Fitchburg Sentinel (Newspaper) - January 26, 1966, Fitchburg, Massachusetts The Newt For 127 Yean 1838 Vol THE WEATHER Cold SEE REPORT ON PAGE 2 FITCHBURG MASS 01420 1966 34 PAGES 42 Cents A Week Delivered By Cairier 10 CENTS Maribeth Grant soars through the air on her flying saucer on a Racine hill She was one of thousands of children taking Wisconsin's deep snow cover AP Wirephoto Budget Problems Confronting City It's crystal ball time a budget for 1966 which is City Hall these days as city exactly the same as 1965 approach the 1966 Evenso there are bound to be pal budget with a combination of misgivings and forlorn hope normal increases across the board misgivings that the tax rate every department crease distressingly These could add up to about to large and with forlorn hope he tax rate sometime before March the State Legislature will step in and ease the strain Mayor George J Bourque still Thus with School Department and other city expenses figured together the likely addition to the rate will be around But organizing the start of his is only the beginning term in office has as yet had The rub comes when the time to examine the budget re- quests of air city departments In fact the expense estimates of at least one department the Buildings Department were role is figured The state already owes burg for welfare and veterans benefits paid out in 1965 The had to borrow not yet ready as of Tuesday jsome money to make up for With a Feb 17 deadline the state owes him the expects to devote this weekend to tackling the 1966 municipal budget and without No one in official Fitchburg knows when or how the state intends to pay off this debt looking at the figures he has the State Legislature cast today that unless some enacted a revenue program of tally unexpected windfall occurs the tax rate boost will be where between and This would raise the rate from the figure of 1965 to any enduring kind so that cities like Fitchburg can only late on what they might obtain in 1966 through various stale 1966 The problems arc The School Committee has re- commended a of If the state continues city for another shock In 1965 cherry sheet mates of funds due the city from about trend con- million or about more he state fell off by al than Of this H this downward crease about is entirely new pressures sented in increased salaries knowing no bounds will be This represents about on he tax rale tax il is very mayor figures that that any reductions will he made Date's debt to the city and other obligations not yet met will add School Committee Neither the mayor nor City Council can cut school expenses Salary raises granted in 1965 to city workers will cost a another to the tax rate That would bring the total tax rate in- crease to And we have no way of con- more this year This trolling the state's is slightly more than on the he mayor said tax rate There also is little likelihood While most city the city's total assessed have filed their estimates valuation will climb enough to with the mayor is any increased revenue little evidence of any materially reduce increases in their cost estimates tax rate boost Even the large Public Works The assessed Department one of the both real and personal spenders has sub- BUDGET Page 2 Chicken New Quiz Which conies The eral chicken or the federal The City Council wasn't en- gaging in a philosophical game Tuesday only trying to cut its way through the fog of that swirls around federal aid for city projects It all started when the lic Works Committee headed by Councilor Joseph Albert that the council take action on a communi cation related to Public Law 560 In other words the cil is asked to enforce an plication for federal aid for sewerage extensions water tem improvements and sewage treatment plant rehabilitation City Councilor C Warren Smith addressed himself ly to Councilor Albert What action do you expect us to he asked Councilor Albert smiled and rummaged through a large er on his desk He read from letters and other documents to attest that the federal ment through the Urban Re- and Development Act of 1965 may grant up to 50 per cent of the sewerage water and sewage treatment plant improvements Councilor Smith then ed Ills colleagues that the cil had met informally with Mayor George J Bourque and had agreed to endorse any lution for actual construction funds but not for outright grants for planning and con- In other said Smith we shouldn't be patsies giving put consultant jobs to people all over the state when we have the licensed and qualified right here to do that job Albert then recalled a letter from Richard Greeley of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health which presumably advised the city that the state would not approve any federal funds for sewerage ments until the sewage ment plant off Road is extensively repaired and im- of a group of as taxpayers scheduled a with an attorney this after noon preparatory to a possible suit against the city to institute revaluation of all to 100 per cent market value Mr and Mrs Lawrence J Fortin of 116 Mt Vernon St said proved U S FUNDS Page 2 Taxpayers Suit Looms On Revaluation Issue good news On two arate occasions in 1965 the board of sors expressed unanimous ap proval of revaluation and urged the city to move quickly Mrs Fortm said this morning that one of the reasons why the taxpayers group is considering they hoped to arrange a meeting going immediately into a this afternoon with Atty suit is that delay m G Lemay former City Council to seek counsel on what steps to take in their plan Originally they had planned to petition the City Council for reconsideration of a proposal killed by Mayor George J Bourque late last year when he refused to sign a contract with a professional firm More than 10 signatures have been obtained on the petition it was learned indicating that the revaluation would make it difficult for the city to hire competent professional al firms Some people feel we should wait until we arc forced into Mrs Fortin said i f t 111 statutory requirement of 10 Bourque payers to institute a suit has been met However the group of ers is reconsidering the petition that a petition to the City Council would take con- lime and probably would result in the move again being killed by the mayor The Massachusetts Supreme Court in cases has declared the present ratio system of assessment and state officials say that all communities in the state sooner or later will be forced into is ing all property up to 100 per cent market value Under the present system of assessment property is valued for tax purposes at about 50 per cent of its market value In er words a home which would sell on the open market for would be evaluated for tax purposes at about Thus the homeowner in 1965 aid on each of paid on each of John A Kearns chairman of the board of assessors when told this morning of the pos ble taxpayers suit described we don't agree with this t of view because the de maild at thai time would be so great it would be difficult to ob- tain the best appraisal firms The subject of revaluation careened along on a strange course in this city last year in his address himself flatly in favor of re and predicted that the tax rate would be cut once it was accomplished The mayor later initiated an order with the City Council for to pay one-third of the cost of revaluation by an Ohio professional appraisal firm The City Council approved the money order but four councilor's objected They were Hedley Bray Anthony Nigro Joseph bert and J Goguen The four candidates circulated REVALUATION Page 2 WELCOME TO A SKID The city line ends at that sign on the right on South St And the dry road ends right there too Beyond is Fitchburg where the ist finds himself traveling in a world of perilous contrast The Leominster section of the road is dry Some of Leominster's fortunately is carried on tires along the right hand lane for a few hundred yards But the left lane as you look at it in this picture still snow and ice-covered A grader smoothed twisting Tuesday night ruts along this stretch New Plow Vs Plow It'll be plow vs plow in burg pretty soon and if you have a little plow of your own you'd better be careful The Public Works ment was under a bit of fire this morning from motorists who traveled by motorists who drive I people do put the snow n d unfavorable son between Leominster's between Fitchburg and ster via the South Side It's narrow street Mr 40 it is crowded with houses and driveways And that's where Thaf Debbil Flu Bug if it between the Absenteeism on Tuesday in to hit the key public schools throughout Fitchburg showed that more pupils are out of school today than three weeks ago but there is by no means an epidemic of influenza in the city Average absenteeism is ly about 10 per cent of the dent population and present ures indicate that than that are absent in the in- schools travel on two cities As of Tuesday night and this the com- a storm as large as Sunday's Then when the Public Works area takes said the three days to incubate actually affecting It is not limited to spreading ly through children say 1 section of road from downtown district to the Fitchburg line is dry and in relatively good condition con- the magnitude of but may be viral particles are airborne The rate of absenteeism in the following six schools mentioned because of their diverse But from the end of the inster line into Fitchburg South St that is it's a different ter The road was rutted and slippery Tuesday night and this morning still contained climbed from below average to more than 10 coatings of jce cent in the past three weeks 1 councilor Joseph An unidentified strain of are it can be expected to climb higher as the virus called in recent years Asian Flu has been sweeping through school systems along the south latest re- ports are that the sickness is creeping westward toward this area Dr Albert A chairman of the board of health today said no indications of alarming absenteeism h a v e ment 32 absent his attention either as a physician or as a board ber The particular type of flu apt bert telephoned the Highway Division this morning and asked them to check on the condition of South St Public Works Com M Kinsey and Highway Raymond J Benoit were spreads Today's Fitchburg High enrollment 174 absent B F 684 the 89 absent Crocker 723 en- 80 absent Mary 286 Mr Kinsey observing that Fitchburg's streets are in pretty good condition compared to some other years acknowledged there is a problem and he 322 to do something about ment 39 absent Goodrich St 232 enrollment 31 absent A case in point is Pine St he said This artery is heavily Charged With Threat To Sabotage 2 Athol Men Held in Extortion Plot BOSTON AP Babbitt 25 wrote the men have been charged with and If we are forced tempting to extort kill or injure any em- the Boston Maine it will hang on your to respond to our under threat of sabotage The FBI charged that Albert Dupray 26 and The two men were Tuesday before U S sance and reports of refugees These reports indicated that Hanoi has used the pause in the bombings to rebuild roads and bridges and increase the flow of supplies and perhaps armed troops to Viet Cong guerrillas in Viet Nam Earlier in a series of Babbitt claimed he could and cowboy boots and sages to governments have place other people shove And if that isn't problem there's additional com- More and more J right back into the road again are buying motor and we're having this lem in many areas of the Mr Kinsey said Private contractors who plow out driveways are pushing the snow back into the public streets Kinsey said and there's a city ordinance prohibiting that sort of thing have to take some he said snow blowers They're pretty powerful little machines Kinsey said they're blowing the snow right back into the The commissioner We may have to take some action on this too That city ordinance clearly prohibits ing any obstruction in a road Resumption Bombing To WASHINGTON reported Johnson had asked the dent Johnson has made leaders to re- gard the information divulged as confidential Vice President Hubert H Humphrey was on hand along moves on diplomatic and cal fronts amid mounting cations of a possible early re- sumption of- the bombing of North Viet Nam targets The came Secretary Dean dusk Tuesday night when the President summoned 20 con- gressional leaders from both parties to meet with him and key members of the National Security Council to discuss Viet Nam and other One source reported the meeting was not called as a result of any emergency development Part of the session was devoted to a presentation of evidence from aerial Kusk and Secretary of Defense Robert S McNamara Also were Gen Earle G Wheeler chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff liam F Raborn director of the Central Intelligence Agency Gen Maxwell D Taylor former ambassador to Saigon who now is a presidential consultant on Viet Nam and roving sador W Averell Harriman just Francis H a lawyer and W twisted his er man entered a plea and Powers of Boston was cap in his hands rell continued the cases to Jan wool Johnson had acted to clear the way diplomatically for a Today's Index Almanac 2 Bridge 16 Classified Comics 16 Crossword 16 back from an overseas peace mission The congressional delegation included most of the top cratic and Republican leaders of the Senate and House as well as the chairmen and ranking members of such committees as Foreign Relations Armed ices and Appropriations These were spine of of evidence mostly being weighed by the ad- ministration as it considered a resumption of More than 200 trucks were photographed in daylight in the southern area of North Viet Nam between Dec 31 and Jan 13 Most of the trucks were seen on routes 1A and 15 the latter moving toward Pass a gateway to the Laos infiltration corridor On Jan 1 a number of trucks were photographed just inside North Viet Nam's border with Laos and others were seen at a rest and refueling area just north of the Pass Refugees on the Laos side 28 Both men arc charged HELD IN EXTORTION PLOT Caleb J Babbitt 25 left of Athol pointed to represent him He joked and laughed with seemed at c agents before the to extort and hearing He was dressed hearing room was set at for each pray also is charged with using the mails to extort Additional bail of was set on that charge The FBI said Dupray mailed a typewritten unsigned letter to the Dec 20 demanding in small bills or we will slow up or stop tion on certain runs throughout New England The FBI said that in arresting Dupray agents recovered 75 sticks of dynamite which had been reported stolen last No- from the Athol water Department The letter did not specify how the sabotage be and did not mention The letter the officials to stop and think of the damage that can be done before you or the ment can put a stop to the FBI said They said Dupray mailed the threatening letter to the from Vt and that a of telephone threats was made to the railroad The FBI said the railroad made no payments Dupray is a machine Babbitt is a service station ager Each man is married and EXTORTION PLOT ACCOMPLICE the father of four children DonaM A Dupray left also of Athol sumption of the bombings if and when he decides that is Announcement of Tuesday night's White House meeting ivas not made until the session was under way White House press secretary D Moyers Editorial 6 I of he border reported counting trucks going south between Dec 27 and Jan 14 i One report being considered the capital suggests that as as infiltrators may I have moved into South Viet northernmost Quang Tri Province on Christmas Day alone Sports Television 16 Through The Years 6 Family Page Cost Of School Milk May Be Hiked In City Fitchburg school children could pay up to per month more for their half pints of milk during the next school year that is if dent Johnson has his way and only needy children are ed lo buy milk at reduced cost If the section of Johnson's fiscal budget dealing with the Department of culture is approved as is by congress only million of the million set aside for the country's milk program will be distributed Locally the city is bursed three cents on each of milk for which in- it pays dealers 5.9 cents per half pint More than bottles are purchased monthly by public school children who pay only three cents Since relatively few of the thousands of sters here are termed needy most of them could end up paying six per half pint come September or more per During the current 66 fiscal year federal milk program subsidies to the stale million Though the com- pays five per cent of this amount it will have to pay 10 per cent after day Feb 1 The state director of the of- fice of school lunch programs has termed this possible cut as drastic and not in ing with the President's in his State of the Union message to continue his Great Society programs The director John C er said the proposed cut would penalize the school who are now able to buy milk at a reduced cost Though the average cost of school lunches throughout the state is 25 cents some school are thinking of raising the rates if this measure is approved by con- gress In Fitchburg only three schools Fitchburg B F Brown and Crocker have full lunch programs Pupils at B F Brown and Crocker pay 25 cents but those at who get more pay 30 cents No word has been heard about any lunch prices locally
