USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > Town annual report of Middleborough, Massachusetts 1946 > Part 5
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > Town annual report of Middleborough, Massachusetts 1946 > Part 5
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Respectfully submitted,
LOUIS H. FORNEY, Tree Warden.
REPORT OF THE WIRE INSPECTOR
Board of Selectmen, Middleboro, Mass.
Gentlemen :
I hereby submit to you my report as Inspector of Wires for the year ending December 31, 1942.
Number of miles traveled-1,286.
Number of inspections-356. Number of reinspections-22.
Respectfully submitted,
EMILIO N. NIRO,
Wire Inspector.
61
REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF POLICE
To the Honorable Board of Selectmen:
Gentlemen :
I herewith submit the thirty-fourth annual report and detailed state- ment of duties performed by the Police Department of the Town of Middle- borough for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1942.
I would recommend that a new cruiser be purchased for the depart- ment, as the present cruiser is over three years old, and is fast coming to need a lot of repairs.
POLICE DEPARTMENT
Chief of Police Alden C. Sisson
Sergeant Charles H. Rogers
Patrolmen
William W. Briggs William E. Gardiner
William C. Elliott Thomas L. Pittsley
Clerk Chester H. Rice
Custodian
John A. Washburn
Police
Chester H. Rice
John A. Washburn
Arthur B. Shaw
Reserve Officers
Lawrence R. Huntley Raymond J. Moffett
Edward McQuiggan Alden C. Perry
Special Officers
Paul F. Anderson
William J. McBane
George A. Barney
James J. McDonald
Alfred M. Butler
Patrick J. McMahon
William O. Casey
John Rebell
Arthur B. Caswell
Roy W. Pendleton
Chessman E. Coombs
Ralph Sampson
Francis H. Crowley Joseph Dutra Nelson R. Greer
Albert T. Westgate
Robert West
Clarence H. Hayward Harry W. Hull
James Vigers
Harold Jackson
Ralph E. Nourse
Richmond C. Matthews Leroy E. Mawhinney
John J. Sullivan
William Watson
Edgar Blais
62
Report of Accidents Investigated by the Middleborough Police Department
RESULTS
Number killed
2
Passenger cars
80
Trucks
3
Bicycles
0
PEDESTRIANS INJURED
Adults
7
Children
5
CAUSES
Drunken driving
2
Speed 27
Miscellaneous
8
ACCIDENTS BY MONTHS
January
8
February
4
March
2
April
8
May
5
June
3
July
5
August
9
September
4
October
6
November
5
December
6 Out of state
5
Offences
Males
Females
Total
Assault and battery
9
0
9
Breaking and entering in night time to com- mit larceny
6
0
6
Breaking and entering in the daytime to com- mit larceny
7
0
7
Capias
10
0
10
Drunkenness
120
2
122
Insane
4
4
8
Larceny
5
0
5
Lodgers
71
0
71
Motor vehicle violations
58
0
58
Non-support
2
0
2
Operating under the influence
28
0
28
Lewdness
1
1
2
Fornication
11
0
11
Operating to endanger
33
0
33
HAZARD
Straight going
42
Intersections 18
Curves
5
DISTRICT
Business section 13
Residential 27
Country
26
WEATHER CONDITIONS
Clear 38
Cloudy
12
Rain and snow 10
Fog and mist
5
CONDITION OF ROADS
Dry
30
Wet
21
Snow
7
Ice
8
DRIVERS
Foreign
38
Number injured 64
Property damage
48
VEHICLES INVOLVED
63
Destruction of property
1
0
1
Disturbing the peace
6
0
6
Neglect of children
1
0
1
Assault to rob
1
0
1
Illegitimate child act
3
0
3
Destruction of gravestones
1
0
1
Cruelty to animals
1
0
1
Liquor violations
1
0
1
Assault on police officer.
1
0
1
Gaming on Lord's Day
11
0
11
Gaming implements
2
0
2
Dangerous weapons
2
0
2
Fugitive from justice
2
0
2
Fish and Game violations.
2
0
2
Statistical Report of Police Department
Arrests for out-of-town officers.
2
Amount of fines imposed in Middleboro Court
$2,655.00
Buildings found open
158
Cases investigated
650
Disturbances quelled without arrest
22
Defective street lights reported
44
Number of arrests during the year.
407
Males
385
Females
6
Minors
16
Non-residents
202
Local residents
205
Nuisances
12
Summonses served
100
Street obstructions removed
8
Sales of second-hand automobiles reported
1,458
Value of stolen property recovered and restored.
$3,500.00
Warning tags on autos
250
Light tags
50
Defective streets
10
Conclusion
The patrol car has covered 18,354 miles during the past year.
All of the local factories are covered each night.
The ambulance has covered 297 miles in the past year, having 16 calls to accidents and eight calls for patrol and two welfare cases.
Persons taken to the hospital, 20.
We have had but two bad accidents during the past year: two fatals and only 64 people injured.
64
We have a well-organized auxiliary police force of 44 men. They have had meetings twice a month, with a good attendance at each meeting.
I wish to thank the Superintendent of Schools for the system he has installed for the education of the children in regard to traffic.
I wish to thank the operators of the local telephone exchange for the good services given the department, which has been of great assistance in our work.
I wish to express my thanks and appreciation for the assistance and cooperation given me by the honorable Board of Selectmen, the Fourth District Court, the people of Middleborough, and the officers of the Police Department, who have helped o make the administration of this department a success.
Respectfully submitted,
ALDEN C. SISSON, Chief of Police.
65
ANNUAL REPORT OF MIDDLEBORO PUBLIC LIBRARY
January 11, 1943.
To the President and Board of Trustees,
Middleborough Public Library :
This first year of World War II has affected public libraries as well as every other organization and individual in the land. As our citizens go deeper and deeper into war, they turn more and more to books; to some serious books to attempt to read reason into this war and to others for mental refreshment and relaxation. It is the aim and goal of the Middle- borough Public Library to be ever ready with the best in either category, to produce the very book which will provide information for the serious reader and worker as well as the volume which will bring rest and entertainment to the reader who wishes for the moment to be lifted out of the unpleasant present. More people than ever are availing themselves of the facilities of the reading and reference rooms and if the circulation of books is not equal to other years it is because many of our customary readers are busily engaged in war industries.
WORK WITH SCHOOLS
The schools and the library continue to work in close cooperation, with the librarian making frequent visits to various grades to acquaint the pupils with new books and to tell stories. Especially in the rural schools does she receive a royal welcome. All the schools are enthusiastically en- rolled in the State Certificate Reading plan. During the year 798 certificates representing five books read and 98 honor certificates representing twenty books read, were awarded. Honors for the most certificates went to Grade Six of School Street School. The excellent circulation of children's books is due in a large measure to this plan of State Certificate Reading.
The series of five classes of instruction in the use of the library given to Junior High School pupils was carried on in the Fall, and other groups of lower grades have visited the library on "Get Acquainted with Your Library" tours. Witnessing these tours of school children has suggested to many older patrons that they, too, would like to visit unfamiliar regions of the library. Some of them have been users of the library for years but have never seen the attractive rooms which house the Lecture Room, Trus- tees Room, the Middleborough Historical collection and the Thomas Sproat Peirce collection.
ACTIVITIES
The major activity for 1942 was in connection with the Victory Book Campaign collecting books for men in service. The response was excellent and 911 volumes were sent to the camps. More than twice that number of books was received, but in weeding them out and selecting those suitable to send to camps, many volumes were disposed of in other ways.
The library has been fortunate in having the opportunity of presenting several interesting and unusual exhibits. In a vicinity rich in Indian lore, the earth hereabout has given up some rare and valuable relics. These have been excavated and gathered together by the Middleborough Archae- ological Society, the members of which arranged an extensive exhibit in the art gallery of the library. This display of stone utensils, arrowheads, cooking pots and reconstructed skeletons drew an unusual amount of in- terest and attention.
66
In May Miss Nathalie Burnett, a local art student, arranged a display of her own work. Many complimentary comments were heard regarding Miss Burnett's ability.
Directly following this exhibition was one of posters by Middleboro High School students on the subject of Anti-Propaganda. Thirty posters were entered in the contest and judges awarded four prizes of defense stamps.
A collection of books on "The United Nations" is kept continually by the "World Map of the Week," thus bringing to attention and into circu- lation books on a vital subject which might otherwise be overlooked.
During Book Week in November in addition to the usual display of new books for adult and juvenile and of posters, through the kindness of the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Watertown, the Commission for the Blind of Massachusetts and Mrs. Ralph Creamer of Middleboro, we were able to exhibit many methods and examples of Braille printing. Of especial interest was the contrast between the one volume of "Captain Paul" as we read it and the seven huge volumes required for the same book printed in Braille.
One exhibit of books was held away from the library in connection with the American Home Day meeting of the Cabot Club. A group of books on interior decorating, gardening, cooking and other phases of home- keeping was displayed at the meeting in the Unitarian Church.
A bulletin board has been maintained to keep patrons informed on the activities of the Women's Volunteer Defense Service.
THE STAFF
The personnel of the staff has remained unchanged during the year. with Miss Bassett, a part time worker, serving much extra time as a result of Miss Pratt's incapacity because of a serious accident in March.
A member of the commercial department of the High School joined the staff in June for a few weeks of practice work, Miss Mary Mackiewicz being the student assigned to the library. Miss Eleanor Southwick, who contemplates making library work her profession, worked with us during the summer to gain experience in the work.
The South Middleboro Branch has been competently cared for by volunteer workers of the vicinity. Miss Lucy Braley, Miss Helen Graham and Mrs. Joseph Phillips have given most generously of their time. Miss Corinne Cahoon at present is the librarian in charge. Due to dimout regulations and to save fuel and light, the branch will be closed beginning January sixth at six o'clock, the hours of opening to be from two to six o'clock each Wednesday afternoon.
On the Saturdays following Christmas and New Year, at the request of the Governor, the main library remained closed to conserve fuel.
One of the most generous gifts the library received was from Mr. Clifton W. Tillson, brother of a former Trustee, who presented to the library many volumes from the private library of Mr. Leonard O. Tillson. In addition gifts of books and magazines have been received from the fol- lowing:
67
Miss Jane Bennett
Miss Nellie M. Bennett
Miss Chrystal M. Chase
Mrs. George H. Higgins Mrs. J. Douglas Johnston
Mrs. Nellie Maxim
Mrs. Rufus H. Richmond
Mr. Harold S. Thomas
Mrs. John G. Tinkham
Mr. William C. Waugh
The Ladies' Sodality of the Sacred Heart Church
The Middleborough Garden Club
The Middleborough Kiwanis Club The Central Methodist Church
The Cabot Club
The Simeon L. Nickerson Post No. 64, American Legion
To the above and the many others who have contributed much toward the well-being of the library and effectiveness of the year's work, sincere thanks are due. To the staff and Board of Trustees whose efforts and cooperation have made possible whatever goals have been achieved and progress made, my sincere appreciation.
Respectfully submitted, MERTIE E. WITBECK,
Librarian.
Middleboro Public Library Statistics
Circulation of books
Central library
Fiction
42,575
Philosophy
185
Religion
125
Sociology
786
Languages
90
Sciences 4
352
Useful Arts
1,234
Fine Arts
929
Literature
992
History
1,225
Travel
1,164
Biography
1,471
Magazines
5,898
Foreign books
102
Rental books
1,667
58,795
68
Juvenile circulation Fiction Non-fiction
10,896
8,159
19,055
Branches and Deposits
South Middleboro Branch
2,000
Montgomery Home
100
Bates School
210
School Street School
1,298
Pleasant Street School
349
Plymouth Street School
251
Waterville School
224
4,432
Total circulation 1942
82,282
Total circulation 1941
84,863
Decrease in circulation 1942
2,581
Number of volumes owned January 1, 1942
38,642
Number of volumes added by purchase
1,028
Number of volumes added by gift
240
Number of volumes added by binding magazines
23
Number of volumes transferred from rental collection
70
Total number of volumes added 1942
1,361
40,003
Number of volumes lost and discarded
705
Number of volumes owned December 31, 1942
39,298
Number of magazines currently received
98
Number of newspapers currently received
12
Number of borrowers January 1, 1942
4,021
Borrowers' cards issued 1942
Adults 212
Juvenile
190
Number of cards issued 1942
402
Number of borrowers re-registered
30
432
Total number of borrowers December 31, 1942
4,453
69
Report of the Treasurer for the Year 1942
Peirce Fund Receipts
Balance January 1, 1942
96.59
Received from Peirce Trustees
1,914.45
Houghton Mifflin Co. Overpayment
3.65 2,014.69
Peirce Fund Payments
Books, Periodicals and Newspapers
2,002.50
Balance December 31, 1942
12.19
2,014.69
Special Fund Receipts
Books Sales
243.40
Rental Books
167.02
Interest Harriet C. Beals Fund
20.00
Interest Harriet O. Peirce Fund
10.00
Interest Copeland Fund
55.00
Interest Enoch Pratt Fund
313.36
Balance January 1, 1942
217.45
1,026.23
Special Fund Payments
Old Colony Library Association
2.00
Books
243.40
Binding
187.98
Middleboro Trust Co.
4.80
Supplies
13.30
Librarian of Congress
19.44
Pratt Fund Payments
20.85
Balance December 31, 1942
534.46
1,026.23
Respectfully submitted,
THOMAS H. KELLY,
Treasurer.
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
SCHOOL COMMITTEE (
OF
MIDDLEBORO, MASS.
LEE
C
RO
YOUTH
COUNTY
TY, MASS
M.
PLYM
RINCORPORATED
AD. 1669
For the Year Ending December 31 1942
72
Organization, 1942 SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Members
Term Expires
Fred B. Alger, 5 Court End Avenue
1945
Lorenzo Wood, Plymouth Street
1945
Priscilla S. Alger, 10 Southwick Street
1943
Virginia C. Smith, 43 Oak Street
1943
L. Francis Callan, 10 Clifford Street 1944
Forest E. Thomas, 59 Everett Street
1944
Superintendent of Schools
J. Stearns Cushing, 91 Bourne Street Office, Room 7, Town Hall Telephone 81 Office Hours, School Days, Monday, Wednesday, Friday 3:30-5:00 P. M. Tuesday, Thursday 8:00-9:30 A. M.
School Physician
Dr. A. Vincent Smith, 36 Pearl Street Telephone 50
School Nurse
Helen B. Pasztor, R. N., 132 North Main Street Telephone 81
Supervisor of Attendance
Thomas E. Hirst, Pleasant Street Telephone 169-W-5
Census Enumerator
Albert C. Libbey, 7a West Street
Regular meetings of the School Committee are held in Room 7, Town Hall, on the first Thursday of each month excepting July and August, at 7:30 P. M.
73
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
To the Members of the Middleboro School Committee:
I hereby present the annual report of the schools of the Town of Middleboro and my sixteenth as superintendent of those schools. Depart- mental reports have been prepared and submitted to me, the complete re- ports bound, and filed in the departmental office. This report deals only with those details of our school system which should be of public interest and concern.
There are some things which the American people must give up to make our war effort more effective. There are other things which we must retain and strengthen if our war sacrifices are to be justified. We must retain and strengthen our public school program. To fail here will cost us bitterly in terms of juvenile delinquency now and in the defeat of our high hopes for tomorrow.
Eighteen hundred world citizens of the decade beginning in 1950 are being prepared in our local schools now for the world that is being shaped with so much "toil and blood and tears." How futile our every war effort if these citizens of tomorrow are not fitted for their places.
We need to be as efficient in our regular program as we are in emergency programs. We need to teach arithmetic as efficiently as we gather scrap. We need to promote an understanding of physical science with as much con- tagious enthusiasm as that with which we pass out rationing cards.
Our local schools have done a marvelously fine job in adapting our regular services to war needs. The many projects successfully carried through have attested the patriotism, the adaptability, and the efficiency of our teachers and principals. They have and should receive commenda- tion and praise from our citizens.
From Defense to Offense
Our first step in this world struggle was to prepare our schools and school children against the possible air-invader. Shelters were established, air raid drills held frequently, and control materials secured and placed at various vantage points in our buildings. This was a program of Defense and is now operating efficiently.
With the recent offensive tactics of the Allied forces and the lowering of the Selective Service age to include the 18-19 year old boys, came the appeal for immediate adoption of programs of Offense.
Pre-Induction Training Courses have been prepared by the United States office of Education and the War Department designed to help our boys in this specialized army. High School Victory Corps units are being formed all over the country; Physical Fitness Programs for both boys and girls have been greatly expanded and physical conditioning for services in the armed forces is the primary goal.
On August 28, 1942, Lieutenant General Brehon B. Somervell ad- dressed a large audience of school and college officials. They had come to Washington from every State in the Union to find out what the schools could do to help win the war.
74
"The job of the schools in this total war," he said, "is to educate the Nation's manpower for war and for the peace that follows. We can lose this total war on the battlefront as a direct result of losing it on the educational front. Education is the backbone of an army. This was never more true than it is today - now.
"Our Army today is an army of specialists. Out of every 100 men inducted into the service, 63 are assigned to duties requiring specialized training. We aren't getting those 63 specialists through the induction centers. Modern warfare dictates that we must have them.
"Yes, we must have these specialists - these men who know the fundamentals of electricity, who know automotives mechanics, who can operate radios or dismantle carburetors. Without them, your Army would be an incongruous mass, incapable of attaining any objective.
Enumerating with facts and figures the actual and specific shortages in trained manpower, General Somervell went on to say:
"The supply of trained manpower is dwindling by the day. What has your Army done to meet and to overcome this situation? It was a simple matter when your Army was small. When we needed special- ists, we trained them in Army schools, with Army instructors. There was no premium on instructors. Facilities were ample. When we started to expand your Army through Selective Service, we had to expand these facilities. With the expansion and the adaptation of your army to modern mechanized warfare, the need for men with basic specialized training increased.
"After Pearl Harbor, we contracted for and secured facilities outside the Army, still using Army instructors. This was not enough. We inducted men who had no basic specialist training but who, through aptitude tests, showed that they could be developed into specialists. We sent them to civilian schools where they were taught by civilian instructors. Even this is not enough. It is not enough because your Army is expanding at a rapid rate. It's not enough because, despite all we've done, shortages are mounting day by day; and it's not enough because we're in a hurry today as never before in our Nation's history.
"Our job is to teach men to fight. We cannot lost sight of this. We cannot long continue to take the time and facilities needed for this job and use them on a job which could have been done before the in- duction of men into the Army.
"This is your job in this total war. It is the job of the schools and colleges of America to provide the opportunity for every youth to equip himself for a place in winning the war. You must do this, regardless of cost, time, inconvenience, the temporary sidetracking of non-war objectives, or even the temporary scrapping of peace-time courses.
"There must be an all-out effort on the education front. Let us be realistic. Every able-bodied boy is destined at the appointed age for the armed services. The tempo of war is such that a complex college education is impossible. Those able to go to college must devote this time to training for the specialized work which the services demand. Those who do not or cannot go to college must begin now, whether they're in school or out of school, to prepare themselves for the tasks which are for them inevitable and unavoidable."
Many of these Pre-Induction Courses cannot be introduced in all secondary schools due to lack of equipment and teachers properly trained
75
in the subjects to be taught. Locally we have started our course in Aero- nautics which includes the fundamentals and principles of flying together with additional Physics and Mathematics. Locally we have also started our Physical Fitness Program and the required time allotments given to our boys. Our present handicap of the lack of apparatus for proper train- ing in this work will soon be overcome through the purchase of suitable equipment. Short courses in the Fundamentals of Machines, Fundamentals of Radio, Fundamentals of Electricity, and Morse Code will be introduced as soon as possible.
The content of our Art courses is changing to map reading, blue print reading, camouflage, and model plane construction.
The content of our Music course has already been fitted into the Schools At War program and the stirring songs of our armed forces have, especially in the higher schools, temporarily displaced the inspirational works of the Masters of Music.
Elementary Grades
As anticipated, the enrollment in our elementary schools remains about the same as last year. In Union Street School the third first grade class has been continued and an overflow group seated in the principal's office. In order to somewhat relieve the principals of Union Street and School Street schools for supervision and building administration a teacher has been appointed who divides her time between the classrooms of these principals.
The content of the curriculum of these grades has not been materially changed and outside of the interruptions for registration and rationing pur- poses the school life of our little tots has been as near normal as possible.
There is, of course, an atmosphere of unrest and worry in many of the homes and its influence is bound to be reflected in the mental and physical life of these children. In many homes both parents have entered in occu- pations of war effort and leave home at early hours to return late in the day. Such loyalty is, of course, creditable and deserves our highest praise. Consequently many children from these homes are sent to schools early with prepared lunches and our schools have not the facilities to care for nor the personnel to properly supervise these large groups. Wherever it is possible, parents are urged to make arrangements with relatives, neighbors, or friends to allow the children to come to their homes with their lunches. With the large number of regularly transported children who must neces- sarily eat at the schools augmented by others the problem assumes serious proportions. Our teachers ask cooperation in its solution.
At the time this is written, a serious fuel problem affronts the Com- mittee in the new Union Street building. The oil heater cannot be con- verted according to our heating engineer and although we are now trying to operate on a five thousand gallon reduction the chance of obtaining suffi- cient oil for the building is problematical. It is possible it may become necessary to close this building during a part of the winter season. All other central buildings have coal-fired heaters and, with the exception of the West Side School where a new heater should be installed as soon as possible, should be comfortable.
The Bates School
This school, housing all of our seventh and eighth grade pupils, con- tinues under the most able leadership to be a model of efficient educational practices.
76
Some physical improvements have been made in the building during the past year. An electric master program clock with its classroom buzzers and outside gongs has eliminated the old inefficient hand operated bell system and the usually inaccurate classroom clocks. A wooden floor has been installed in the shop as a protection both to the health of the pupils and the condition of the hand tools. One classroom, first-aid room, and principal's office have been redecorated.
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