Copyright © 2024                               

John F. Oyler 

March 21, 2024 

Iditarod 2024

In recent years my favorite sport event has become the Iditarod, the sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome. It commemorates the 1925 Serum Run to Nome, when relay teams of mushers and sled dogs delivered vaccines to Nome to head off a diphtheria epidemic. In 1972 three Alaskans, concerned that the advent of motor-driven snowmobiles would force sled-dogs onto the Endangered Species List, proposed a rigorous long-distance race replicating that historic event. This year’s Iditarod is its fifty-second running.

It began with a ceremonial start in Anchorage, followed by an official “restart” eleven miles north, in Willow. This year thirty-eight teams left Willow Sunday afternoon, March 3, in a staggered start, at two minute intervals. The trail leads west, eventually into the Alaska Range, where steep slopes and deep snow always provide serious complications. This year the mushers encountered a different problem, a moose taking an afternoon nap in the middle of the trail.

A few miles east of the Finger Lake checkpoint the narrow trail had been cut through snow drifts four feet high on each side. The moose was sleeping peacefully when front-runner Jesse Holmes and his team came upon it. Startled, it got up and avoided an encounter when Jesse was able to swerve past it. The experience was repeated a few minutes later with Pete Kaiser and his team. By now the moose had had enough, and, when Dallas Seavey approached, it attacked his team, severely wounding one of the dogs with its hooves. Seavey responded by pulling out a hand-gun and killing the moose.

Iditarod (and Alaska Game Commission) rules require that any animal killed during the race must be properly “dressed” before the musher can proceed. Seavey “gutted” the moose, dragged it off the trail, and texted the checkpoint with information regarding the event. Something in this process did not satisfy the Rules Committee, so he was penalized two hours for a minor infraction. During the race each team must take three mandatory rest stops at checkpoints, two for eight hours each, and one for twenty-four. The twenty-four-hour stop is incremented appropriately to make up for the staggered start – Seavey’s was increased by an additional two hours this because of the penalty. 

The trail on the west side of the Alaska Range, down “the Happy River Steps” from Finger Lake to Rainy Pass, was particularly difficult this year. Numerous videos have been shot showing mushers trying to negotiate the sharp switch backs down the steep slope. This year Jessie Royer experienced her first crash (in twenty-one Iditarods); her description of the trail made it sound like an Olympic bobsled run.

Selecting a specific checkpoint for the twenty-four-hour stop is a major strategic decision. Most mushers choose to take it well before the halfway point of the race. Takotna (milepost 329), famous for unlimited servings of pie for the mushers, is a popular place for a twenty-four. Another popular candidate is Ophir (milepost 362). Both of these checkpoints are in established native villages, with amenities available. In contrast, Cripple (milepost 425), a difficult seventy-three run farther down the trail, is staffed only as a checkpoint.

Seavey chose to blow through Ophir and gamble on resting at Cripple, an aggressive move. His team was moving well and had made up much of the two-hour penalty. He was ninety minutes behind front-runner Holmes when he reached Ophir, where Holmes had already started his twenty-four. Apparently Seavey theorized that his well-rested team could easily make up this deficit in the remaining 550 miles. By the time he got back on the trail, he would have a well-rested team and know precisely where he stood relative to his top competitors. In addition, he won $3000 in gold nuggets for being the first to arrive in Cripple.

By the time Seavey departed Cripple, the staggered start discrepancies had all been eliminated and the set of front-runners established – Travis Beals, Jesse Holmes, Paige Drobny, Ryan Redington, Matt Hall, Dallas Seavey, and Jeff Deeter in order. One hundred and eighty-nine miles later at Unalakleet (milepost 714) the Trail reached the Bering Sea coast. At this point the order was – Holmes, Seavey, Beals, Hall, Drobny, Redington, and Deeter – with the lead changing each time the front-

runner stopped for a rest and was leap-frogged by the teams still running. But, to quote old-timer Bruce Lee, “Leap-frogging only works until the frog in the front gets too far ahead to leap”.

And that is exactly what happened on the stretch along the coast and out onto the sea ice of Norton Sound, where Seavey opened up a lead of fourteen miles coming into Koyuk (milepost 804). His lead continued to increase all the way into Nome, where he won his sixth Iditarod, in a time of 9 days, 2 hours, and sixteen minutes, four and a half hours ahead of Matt Hall, followed by Holmes, Deeter, and Drobny. It appears that Seavey opened up his lead over the field by taking significantly shorter rest periods than his nearest competitors. We must assume that all the mushers are doing what is best for their teams; perhaps his team was better conditioned for the long run than theirs.

My enjoyment of the event is a combination of numerous factors – my fascination with the North Country; my love of dogs; my admiration of the mushers and their ability to manage a team for 975 miles in extreme conditions; men and women competing against each other on a level playing field; world class athletes camping out in the middle of the night with the temperature forty below and the sky filled with the Northern Lights; the variety of the venue, from mountain trail switchbacks to Bering Sea ice; the significant role that strategy plays in deciding the winner; and the combination of its extreme length and slowed down pace that permit me to savor what is happening. May it survive and prosper in the future!

Musings of an Octogenarian. July 30, 2020

 

The Gregg Avenue Neighborhood. July 23, 2020

 

Home Delivery. July 16, 2020

 Copyright © 2020                               John F. Oyler 

 July 16, 2020

Home Delivery

 

My (soon to be Nonagenarian) friend Don Toney is continually impressed with today’s technology and the modern miracles it has produced. Recently he was waxing eloquent about the convenience we have today ordering things on the Internet and having them delivered to our front door.

 

My reaction was “Yes, but how much different is that from 1940?” Eighty years ago our parents appreciated the convenience of leafing through the Montgomery Wards and Sears, Roebuck catalogues, ordering items, and having them delivered to our homes. I particularly remember the excitement of receiving the Christmas catalogues right around Thanksgiving and pouring over the exciting collection of toys being offered.

 

I too am impressed with the capability we have today, and the ease with which Monday’s orders become Wednesday’s deliveries. Each time a UPS or FEDEX truck comes down my street, I am reminded of Marian the Librarian’s brother Winthrop singing “The Wells Fargo Wagon” in “The Music Man”. “I hope that it has something special, just for me!”

 

It is hard for someone today to realize what home delivery meant eighty years ago. Before every family had several cars, and women had been liberated, the typical housewife had to depend upon it for most of the family’s needs. I remember my mother calling Foster’s to order groceries. She would discuss the selection of meat available that day with the butcher, “How do the pork chops look?”. Half an hour later George Cox would drive up with her order.

 

Several times a week Louie Dernosek, “the huckster”, would visit our neighborhood and park his produce truck in the intersection of Lafayette and Elizabeth Streets. In no time he would be negotiating with a dozen housewives eager to replenish their supply of fruits and vegetables. His trademark was tossing an orange or apple to any child who happened by.

 

Milk was delivered daily, very early in the morning. I remember Portman and the Bridgeville Dairy in our neighborhood; I’m sure there were others. This was before the popularity of homogenizing milk. The milk was delivered in glass bottles, with several inches of cream at the top. The bottles had cardboard discs as caps; when the bottles were left on very cold mornings, it was common to find the cap popped and an inch or two of frozen cream extruded.

 

My memory of bread delivery is dominated by the Ertl Baking Company, primarily because the delivery man was so popular with all the kids. He was a small man, who had a distinctive small delivery van. Whenever he drove by, all the kids would shout, “Hi, Ertl!”.  

 

Until we moved to Lafayette Street and acquired an electric refrigerator, Herman Colussy was another frequent visitor, delivering ice for our ice box. He, too, was popular with the kids because he was a soft touch for any child begging a piece of ice to suck on.

 

Less frequent visitors were repairmen. One gentleman specialized in repairing umbrellas; I believe he went door to door on foot. Another gentleman sharpened scissors and knives – I remember his having a grindstone that he operated by pumping it with his feet. I wonder if he had a car?

 

Our mail delivery was exceptional – twice a day! I don’t think we had the volume of junk mail that plagues us today. People corresponded regularly by writing letters – this was the principal contact we had with my mother’s family in Emporium and my father’s in Franklin County.

 

Newspapers – can you imagine three daily papers? The Post-Gazette came every morning; in the afternoon we had the choice of two dramatically different evening papers. The Sun-Telegraph was a Hearst publication, decidedly conservative. The Press was published by Scripps Howard and tended to be more progressive. I recall politicking my parents to switch to the “Tele” because they carried the Lone Ranger comic strip.

 

Actually we had better service in many areas in those days than we do today. According to the 1940 Census, over half of the families in Bridgeville were earning less than the poverty level that year. Nonetheless society was able to afford things that are too expensive for us today, when we are all wealthy.

 

I am reminded of this every Tuesday evening when our high-class neighborhood is cluttered with garbage cans and piles of trash, to be collected the next day. We look like a scene from a movie filmed in an inner-city ghetto. In Bridgeville, in 1940, our garbage can was located in our back yard. The garbage collector carried it to the street, dumped it into his truck, and returned it neatly to its original location.

 

The same thing might be said about “service stations”. Do you remember pulling up to a gas pump, hearing the bell ring when you drove over the rubber tubing, and being greeted by a uniformed attendant, and courteously being asked if you wanted the oil checked, after he had begun to pump gas into your tank?  

 

My biggest use of our current capability is for ordering books. The vast availability of used and new books on the Internet and the limited number of local book stores makes the on-line ordering decision easy, despite my general preference for supporting local businesses. Most of the books I order arrive within two days.

 

How did we purchase books in 1940? The nearest book store was a department in Kaufmann’s, downtown. “Book-of-the-Month” clubs were popular in those days; I presume there was also more conventional mail order capability. I did find an advertisement for Brentano’s Booksellers with a list of novels that could be mail ordered. It included “The Egg and I” and “Forever Amber”, among others.

 

It is interesting that we have gone through this eight decades cycle. After World War II, our love affair with the automobile and suburban malls completely revolutionized our shopping methods. Today Amazon has displaced Sears, Roebuck, but in many respects we are back where we were in 1940.

 

 

 

The American Way of Voting: a Wild History. July 9, 2020

 Copyright © 2020                               John F. Oyler 

 July 9, 2020

The American Way of Voting: a Wild History

 

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society celebrated the return of Allegheny County to the “green” status by returning to its regular program of live presentations this month. Appropriately the speaker was one of the Society’s favorites – Dr. Todd DePastino. His subject was also appropriate for these times – “The American Way of Voting: a Wild History”.

 

Because of my voluntary self-quarantine I was unable to attend the presentation in person; fortunately it was filmed and became available on the “Bridgeville.org” website two days later. I was not surprised to learn that the program was equally entertaining and educational, particularly since we are in still one more highly critical Presidential election year.

 

The Constitution clearly intended that the selection of President and Vice President be determined by electors selected by the Legislatures of the various states. Each state had its own criteria for eligibility of voters to record their preferences.

 

In most of them voters were restricted to adult, property-owning white males. An exception was New Jersey that allowed women to vote up until 1807. In some of the northern states free African-Americans could vote. The property-owning requirement was eventually replaced by the requirement that the voter be a tax payer.

 

Although the Founding Fathers didn’t anticipate the concept of political parties, by 1800 the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson led to the birth of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties, respectively. The Constitution required each elector to vote for two candidates, a reasonable approach for a concept without parties. The candidate with the most votes would be elected President; the runner-up, Vice President.

 

The invention of parties demonstrated the weakness of this system.The Democratic-Republicans ran a ticket of Jefferson and Aaron Burr against a Federalist ticket of John Adams and Charles Pickney. In each case it was assumed that electors would vote by party. One of the electors from the winning party would abstain from voting, to determine which candidate was President.

 

The Jefferson-Burr ticket won handily, but somehow none of the electors abstained, leaving Jefferson and Burr each with 73 electoral votes. Aaron Burr was not one to honor a “gentleman’s agreement”, so the election was thrown into the outgoing House of Representatives where the Federalists held a majority (60) of the 106 seats.

 

In this election each state delegation had one vote. It is not surprising that this resulted in an eight to eight tie, nor that this continued for thirty-four more rounds. Eventually Hamilton stepped in and brokered a deal that favored what he considered the lesser of two evils – Jefferson.

 

The next particularly abnormal election was in 1824. The Federalist Party had disappeared leaving the field to the Democratic-Republicans, who were splintered into four factions, leading to the nomination of four candidates for President – John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. None of them earned a majority of the electoral votes, so it was back to the House of Representatives. This time Adams won with thirteen of the twenty-four states favoring him.

 

Jackson got even in 1828; his faction adopted the name Democratic while Adams’ faction called themselves National Republicans. The primary difference between a democracy and a republic is the guarantee of minority rights afforded by the republic, contrasted to the lack of same in a democracy. An interesting distinction today when an advocate of states’ rights is considered a racist.

 

By 1828 most of the states had relaxed the requirement that voters be property owners. This resulted in a significant increase in the percentage of the population actually voting and facilitated Jackson’s election despite a campaign replete with defamatory attacks on his character.

 

By 1840 the opposition to Jackson’s Democrats had coalesced into a party they called the Whigs, in deference to the anti-monarchists in England. They held the first ever National Convention, where William Henry Harrison was nominated to run against incumbent President Martin van Buren. For the first time Harrison actively campaigned in public.

 

Once again the campaign was featured with mud-slinging. Despite Harrison’s aristocratic Virginian roots, his opponents painted him as an overly old man who would like nothing better than to stay in his log cabin drinking hard cider. This strategy backfired with the voters in the West, who turned out in droves to support him.

 

Prior to that election the largest voter turnout had been fifty eight percent of the “voting age population”. The turnout in 1840 was an amazing 81.2 %, second only to 81.8% in 1876. The trend for high turnout continued through 1896. It then dropped to the fifty to sixty percent range that has continued until today. It must be acknowledged however that the “voting age population” includes two segments that continue to be high – non-citizens (including undocumented aliens) and convicted felons.

 

The Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island in 1841was an example of the effort to extend voting rights to a larger portion of the public. The state was still being governed by its colonial charter, which specifically limited the right to vote to property owners. By 1841 this disenfranchised sixty percent of the potential voters, primarily factory workers in the cities. Although an armed rebellion failed, the requirement was eventually removed.

 

The 1876 election, with its huge turnout, ended up being one of the most controversial. Originally it was assumed that President Grant would ignore precedent and run for an unprecedented third term. When he elected instead to retire, James G. Blaine appeared to be the front-runner for the Republican nomination. At the National Convention he was unable to achieve a majority of votes on the first six nominating ballots; at that point the party bosses turned to a compromise candidate, Ohio Governor Rutherford B. Hayes.

 

The Democrats nominated New York Governor Samuel J. Tilden on the second ballot. A reformer who had succeeded in breaking up the Tammany Hall political machine and sending “Big Bill” Tweed to prison, Tilden’s candidacy was extremely popular with the party. His polarizing campaign to end Reconstruction in the South certainly contributed to the large voter turnout.

 

Although Tilden clearly won the total popular vote, the electoral college was filled with confusion. By 1876 the Democratic Party had regained its control over all of the “Solid South” except for Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. In those three states the results were close enough to warrant questioning. In addition, a technicality had disqualified a Hayes elector in Oregon.

 

When the Electoral College met, they were unable to declare a winner. The two houses of Congress then established an Electoral Commission, composed of five Representatives, five Senators, and five Supreme Court Justices to resolve the problem. This resulted in a compromise. Hayes was elected President and promptly removed federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction and permitting the return of white supremacy.

 

The method of voting has evolved as well. Originally voters either orally reported their preferences, or, in some cases, voted by dropping appropriately colored balls into a container. The term ballot is derived from the Italian word “ballotta”, small balls. This method was replaced by paper ballots, pre-printed by the political parties and handed out to voters to turn in. Even today the specific method of voting is determined by each individual state.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who's Driving? July 2, 2020

 Copyright © 2020                               John F. Oyler 

 July 2, 2020

Who’s Driving?

 

The events of recent months have been of great interest to us amateur political scientists (a category that includes almost all of us) as “government” has been forced into taking the most active role in our lives since World War II. Who would have foreseen lockdowns, mandatory use of masks, and the general disruption to everyday life we have experienced?

 

I think most of us will agree that it was necessary for someone to at least consider each of the measures have been imposed on us. The surprising thing to me is the general confusion regarding the level of government that should do this consideration and then act upon the conclusions reached.

 

I watched the daily Covid 19 White House press conferences with great interest, mostly so I could understand what was happening and partly because of the entertainment value observing the confusion.

 

At one point the President clearly stated that it was his responsibility to make the decision regarding putting the entire nation under quarantine and emphasized the fact that this was one of the most significant decisions he would ever make. At this point one of the journalists in the audience, citing the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, reminded him that such a decision was the function of the individual states by default.

 

The President appeared to reject this idea, but, two days later in another press conference, announced that this decision was indeed up to the governors of each of states. This abrupt turnaround surprised most observers and still is the subject of controversy.

 

Our current political system can be simplified as consisting of four hierarchical tiers – the federal government, the state governments, counties, and municipalities. For purpose of this discussion I have elected to combine local municipal governments and school districts into one category, although I realize jointures involve more than one municipality. Consequently, we citizens (taxpayers) find ourselves beholden to four levels of government for benefits and for taxes to pay for the benefits.  

 

So, who decides if I can get a haircut, or eat in a restaurant, or attend a Symphony concert, or shop in a grocery store without a mask? It turns out, much to my surprise, that it is the Governor of our state, mostly by default. There certainly isn’t anything specific that I can find in the State Constitution to justify this.

 

However, for example, the State is responsible for licensing barbers, so it is easy for the Governor to control them. The same can be said for the State Liquor stores. Restaurants, beer distributors, and grocery stores also are licensed by the State Department of Agriculture. Concerts may be an exception; apparently their permits come from the local municipality.

 

On March 6, 2020, Governor Wolf issued a Proclamation of Disaster Emergency, which referenced the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Services Code as justification for initiating action by the appropriate state agencies – Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, State Police, Department of Health, Department of Education, Department of Transportation, etc. – to respond to the emergency. The Proclamation also urged officials of all political subdivisions in the state to support this effort.

 

On March 19, Governor Wolf announced that all “non-essential” businesses should be closed until further notice. This was followed by the Governor’s stay-at-home order for the entire state on April 1. Regardless of the questionable legal justification for this action, it was clear he was in charge. Despite opposition from certain counties and from the Republican-dominated State Legislature, he has maintained this role and gone a long way in establishing a precedent for power of the state.

 

It is interesting to compare this result with the process followed by other major democracies in this crisis. Modern Germany is subdivided into sixteen states; their “lockdown” policy is decided at the state level, like ours. On the other hand, in Italy, subdivided into sixteen districts, the quarantine decision was made at the federal level by the Prime Minister.

 

The United Kingdom is a special case. Parliament passed legislation permitting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to shut down the entire nation. However, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have their own legislatures and currently are relaxing requirements at their own level. The final member of the United Kingdom, England, relies on Parliament to function as its legislature.

 

Other major democracies in which the lockdown decision was made at the federal level include France, Spain, India, and Poland. In contrast, state or district level responsibility was granted in Brazil, Mexico, and Indonesia. Sweden, South Korea, and Japan elected to avoid a formal lockdown, instead appealing to their citizens to adopt social distancing measures voluntarily.

 

How did the United States get to the point where such a critical crisis would be handled at the level of the states, supplemented by federal advice and aid? The subject of states’ rights has been controversial from the earliest days of our country, finally exploding into the Civil War in 1861.  

 

The topic surfaced again during the Civil Rights Movement with the general consensus being that national interests were destined to prevail over local ones. It is interesting that it has made a comeback at a time when the federal government is dominated by two widely disparate political parties.

 

The states’ rights concept was a natural consequence of the way our nation was formed. Imagine the difficulty of convincing tiny states like Rhode Island and Delaware to join with powerhouses like New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia into a union that ensured them any influence at all.  

 

I have always been sympathetic to advocates of states’ rights, mostly because of the historical origin of the concept. However, I suspect that the handling of a crisis of the type in which we currently are involved should have been done at the federal level. The absurd example of a Pittsburgher driving to Wheeling for a haircut because West Virginia was not locked down reinforces that suspicion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bridgeville in 1960. June 25, 2020

 Copyright © 2020                               John F. Oyler 

 June 25, 2020

Bridgeville in 1960

 

This week we are going to roll back the calendar six decades by taking advantage of the Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s archive of old copies of the Bridgeville News, beginning with the June 30, 1960 issue.

 

The News was an eight-page weekly paper available at newsstands for seven cents each week, or mailed to your home by subscription for three dollars a year. Ralph E. Hennon and Custer G. Papas are listed as owners and publishers.

 

In many respects 1960 was a watershed year for Bridgeville in its transition from regional commercial center to suburban bedroom community. The Great Southern Shopping Center had opened four years earlier in Kirwan Heights, boasting “One hundred stores, 3,000 parking spots, and ten acres of parks and playgrounds”, providing nearly impossible competition to Bridgeville’s “Main Street” – Washington Avenue.

 

It was also the last year for Bridgeville High School; in September the school kids piled on buses headed for Chartiers Valley High School, on Thoms Run Road in Collier Township. This eliminated a major cultural asset that effectively had brought all portions of the community together for sporting events, band concerts, and class plays.

 

Being June, the News was full of weddings, including several of folks we knew well. Our next-door neighbor, George Goldbach, married Edith Klancher at St. Agatha’s in a ceremony performed by George’s cousin Father Justin Der. It was Father Der’s first sacrament, a week after his ordination as a priest.

 

Another neighbor, Ralph Weise, Jr., married Carol Green the same weekend, at the Methodist Church. In a wedding in Hutchison, Kansas, still another neighbor, Buddy (Charles) Sims, married a young lady named Patricia Marshall. A large contingent of Buddy’s extended family drove to Kansas for the ceremony.

 

Of special interest to me is a column in the paper entitled “The Late 1890s – Leaves from an old Bridgeville Scrap Book”. One item reported “A. Fryer is helping to boom the town by building a large furniture store in the west end.” We know this eventually spawned the funeral business; I wonder where this store was located?

 

“Around Town”, the column reporting current local news included a number of items that warrant repeating. “Sam Lee, local laundryman, who was burned out by the March 1 fire, has reopened his place of business in the basement of the Quarture Building on Station Street beneath Blair Pharmacy”. His was only one of many businesses devastated by the fire that gutted the building block on the west side of Washington Avenue between Station Street and the bridge over the B & M branch.

 

“Rev. and Mrs. Robert E. Bailey, and four sons of Dubuque, Iowa, spent last week with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bailey, of Elm Street”. Reverend Bailey was “Slugger” Bailey when we were kids; I had the pleasure of a having lunch with him and Mary Weise a few years ago when he came back for their high school reunion.

 

“Mr. and Mrs. Maryland Copeland of 654 Bower Hill Road celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary at the home of their son, Curtis Copeland of Bluff Street, on Saturday evening”. Imagine how surprised they would be to know that Curtis’ widow, Betty, would be Bridgeville’s first female mayor, sixty years later!

 

The sports news in this issue consisted of a fairly comprehensive review of stock car racing at Heidelberg, Clinton, and South Park; and the weekly summary of games in the local Little League. Teams sponsored by the Kiwanis and by Reliable were tied for first place with four and one records, with Rotary and Legion teams trailing them. 

 

The advertisement for the Rankin Theater was emblematic of the decline in Bridgeville business. By then the theater was reduced to three days a week; “The Bramble Bush”, starring Richard Burton and Barbara Rush was this week’s feature. I presume the “old show”, the Strand, had been shuttered by 1960.

 

Another ad reported that Herman Colussy’s Garage was “now open”. Before the popularity of refrigerators, Herman Colussy and his ice truck were common sights all over Bridgeville, delivering to every household.  

 

There were automobile ads for Colussy Motor Company, still on Baldwin Street; E. A. Motor Company, on Station Street; Bridgeville Sales (Chrysler), on Washington Avenue; and Burgunder Motors, at the “Y”, in South Fayette. Each company highlighted used cars as well as new ones. A 1959 Plymouth Savoy V8 could be yours for $1695.

 

Other bargains included three pounds of ground beef for $1.15 at Ben’s Meats, 608 Washington Avenue; a three-bedroom ranch home for $19,000, from the Silhol Agency; men’s short sleeved sport shirts for $1.88, at Saperstein’s; or new broadloom carpeting at $5.88 per square yard, from Rusmur Floors. To put these prices in perspective, the U. S Bureau of Labor Statistics equates one dollar in 1960 to $8.66 today.

 

Andy and Sophie Yurkas invited customers to the new, air conditioned Royal Restaurant at 447 Washington Avenue, 6:00 am till midnight, with “all the tasty specialties served right…at modest prices”.

 

Fed Donelli ran an ad announcing that he was an agent for the State Farm Insurance Company, specializing in automobile insurance. He and his wife, (the former) Pat Winnechuke, were fellow members of our proud BHS Class of 1949.

 

Classified ads are always fun to read; where else can you get twenty words in a newspaper for sixty cents? For sale: Remodeled older seven room house for $10,900; Modern Kenmore gas stove, $85 (reduced from $245); and 1941 Chevrolet two door sedan (best offer). Wanted: Spoiled bailed hay; Dishwasher – inquire Weise’s, 528 Washington avenue; and “Ladies full or part time, evening work, car necessary”.

 

Those were indeed nostalgic times. Our country was enjoying the relative peace of the Eisenhower years. It would be another three years till Bob Dylan would write “The times, they are a-changing”, the anthem of the turbulent 1960s. Change was ahead for all us; the community of Bridgeville was not an exception.