ISLAND HISTORY


The tax assessor has received an Apple Macintosh computer to assist in property revaluations, The Jamestown Press reported Sept. 23, 1993.

The Centrus 610 system is going to replace the paper cards that now contain all property records. This will protect the tax base because the risk of cards being misfiled or lost will be eliminated.

100 years ago — Sept. 27, 1921 (Newport Mercury)

The super-dreadnaught Maryland has arrived in Narragansett Bay and will remain in Rhode Island while taking on its equipment of torpedoes. The battleship has not yet been assigned to duty as it is on a “shaking-down” cruise following its acceptance from the builders early in the summer.

75 years ago — Sept. 27, 1946 (Newport Mercury)

The school committee voted to raise the pay of substitute teachers from $6 a day to $7. The board also engaged a part-time music teacher and a remedial reading teacher, both to receive $4 per session, and granted the request of four high school graduates, two of whom are war veterans, to take refresher courses.

50 years ago — Sept. 24, 1971 (Newport Mercury)

A Jamestown couple complained to the school committee in Newport because their 15-year-old son is one of two students in the Rogers vocational school who spends almost four hours daily traveling to and from school.

According to Richard Evans, his son is picked up by a taxi at his home on Hamilton Avenue, taken to the bus stop at East Ferry, then goes to Rogers via bus. Leaving home at 8:30 a.m. for 10:30 a.m. classes, he arrives home at 5:15 p.m. Evans said this is due to split sessions.

He also said the vocational school requests insurance on his son because he works with tools, but the boy is ineligible to take out a policy because he does not ride on an authorized school bus.

Robert Picchione, superintendent of the Newport district, said he was sympathetic with the situation and open to suggestions.

25 years ago — Sept. 26, 1996 (The Jamestown Press)

Alcohol and drug use has not been ruled out as possible factors that led to the death of a 20-year-old Jamestown man who fell from the old bridge that spans the West Passage.

According to police, the man and two of his friends were about halfway to the top of the bridge when he allegedly jumped off at about 3 a.m., falling about 80 feet into 40 feet of water. Police said suicide is not a likely motive in the case.

The two men told police they saw the jumper land on his back in the water. When he did not respond after they called his name, the two men went to the shore to see if he was there. They were unable to find him, and the men went home.

Police were not notified until that afternoon. According to police, the two men believed their friend “might have been swimming around” after he jumped. When they called him around noon and he didn’t answer, they called police.

10 years ago — Sept. 29, 2011 (The Jamestown Press)

The Lynx, a 122-foot square-rigged topsail schooner with a battery of six-pounder carronades, will arrive at the East Ferry docks during its first visit to Jamestown since its launch in 2001.

The Lynx is an interpretation of the actual privateer of the same name, which was among the first ships to defend American freedom by evading the British naval fleet then blockading American ports during the War of 1812. The U.S. Navy consisted of only 17 ships when fighting broke out, and to compensate for the lack of ships, owners of private vessels got special permissions, called “letters of marque,” to attack enemy ships so these boats were referred to as privateers.

Although captured early in the war, the original Lynx design was recognized as superior. With its rakish profile and superior sailing abilities, it served as an inspiration to those ships that would follow. Naval architects continue to study its power and grace. The replica is fitted with period ordnance and flies pennants and flags from the era.