to the base by the year 2000. But PARC president and CEO Marc Barie was tight-lipped, despite widespread speculation that a deal was close. “PARC does not and will not engage in public speculation,” Barie said in a statement issued Wednesday.
50 YEARS AGO — 1975
• The U.S. Border Patrol is seeking to put up a gate near the International Boundary Vista on Meridian Road in Champlain. The vista is a narrow strip of land running the length of the international border. Border Patrol officials, in a letter, contacted the Champlain Town Board and are expected to contact the Clinton County Legislature, as Meridian Road is a county highway. “As you know from our meeting with you on July 2, 1974, we are attempting to increase our efficiency in controlling the illegal movement of aliens from Canada into and through Clinton County by limiting access to the U.S. on unguarded border roads,” Border Patrol officials noted in their letter. The U.S. Border Patrol is requesting that the Town of Champlain concur with their proposal to install a gate within the southernmost two feet of the International Boundary Vista on Meridian Road in the township.
• Drastic changes in the performance of employees—and in the employment of performers—is the way to get the municipal beach complex on its feet, according to the man with that responsibility. Demetrios Sazani of New York City became director of the Plattsburgh-Lake Champlain Recreation Complex Monday with a professional background and a hard-line approach that promises improvement of the operation. He can’t understand employees who want to dash away from the job at quitting time while there’s still work to be done. He can’t understand how a concert could be held without clearly numbered seats. He can’t understand how anyone could leave a small mountain of dirt piled outside the center—an invitation to vandals to heave a rock through a window. He can’t understand anyone who allows a facility like the Crete Center to be anything but immaculate.
75 YEARS AGO — 1950
• Pleas for unity and warnings against military unpreparedness were coupled here Saturday as the city’s observance of the nation’s first Armed Forces Day got under way. Unestimated thousands witnessed the long parade that wound its way from the corner of Oak and Cornelia streets to City Hall Place starting at 10 a.m., listened to speeches at City Hall, attended a track-and-field meet at Plattsburgh High School during the afternoon, and a block dance on City Hall Place during the evening. A series of films on the armed forces was also shown in the high school’s auditorium. Assemblyman James A. FitzPatrick, Plattsburgh Attorney Thomas A. Robinson, and Capt. William Morhans of Au Sable Forks voiced pleas for both military and civilian unity and preparedness during speeches from a reviewing stand on the steps of City Hall.
• Cancer of the lung attacks men almost exclusively, and appears to be linked to cigarette smoking, Dr. Alton Ochsner, president of the American Cancer Society, said yesterday while speaking at ceremonies opening a $120,000 diagnostic and therapeutic x-ray department at General Hospital in Saranac Lake. He noted how the cancer bypasses even women who smoke heavily. Dr. Ochsner said: “Cancer of the lung has become a frequent disease among men and continues to increase. Although not yet proven, the cause is probably cigarette smoking, since the incidence of lung cancer parallels smoking. The disease seems to attack men almost exclusively—bypassing even women who smoke heavily.” He did not elaborate.
100 YEARS AGO — 1925
• A cat in a tree howled dismally Wednesday night in the vicinity of 66 Court Street, where Mrs. Danis lives. Yesterday morning, Mrs. Danis called in the aid of the police department to dislodge the cat from its arboreal perch. Officers Raby and Sweeney inspected the premises. They could see no cat. They departed. Mrs. Danis then called Chief Bernard Walters of the Fire Department. The chief thought she was kidding him. When Mrs. Danis telephoned Mayor Cross, the mayor directed Patrolman Raby to get busy. Flanked by Fireman Victor Seymour and two reporters, Patrolman Raby marched to the scene. But no chance was given for heroic climbing: a small boy had mounted a ladder and dislodged the cat just before the intrepid police officer and firemen arrived. “I’m not built right for tree climbing anyway,” Officer Raby informed the Press representatives.
• The American Legion endowment fund drive committee for Clinton County issued the following statement yesterday: “As the last gun was fired on the Western front on that morning in November of 1918, the world cast off the memory of the nightmare of war. Men hoped and thought, in the delirium of release, that the toll had been taken, the debt paid—and turned to their routine tasks. In their hurry to do so, they overlooked one significant thing: the consequences of the war branded deep into the very vitals of society. The dread casualty lists of the war days, it is true, disappeared shortly from the front pages of the newspapers. But the toll had not been taken. The debt is not yet all paid—nor will it be for many years to come. This very day fifteen more veterans are dying because of their service to their country, and tomorrow will add its fifteen to the grim and growing list, and the day after tomorrow fifteen—and so for a crowding succession of tomorrows.”
— Compiled by Contributing Writer Ben Rowe