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I just noticed a newspaper in my driveway! What is going on? The January 1, 2009  SUN has already been delivered - it is 10 o’clock on December 31st. No breaking news! No special stories! One item I do see that pleases me  - I see that the Letter to the Editor written by former Lowell High School teacher and foreign language department head Claudette Boisjoly is now in the print edition on Page 11. She started the student educational trips to Quebec and has a interesting view on the Lowell School Committee’s recent reactions. Previously the letter was only in the on-line edition. Did you get your SUN yet?

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Over at Reuters.com there is a story that Frank Nicastro of the State of Connecticut Assembly sees “saving newspapers as his duty.” Newspapers in his district and neighboring communities like The Bristol Press and The Herald are ready to fold because of the debt “crushing” publishers. He and some fellow legislators say “the media is a vitally important part of America.” Is this a new entry of the list of bailout beggers? What do you think? Check out the article at: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE4BU53T20081231?sp=true

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As is 2008, the year 1968 was also a Presidential election year - Nixon vs. Humphrey. So it’s no surprise that the similarities include among other things a reporting of appointments. The December 31, 1968 SUN Metro headline simply states - “Richardson undersecretary of state.” This is of course Massachusetts Attorney General Elliot Richardson who later plays an important role in the infamous antics of the Watergate debacle - the famous Saturday night massacre. Richardson succeeded Ed Brooke as AG when he moved on to the U.S. Senate. The speculation on this day is that Speaker of the House Robert Quinn would succeed Richardson as AG. Another front page story told of “Israeli planes striking in Jordan.” Forty years and the particulars might be different but the general Middle East tenor is the same.

Also on the national scene - Ted Kennedy in a surprise move planned to challenge Louisiana Senator Russell Long for the post of majority whip. He had the support of Senators Hubert Humphrey and Ed Muskie. While FBI head J. Edgar Hoover claimed that SDS - Students for a Democratic Society - with New Left leaders aimed “to completely destroy our form of government.”  Six new Jersey legislators were charged with “being too comfortable with organized crime.” And in New York City, the Superintendent of Schools ruled that girls have the right to wear slacks to class. Some principals had declared slacks as “erotic stimulants.”

Around the Valley - The State DPW scheduled a hearing on a proposed highway linking Rte. 3 in Chelmsford to Rte. 38 in Dracut… The Tewksbury firm of Wang Labs reportedly engineered the computer system for the robots simulating human bodies used to develop the Apollo 8 astronaut space suits… The Dracut Taxpayer Association proposed many  changes to town by-laws including requiring a town meeting quorum of 400 voters - at the time no quorum required… In his City Hall column, Kendall Wallace noted “outlook black for ‘69″ - noting that the city council lacked leadership and failed to support City Manager Charles Gallagher. He looked for a record tax rate that would surely be part of campaign attacks in the next election… Superintendent of Police Peter Guduras, Officer Mario Sepe and Lt. John Broderick were photographed talking over a new portable police radio to Patrolman Joseph Pollard.

Fifty residents protested Community Teamwork’s plan to use the former Naval Reserve Training Center on Bedford Avenue as a training center for the under and un-employed. CTI Executive Director Leo Desjarlais said it’s “a misunderstanding of what the center would be and do.” Councilor Ellen Sampson, the city council representative on the CTI Board was given the petition. (The CTI Skill Center was located for many years on Perry Street.) … Neighborhood Youth Corps Director W. Richard McMahon announced a new program for out-of-school, low-income youth involving private industry.

Harvey Bisson of Harvey’s Bookland announced in an ad that “because of censorship going on in the city…” he is forced to limit his selections, limit his hours and keep his business from growing. His wife and children will no longer work at the store - he will go it alone - but he will still offer the largest selection for the lowest possible price… Another ad featuring the Statue of Liberty noted “Make America a better place. Leave the country. Join the Peace Corps.”

In “A Place in the Sun” Marguerite Lyons thanked one and all for her many holiday invitations and other graciousness - the Lowell Table of the Guild of the Infant Savior co-chairs Mrs. Joseph Petros and Mrs. James Linnehan, the Poor Clare nuns, Ellenor Trull, Senior Citizen Club president Mrs. Mae Silveria, Lowell Girls Club director Emily Tickell, Naomi Sullivan, Jack Payne, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Monsignor Vincent Jakel, Joseph E. Sullivan and the St. Margaret’s Sodality… The Byzantine All-Male Choir directed by Dr. Christos Bentas performed at the cutting of the Vasilopeta. Other participants names were quite familiar - Themeles, Kokinos, Zaharoolis, Giavis, Tsongas, Syrmopoulos, Paras, Giavaras and Bacos… Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Morin had a baby boy on December 30th… The Jaycees planned a pageant to select Miss Tewksbury as a local entrant in the Miss Massachusetts contest.

Grant’s had sheets on sale for $1.97 - twin size - as well as bath towel at 78 cents… Marshall’s was having a book sale with novels at 2 for 99 cents “while they last”. Also available - winter dresses for $5, kids’ ski jacket for $6 and kids’ thermal undies at 5 for $1… Pollard’s had fluffy, warm blankets for $4.99… Kresge’s offered sheets for $2.33, pillows at 73 cents and 7 washcloths for 74 cents… McQuade’s held a clearance sale of men’s suits - some with vests - for $64.

Readon’s Package Store on Chelmsford Street offered a case of cold Budweizer beer for $5.99 - warm beer available by request only! The Lowell Cemetery offered family and individual lots for sale. Butler Chevrolet’s Board of Directors looking to “lower its profits” for tax purposes put vehicle son sale - ‘64 Rambler for $495, ‘68 Buick for $2695, ‘66 Impala at $1795, ‘64 Falcon at $895 and much, much more.

And finally, the Top News Stories of 1968 were shown on the Back Page in a series of photos: The Chicago Riots (outside the Democratic Convention); Back from the Moon (Apollo 8); Pueblo Crew Released; LBJ not a Candidate; Nixon Wins; Jackie Weds Onassis; War Continues; RFK Assassinated; MLK Slain; Biafrans Starve; Heart Transplants; Czechoslovakia Invaded.

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After driving home from the courthouse at 4:30 p.m., I can report that the Lowell Connector outbound was snow covered and on the slippery side.  The main Lowell streets I was on - Plain, Stevens and Pine - were mostly down to the pavement and just wet.  Side streets were plowed but snow covered.  Overall, it doesn’t look like the snow had a serious impact on the roads other than making them slippery, a condition that will undoubtedly continue into this increasingly cold night.  Nevertheless, I’m not disappointed to be staying home and watching football.

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Well, I should have Googled right off to see about Mr. Putnam, from my previous post [read that one first]. There he was in a scanned-in copy of The History of Lowell and Its People by Frederick W. Coburn, volume III (Lewis Historical Publishing Company: New York, 1920). Accompanying his biography, there’s a full-page photo of him in business attire with a white handlebar mustache and a cigar in his hand.

“Frank P. Putnam was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, November 15, 1848, and has ever resided in his native city and added to her mercantile greatness. He attended the public schools of the city, but at the age of fifteen years left high school to go into his father’s store, business life greatly attracting him from boyhood. This was in 1863, or 1864, the clothing store of Addison Putnam [the oldest of Lowell's men's clothing and furnishing stores] then being located at the corner of Market and Central streets. He rapidly absorbed the principles upon which the business was conducted … and upon arriving at legal age [became his father's] partner, the firm trading as Putnam & Son. [He later became president of Putnam & Son Company at 166-168 Central Street.]

“Addison Putnam was a member of the Board of Aldermen for a time, but Frank P. has accepted no political office, but served the city for twenty-one years as a trustee of the Public Library. He is a director of the Appleton National Bank; trustee and vice-president of the Lowell Five Cents Savings Bank; director of the Traders’ and Mechanics’ Insurance Company of Lowell; and is a member of the Board of Trade. He is a thoroughly public-minded citizen, one who can be relied upon to aid in any movement promising better things for Lowell or the country-at-large. He is a Republican in politics.

“In the not always peaceful arts of trade he has won eminence, and in his native city of Lowell is well known and highly esteemed as merchant and citizen. There are few men, who, if fortune had been kind to them in a financial way, but would develop some special interest which often amounts to a passion, sometimes a hobby. Mr. Putnam is not an exception, his passion being the cultivation of flowers, carnations, and single chrysanthemums being his speciality. [Editor's note: I know what some of you are thinking about the growing after reading the earlier post.] Many are the prizes and first premiums which adorn his home, where four large greenhouses are stocked with the specimens and varieties which most appeal to the owner’s tastes.

“Mr. Putnam married, in Lowell, November 1, 1898 [at the age of 50], Sarah Barry. The family residence is at North Tewksbury, where the greenhouses are Mr. Putnam’s especial pleasure, and a generous hospitality is extended.”

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Nothing like a snowstorm to get you looking into the cellar, attic, and back closets during a house-bound morning. My family lives in an 1860’s house in the South Common Historic District. The house has been in the family since the 1930’s. Occupants in the first 70 or so years left a few things through the decades. One curiosity is a shelf of books from the 1800’s — random titles from the various personal libraries that got passed down as the house changed hands. That’s my guess, unless the last occupant collected the mixed bag of books. My wife says the books have always been in the house. I’m interested in Lowell’s cultural history and intellectual history. The books people read are a window into the mind of a community. The titles are anecdotal evidence of people’s interests and the conversations of the times.  Poking through the books again this morning, I was struck by some coincidental dates, which spurred me to write about them.

There’s a beautiful, four-inch thick copy of Byron’s Complete Works, Illustrated (Phillips, Sampson and Company: Boston, 1854) signed: “Mrs. Sarah E. M. Goodrich, January 1st, 1855.” This volume contains “unabridged, line for line, word for word, the complete works of Lord Byron” in 1,071 gilt-edged pages, including “his suppressed poems and a sketch of his life.” We have a two-volume set of The Ingoldsby Legends; or, Mirth and Marvels by Thomas Ingoldsby, Esq. (The Rev. Richard Harris Barham), published by W. J. Widdleton of New York in 1866. These are illustrated stories in verse about French musketeers, knights and ladies, the Merchant of Venice, smugglers and buccaneers, jackdaws, witches, milkmaids and nurses, ghosts, and more. What caught my eye today is the inscription on the title page: “F. P. Putnam, Lowell, Dec. 31, 1867″ — signed 141 years ago to this day. Sometimes History jumps right into your hand.

This is the same Mr. Putnam who inscribed another book “Frank P. Putnam, Christmas 1872, from Eliza.” Frank received as a gift Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and Old Places by Frederick William Fairholt, F.S.A., published by Virtue and Co. of London in 1871. A book written in French that seems to go with this one is L’Age du Bronze: Instruments, Armes, et Ornaments par John Evans D. C. L., L. L. D., published by Librarie Germer Bailliere et cie. of Paris in 1882. There’s also The Monumental History of Egypt As Recorded on the Ruins of Her Temples, Palaces, and Tombs by William Osburn, R. S. L. (London: Trubner and Co., 1854). In the style of the time, several of these volumes have marbled or feather-design end papers in rich greens, blues, reds, and gold.

Mr. P. had other interests also, because his name shows up on an unusual book, The Hasheesh Eater: Being Passages from the Life of a Pythagorean. In the vein of tales from the East, this mysterious author recounts the secret to the “Eastern narrative” and mind. His focus is on “Cannabis Indica,” the resin of which is hasheesh. He writes: “From time immemorial it has been known among all the nations of the East as possessing a powerful stimulant and narcotic properties ….” This is a book from Harper & Brothers of New York published in 1857. The explorer proceeds with his narrative through stages of curiosity, ecstasy, pain, and torture to, finally, “abandonment of the indulgence.” Sounds a little like a 19th-century version of the 1936 film classic, Reefer Madness. In an Appendix, J.W. Palmer, M.D., citing medical journal articles and experiments in India, makes a case for medical use of the herb, all of which is oddly timely given the new law in Massachusetts regarding use of the herb. Mr. Putnam seems ripe for some local research. I’ll post a follow-up when I have more information.

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Art Solomon, the current owner of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Class AA) and the Bowling Green (Kentucky) Hot Rods, has submitted a bid to take over the management of LeLacheur Park and the Lowell Spinners.  Because of this Manchester, NH connection, the Union Leader writes about this development in today’s paper.

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Soon to be former Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich is either a political genius or an idiot. I’m leaning toward idiot.
Yesterday’s appointment of Roland Burris started a firestorm of controversy that will surely not end without an interpretation of our constitution. Last night I watched Roland Burris on one of those talking head shows.
The former Attorney General’s position is simple… he has done nothing wrong; the law in Illinois says the governor of the state will appoint a person to fill a vacancy in the senate. And he was appointed by the governor who serves legally, at this time.
You can’t argue with that.
Most people, including president elect Barack Obama, think Roland Burris is highly qualified…so the question becomes how can his appointment be rejected?
Yes I know, the US senate has the right to refuse to seat a person. And they might…
This is from a joint statement by the Democratic leaders in Congress…

This is not about Mr. Burris; it is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. [Rod] Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois.

Wrong! It is about Roland Burris, and Blagojevich, the genius/idiot made it about Burris.
I ask, why can’t Burris “be an effective representative of the people of Illinois”?
Yes, I’ve read the pertinent section…“Each House shall be judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members”…
but in 1969 the US Supreme Court ruled that the Senate’s right to refuse a member was conditional. In essences the court said the Senate and House cannot refuse to seat new members who meet all the qualification for office (Chicago Tribune). Well, according to the constitution the qualification for US Senate are simple…a person must be 30 years old or older, have lived n the US for 9 years and be an inhabitant of the state. Burris meets all of these qualifications.
Blagojevich? Genius or idiot?
OK, so lets say that the Senate does refuse to seat this “qualified individual”. Do you think Burris is going to just accept his rejection? I heard him last night. Trust me…he is going to fight for this position. A fight that most likely will go to the US Supreme Court.
And while that fight is going on who represents the people of Illinois in the US Senate?
Blagojevich genius or Idiot? Obviously an idiot!

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The following was originally posted by Tony on the LowellDeeds blog:

A recent study by PEW (the Research Center for the People & the Press) has proven what many of us have suspected for a long time. The Internet is now more popular than newspapers as a source of news. This is especially true with 19-29 year olds. PEW surveyed 1500 participants from December 3, 2008 to December 7, 2008. Those surveyed were asked to list their main source or sources of news. The results showed 40% of the participants said they got most of their news from the Internet. This is an increase of 16% from a similar survey conducted only one year ago, when 24% said they primarily used the Internet for information. Conversely, only 35% of the survey participants cited newspapers as their main news source. Surprising, to me anyway, television tops all other media outlets achieving a 70% rating. Some experts speculate that the rise of the Internet at the expense of the newspaper was predictable. As newspapers lose advertising revenue they are cutting staff. This means they can no longer cover many specialized areas such as science or law. This lack of coverage has driven news hounds with special interests to the Internet for information.

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Its Caroline Kennedy, I know. She’s the darling of the Kennedy family, I know… Jack & Jackie’s kid, John John’s sister….I know, I know, I know….but

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