The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-14
STAKES SET
 FOR HIGHWAY
 LONG DELAYED

Reddlng, April 13-One of Highway
 Commissioner Macdonaad's staff came
 here on Tuesday to stake out the lay out for the long delayed job of con-
 structing mile section of highway
 southward from the Ridge Episcopal
 church. The commissioner plan of
 having only a small part of the new
 road underIaid with stone had aroused
 general local condemnation and pro-
 test, and this sentiment was voiced by
 First Selectman Sanford in a talk
 which he had with Mr. Macdonald's
 subordinate. The latter was without
 authority to promise any alterations
 in the details of the work as decided
 upon by the commissioner, but prom
 ised to set before him the appeal of the
 first selectman which is also that of the community The commissioner s plan contemplated the laying of stone foundation for a distance of only
 about 800 feet, starting at the church corner, a. stretch which requires such stability of construction rather less than any other part of the road. The
 rest was to be subjected to improved drainage and reshaping. In the lat
 ter process, what the specifications de-
 scribe as hardening material, is to be
 used. At the best this means only
 hard pan or clay which is utterly un-
 suitable for the purpose, as in the
 
 weather it becomes a bed of sticky l mfre. Were there available a sup ply of good gravel a fairly good job might be made with the proposed method of construction. but the de- plorable results of relying upon clay
 are already apparent from repair work done on the State highways in vari-
 ous parts of the town. MT. Sanford expressed to MT. Macdonald's repre- sentative the opinion that to recon struct the Ridge road according to the methods mapped out would result in 1 conditions worse than those now ex- fsting and these are about as bad as | they can be. The former has also written the commissioner to ascertain
 how much money for State road build | ing stands to Redding's credit from allotments already made. It had been supposed that the amount was about | SIP 600.
 Tn behalf of Sanford Osborn, the | contractor, Representative L. O. Peck ford on Tuesday regarding the Ridge road. The commissioner was peev- | ish and truculent, and at first, disre- garding ti business proposition at | issue, accused MT. Peck of being un- | friendly to him and of having talked
 about the Capitol of his deficiencies. | Instead of wilting at this dreadful &C.,
 
 l saying that he regarded Macdonald as l incompetent for the office he was fill l ing, and had freely expressed that 1 opinion. Whereupon the commission CT climbed down and changed to a placating tone. MT. Peck asked him I if Bedding was not to have the bene- | fit of the entire appropriation allotted l it, and MT. Macdonald said 1t was. l That an executive official should cur l tail or seek to curtail the full meas {, ure of such benefit seems preposter- ous, and yet the attitude of the com missioner. justified MT. Peck's inquiry. | For if the town did not command the | money to properly carry out the pro- posed improvement Macdonald had no business to approve the project. l If the money required was available 1 he had no business to order style of work unsuitable and practically worthless.
 l No suits have yet been brought by Collector Duncan against tax del1n- quents whose arrearages are for per l iods anterior to 1908 and before any are instituted the selectme will prob ably hold another special meeting to wrestle with the problem which the collector has passed on to them. The problem comes from the refusal of | many of the delinquents to pay in- terest charges. Several of them rendered the face of the tax and when the collector insisted on the interest withdrew the offer. Two meetings weeks ago to hear parties who de- sired abatements and after the re- visions then made the collector was supposed to have list of claims on which no further concessions were to be granted. Nevertheless the claim for interest abatem ents continues and these the collector has no authority to yield. The selectmen are now strongly diSinclined to make further abatements unless for especially good | reasons. The law virtually says that they shall make none except for man. | ifest errors in imposing the obligation or in cases where enforcement of col lection might result in making the debtor parties a town chal ge. In fact l the board feels that the town has
 heretofore been much too easy in the ma tier of abatements. Consequently their approaching meeting will prob | ably result in a general turning down 1 of relief applications and a renewal of orders to the collector to get busy
 with suits against the delinquents. r A Ridge resident remarked the other day that the local capacity for cooperation shown by the success of the movement for orchard renovation | might well be extended in other di- rections, explaining that what he had particularly in mind was work as-
 
 bodies. There should be. he added, such improvement groups for differ ent localities having for their pur- pose the conversion into beauty spots of bits of common which were now blots on the landscape. A plot in viting such missionary effort was the space on the Ridge where the fla g pole stood and another was the plot at the intersection of the roads a short distance west. The planting of few shrubs and flowers would cost little and effect a wonderful better
 ment in the looks of things. Cheap settees might also be provided. The Center had an association of this sort two or three years ago and it's efforts in the direction of neatness and land scape ornamentation accomplished ex-
 cellent results.
 ening in woods a short distance above
 Putnam Park Fire Warden Warner was notified and with the help of a squad of volunteers recruited at the Center squelched the flames without serious damage having been done. Francis Malone, who runs the mail ! route between the Ridge and West Bedding, has received a government appointment as railway postal clerk | for which he qualified by civil ser vice test which included severe phy- l sical examination. The regulations require that he do substitute duty for a year before being assigned to steady employment. He will retain his pres- l ent mail route for while.
 1 A report was current recently that John Muennich had bought E. J. Mill CTS hardware business in Bethel and