In 1982, Dems, Republicans Joined to Elect Chair of Putnam County Legislature

About 31 years ago, local folks were reading about area blood drives, a $1,591,180 tax bill for the schools and officials' pursuit to identify a man found dead at the foot of an embankment off Interstate 84. 

The arrest of a Brewster man after he allegedly pulled a knife and tried to attack a woman was big news, too.

Those stories, and several more, made the front page of the Jan. 14, 1982 edition of the Brewster Standard, available online via the Brewster Public Library. The paper existed from 1869 to 1982, and covered the Brewster-Southeast area, as well as Danbury (CT), Pawling, Peekskill, Poughkeepsie, White Plains and Yonkers.

Other big news in that issue included a story on a new Brewster doctor who planned to make house calls; a piece of BOCES course offerings and more.

Here is a snippet of what appears to be a letter to the editor, entitled "Hike Drinking Age," on Page 4:

"We received an anonymous note, suggesting 'If we really care, we should start a crusade to raise the legal drinking age in New York to help stop the weekly massacres on Putnam roads.'"

Click here for Page 1 (which features the stories referenced above), here for Page 2, here for Page 3, here for Page 4 and here for Page 5.

Do you have a memory of an event (or news report) that took place in Brewster years ago on this day? If so, please tell us in the comment section below.