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This Week in Rockland: Newspaper Excerpts: Flashback Friday: Week of December 8

December 7, 1873 – 150 YEARS AGO
Rockland County Journal

AROUND HOME
[Image: Greeting card featuring image of Grassy Point by Robert Burghardt. HSRC permanent collection.]
   ☞ A large number of invitations were sent out for the reception given by Mr. and Mr. Dinan, on Tuesday evening, at Grassy Point. Notwithstanding the storm, the occasion was a joyous one, and Tommy Dinan was just as happy as a man could be. Who wouldn’t have been?
   ☞ How much better it would be for those young men who lounge around grocery stores, billiard rooms, if they would take a broom and keep the street crossings clean. There’s money in it, and besides they could stare at the ladies without the inconvenience of rushing to the windows.
   ☞ A disgraceful free fight occurred last Sunday afternoon in a small house on Hardscrabble Street, at South Nyack, both men and women being engaged in it. It is shameful that such brutes are allowed to live within the limits of civilization to disturb the quiet of the Sabbath with their drunken brawls.

December 7, 1923 – 100 YEARS AGO
Nyack Evening Journal

CARAVAN OF FORTY AUTOS EN ROUTE TO FLORIDA FOR WINTER PASS THRU NYACK — Accompanied by State Trooper Boston Motorists Expect to Make Trip to St. Petersburg in Thirteen Days Camping on the Way
       A caravan of forty automobiles traveling from Boston to St. Petersburg, Florida, passed thru Nyack yesterday. The cars, which were of all makes and all sizes, came across the river on the 3 and 8:30 p.m. boats.
       Accompanied by a State Trooper who will escort them all the way to St. Petersburg, the caravan moved on to Newark, where they were expected to spend the night. The Trooper rides in the van and makes all arrangements for the meals and lodging.
       Many of the autos carried tents and cooking utensils for camping out. All were decorated with banners which read, “Boston to St. Petersburg.”
       Members of the group said the entire company expected to spend the winter in St. Petersburg. They claimed that to go by auto was as economical as by train. They expect to make the trip in 13 days and will route over the Lincoln Highway out of Newark.

December 6, 1973 – 50 YEARS AGO
The Journal News

MAIL EARLY, POSTMASTER TELLS COUNTY
       Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays mail carriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds, but the fuel shortage will make it more of a challenge this Christmas.
       “Transportation has been curtailed and lower speed limits are causing delays in receipts of mail throughout the country,” said Suffern postmaster Thomas J. Byrne.
       Byrne is responsible for all mail processing in Rockland and parts of Orange County.
       He is asking people to mail their Christmas cards the week of December 10, one week earlier than usual.
       “We would like our Christmas peak to be spread over 10 days rather than three or four,” he said.
       The postal service is caught in a bind. Normally, extra trucks are leased during the Christmas season to accommodate the increased loads. This year, Byrne said, fewer trucks are available because the truckers have cut back.
       The lowered speed limits have caused available delivery trucks to arrive behind schedule. There are delays of up to a half hour even on short trips, according to Byrne. As a result there is less time for sorting.
       “The transportation problem is driving us crazy these days,” he said. “You try to adjust the schedule, but if you change one truck, you have to adjust straight down the line, like a railroad schedule. You can’t have a truck come in after the next one has left and still get all the mail out every day.”
       The Suffern post office is the hub of mail delivery for the county. In order to make early mailing easier, its lobby will be open every Sunday before Christmas from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Both cards and packages may be deposited then and a stamp vending machine will be available.
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