Recent contributions of $1,442.25 to the Athol Santa Fund boosted the fund drive past its $11,000 goal.
■Riverbend School recently began its Peer Mediation program. Seventeen fifth- and sixth-grade students received 20 hours of training over four weeks under the auspices of the Franklin Mediation Service in Greenfield. Peer mediation seeks to have students learn to solve problems peacefully by talking them out with one another and working towards achieving win-win resolutions in which neither party loses and both parties meet their needs. The program will not supplant the school’s current discipline program but will be an adjunct to it. It is seen as an addition to the school’s and the students’ repertoire of problem-solving skills.
■Sanders Street School second-graders visited Yankee Candle Company in South Deerfield recently.
■Athol Department of Public Works Superintendent Paul Hadsel said his department has spent about $70,000 from the $100,000 snow and ice account leaving $30,000 for the remainder of the winter.
■Orange Highway Superintendent Elwin Deveneau said about two-thirds of the snow and ice budget has been used, or about $42,000 of the estimated $66,000 budget. If the rest of the winter is normal, Deveneau said he might be able to get through without tapping other funds, “but it would be close.”
■The Orange American Legion recently made a $500 donation to the Orange Business Association to help with the costs of the new Christmas lighting in downtown Orange and Veteran’s Park.
■Mahar Seniors Marjorie Patnode and Jocelyn Songer received their monetary awards as winners of the VFW’s National Voice of Democracy Audio Essay Competition. Miss Patnode, the winner, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Patnode of Orange and Jocelyn, second, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Songer of Orange.
■Steps will be taken to raze historic Memorial Hall in Orange. Voters ended the lengthy debate over whether the building, erected in 1892, is worth saving by approving funds for demolition earlier this month. Two days after the vote building inspector Richard Reynolds notified town officials the building must be made safe within 30 days or it will come down. Selectwoman Jane Peirce said town counsel Donna MacNicol warned the town has no protection from liability if someone is injured because of the building. The east wall is bulging, bricks are loose and there were reports of slates falling from the roof onto Prospect Street.
The Christmas Spirit is spreading throughout Athol Memorial Hospital, as employees and patients prepare for the arrival of that joyous day. Preparations began with the arrival of Advent, when, for the second year in a row, employees erected an Advent wreath on the lawn of the hospital. Inside the hospital, every department has created a cheerful Christmas atmosphere for patients. They are especially concerned with the children and are trying to make their visit to the hospital as enjoyable as they possibly can.
■Feeling the “true spirit of Christmas has been lost in a commercial shuffle,” an anonymous Athol benefactress requested from the department of public health the name of a family who could not provide for their family at Christmas time. She was given the name of a family of eight, five little girls, a baby boy and their parents. During the past weeks she has sewed for the family, tailoring pants dresses for the little girls, a pants suit for the mother, overalls for the baby and two handcrafted neckties for the father were added to the Christmas package.
■Work on the sewage treatment plant and the Lake Ellis Housing Project for the Elderly was at a standstill because of labor disputes.
■Santa was heard breathing a deep sigh of relief followed by a resounding “Ho, Ho, Ho, Ha, Ha, Ha” in Orange as the Orange Santa Fund made the announcement that the fund had topped its goal of $300. A total of $236.33 was given by Mahar Regional School students. Gifts will be delivered with Orange firemen assisting Santa on his rounds.
■In spite of the heavy snow, the Mahar Regional High School auditorium was filled to capacity to hear the annual Christmas program by the music department under the direction of Robert Ellison and view an original play, “The Clumsy Elf,” the work of Jay Kendall’s English class. A movie of the half-time show, taken at Harvard Stadium during the Patriots game was shown.
■The Greenfield Community College Foundation, Inc. has found its Christmas stocking bulging with a gift worth nearly a half million dollars. The gift is the Erving plant of the Millers Falls Company, party of the worldwide Ingersol Rand. Papers were signed transferring ownership of the now unused plant to the college support group.
Christmas carols were broadcast on Christmas Eve from records at the YMCA Christmas tree.
■The First Church Unitarian received a large donation of canned milk and other food and this will be sent within a day or two by Rev. Truman L. Hayes to headquarters for overseas needy children. Hayes also has received some cash contributions with which to purchase other canned articles.
■With Eastern United States voted the United Nations Organization site and the possibility that the final choice will probably be either in the New York or Boston areas and in answer to the plea of Great Britain last week that “a small town in the east of the U.S.” be chosen as the permanent home of the UNO, the Town of Orange has put in a bid to be given consideration as a possible location. A telegram that was sent to the United Nations Preparatory Commission in London by the Orange Board of Selectmen, said in part, “Orange has the finest civilian airport in the East with three runways, each 5,000 feet long, fully paved and drained, surface able to withstand the largest planes. Orange and the surrounding communities have populations that are congenial, educated and free of racial prejudice and discrimination. Available land stretches for three and one-half miles from the airport to the newly constructed Quabbin Reservoir with its unlimited supply of fresh water and 200 square miles of uninhabited and protected watershed. Orange is a town of 5,000 inhabitants, 80 miles west of Boston and 180 miles from New York City.” Rev. Thomas T. Johnston, pastor of the Orange Methodist Church, is greatly interested in the possibilities of the situation and commends every effort which is being made to make known the merits of Orange. He says, “I feel that Orange is an ideal answer to just what seems to be wanted by those who have the location of the headquarters of the United Nations Organization at hand.”
■Fraternity Hall in Baldwinville, used by the town of Templeton as a place for town meetings and public gatherings, was completely destroyed by fire on Christmas Eve morning. The entire fire apparatus of the town of Templeton responded and help was also summoned from Gardner. The augmented forces prevented the fire from spreading to the Narragansett Hotel next door as well as other buildings nearby. The Community Barber Shop, owned by George Marys, was also destroyed.