New Britain herald., 1927-12-20
GAS TANK FAVORED
 AT OPEN MEETING Goodrich Auays Fears of ToWns-
 people Regarding Dangers VOTE IS CLOSE, 21-lS
Animated Discussion Involves Alans Citizens-College Students To Ad- dress H. s, Pupils-Grange Party 1oniSht-Flrst Home Game.

Tonisht-First Home Game.
 By the close vote of 21-1S. will many abstentions. the voters oi
 Plainville last night placed the
 selves on record as In favor of th' ] granting of a. permit to the Walter II. Goodrich Co. of New Haven for the construction of wholesale and retail gasoline station on the old 1 Bristol Mfg. Go. on West Main and l Pierce streets. This vote, taken at a
 public hearing in the town hall. vas
 conditional in that 1t was specified
 that the proposed business establ
 nent would not affect fire insurance
 rates and that not more than i00.- | 000 gallons of combustble materials
 Dc stored
 1 Waiter H. Goodrich and another l man from his company were pres | ent at the hearing. over which Stan
 ley $. Gwilim presided. and they answered numerous questions put
 them by various interested persons. Among those who took part in the spirited discussion were former I Selectmen Peter J. Prior and John
 J. kimmel, Michael Kosenko. Har- l ry o. Rex, President Henry Trum- , bull of the Chamber of Commerce,
 Burton H. Phelps. C. H. Daily. Stan ley M. Smith and A. A. Mcleod. Objection was raised primarily on ,the ground the gasoline storage ; tanks would create a fire menace,
 which would be particularly unde-
 sirable in the center of the business
 district. Mr. Goodrich met this by
 saying that the tanks would be placed underground and would be isolated by fireproof and lightning proof layers in such way that there
 would be practically no danger. The
 proba blity of lightning striking an
 underground container, he said, was
 very small. while if such an event ever did occur the resulting explo- sion would be directed upward and would not spread outward. Only be devoted 10 gasoline. he said. the remainder being filled with oil, kero. sene and other similar fluids.
 MT. Phelps said that he had been informed his fire insurance rates would be substantially raised upol. the installation of the tanks. but 1t developed that this had been on the assumption that 100000 gallons of gasoline would be stored in them. MT. Goodrich offered to pay any in crease in insurance which resulted from the construction of his station.
 Another objection raised was that the steady procession of oil trucks in and out of the wholesale depot would further congest traffic on West Main street, hut Mir. Goodrich said tho trucks offered the free use of the driveways on his property to be used by motorists desiring to turn their cars around on West Main street. a dangerous procedure at present.
 Mir. Trumbull spoke In favor of the Goodrich project. saying that the land was idle at the present time anu IoiiHbl'ulCu dll Sy'oOlF III tIlt center. The town possessed ample a apartments and business blocks, and there appeared no other use to i which the property could be put at present, so he believed that the gas depot was at least better than noth- ing at all. It would improve the and bring another profita- blc concern 10 PlainviJle. |
 P. J. Prior spoke violently against the proposal and engaged in a tiff with MT. Gwillim. MT. Prior said l that the town had enough gas sta- lions and gin mills, asking if Mr. ! Gwllim. as grand juror. did not know this. The chairman turned this off by good humor and the two men had a semi humorous dialogue for q brief period.
 Finally q vote of those present was taken. Mir. Goodrich had met the objections squarely and had made a favorable impression by his good temper under some rather scathirs comments, and the vote was in his favor. although several did not cast their ballots
 College Students to Speak
 Four Plainville youths now attend ng college will give tive-minute alks on various phases of college fife at the high school assembly Thursday afternoon. Those who will ake part in this novel means of giving high school students a first land view of college are Roger New on of Yale university. son of Mir, md Mrs. c. H. Newton; Sterling Nyckoff of Amherst, son of Rev. and Mrs. Charles S. Wyckoff: Howard -sher of Norwich university, son of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Usher and Miss Florence Trumhull of Mount iolyoke, daughter of Governor and