Bound Volumes, Hometown History
November 6, 2025
90 YEARS AGO
Approximately 254 messages, exclusive of tests, have been sent over the police radio system since it was installed at headquarters in the municipal building in August, Chief of Police Frank N. Horton reported yesterday in his annual report to the Board of Public Safety. “Last year, in my annual report, I recommended that a two-way radio system be installed, as it would be of real advantage to this department,” Chief Horton said. The two-way radio was installed but it did not work out satisfactorily and the board saw fit to replace it with the present one-way system which Chief Horton believes has more than proven its worth in the amount of service it has given in the short time it has been in operation. A permanent license has been granted by the Federal Communications Commission. Chief Horton lists 210 arrests for the fiscal year ending October 31. Eighteen persons were charged with felonies; 192 with misdemeanors and 305 infractions of city traffic laws were issued. Patrolmen discovered 6,996 windows and 403 doors open in the business sections. More than 800 street lights were reported out. Twenty-two automobiles were stolen but recovered. Seven persons were reported missing and two suicides were investigated.
November 1935
40 YEARS AGO
More than half of jail inmates convicted of violent crimes had been drinking before committing the offenses according to a government study. A report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics also shows that more than half of convicted jail inmates who admitted they had been drinking said they felt “pretty drunk” or “very drunk” just before committing the crimes for which they were convicted. Altogether, 54 percent of 32,112 people convicted of violent crimes had been drinking, the survey said. For all crimes, including non-violent offenses, burglary, public disorder, and so forth, 48 percent of the convicted inmates had been using alcohol before committing the offense. Nearly seven out of ten people convicted of manslaughter—68 percent—had been drinking before the offense, while 62 percent of those convicted of assault had been drinking. The survey also found that 49 percent of those convicted of murder or attempted murder had been drinking. The findings were based on personal interviews with a random sample of 5,785 jail inmates convicted of crimes in some 400 jails and prisons around the country.
November 1985
30 YEARS AGO
Four members of the Hartwick College Outing Club got lost in a cave Wednesday night and two of them suffered early signs of hypothermia. Peter Blue, resident manager of Pine Lake Environmental Center led a group of three students into the cave near Clarksville, just outside Albany around 7 p.m. On the way back out of the cave, Blue and Lisa Baker, 18, began to suffer chills and fatigue and Blue also realized they had chosen the wrong path. Blue said they decided that Wil Vandervoort, 19, and Gail Huntress, 18, would leave to get help and, having found their way out, emergency rescue workers were summoned to the scene to assist Blue and Baker.
November 1995
20 YEARS AGO
President Bush’s job approval has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency amid worries about the Iraq war, a fumbled U.S. Supreme Court nomination, the indictment of a White House aide and uncertainties about another. A new Associated Press poll found Bush’s approval rating was at 37 percent, compared with 39 percent a month ago. About 59 percent of those surveyed said they disapproved. The intensity of the disapproval is the strongest to date with 42 percent saying they “strongly disapprove.”
November 2005
