A motion that would allow voters to decide whether to enact a 24-hour leash law failed before the town council after it was proposed by Councilwoman Sandra Brasil, The Jamestown Press reported Aug. 30, 1990. The motion to put a referendum on November’s ballot was deadlocked at 2-2. The potential tiebreaker, Vice President Charlotte Richardson, was absent. “I have never seen a town split like this down the middle,” said Victor Calabretta, council president.
According to shipyard owner Charles Wharton, the land for the fort was appropriated by the federal government shortly after the Spanish-American War. Half of the land had been owned by his two grandfathers, Charles Wharton and Benjamin Shoemaker. It was after Wharton’s paternal grandfather was forced to move from Fort Wetherill that he built Clingstone, the house on the Dumpling island. Deed records indicate the federal government acquired the land in 1904.
100 years ago — Aug. 26, 1922 (Newport Mercury) As a demonstration of the time that could be saved on the trip from New York to Newport via Wickford, a sea sled made the run from North Kingstown to Newport in 19 minutes, thus cutting down the present schedule by the steamer General to a very small fraction.
75 years ago — Aug. 29, 1947 (The Newport Mercury and Weekly News) A pumping station at Mackerel Cove to carry sewage into Narragansett Bay has been recommended by Henry Armbrust, president of the town council. The depth of the water and oxygen-carrying properties would dissipate the pollution, he said, and this step would make the beach ready for bathing next summer.
50 years ago — Aug. 25, 1972 (Newport Mercury) Rhode Island formally has assumed ownership from the federal government of 51 acres overlooking the bay at Fort Wetherill. The state Department of Natural Resources hopes to install parking and recreational facilities in the proposed state park in the spring. The transfer of the undeveloped property was made final during a ceremony in Jamestown. The land is valued at $500,000. Russell Train, chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality, praised President Richard Nixon’s Legacy of Parks program, under which the state assumed title of the surplus land. “It’s a very small investment,” he said, “and it represents a real value to the local community.”
25 years ago — Aug. 28, 1997 (The Jamestown Press) The town council gave unanimous approval to a request to turn Fort Wetherill into a movie set for “Rum Runner,” a Prohibition-era film about a shootout in the channel between Newport and Jamestown. According to Miami screenwriter Paul Madden, the boat basin at Fort Wetherill will be turned into a circa 1929 fishing village with a speakeasy. The movie will depict the conflict between the U.S. Coast Guard and smugglers onboard the rumrunner Black Duck.
10 years ago — Aug. 30, 2012 (The Jamestown Press) School began a day late after a labor strike halted the first day of classes for North Kingstown public schools when union representatives failed to reach an agreement. The strike affected 188 Jamestown teens who are enrolled at North Kingstown High School. The striking union was the North Kingstown Educational Support Professional Association, a coalition representing the district’s maintenance, custodial and transportation workers. The strike stems from the school board’s decision to lay off 26 custodial positions in June. The jobs were outsourced to a private company, a move that cut pay and benefits. After the school board said it would not reverse its decision to privatize custodial jobs, the district’s superintendent filed an injunction in Rhode Island Superior Court. After meeting with Judge Brian Stern, union members and teachers agreed to return to school. Lawyers say the two sides have reached an agreement.
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