Over the past twenty-five years the Observer has covered many stories about local people, events and businesses. We thought it might be interesting to highlight some of the front-page news to remind us what was happening in town. The following are some of the headline stories from our September issues over the past 25 years.
There were several years, as we would expect, when the annual Suffield on the Green made the front pages. Several front-page stories also highlighted farms in town. Other stories included the cold weather which was hard on the farmers (2002), the Board of Selectmen approval of the expansion of the McDougall Correctional Institution (2001), Suffield High School dedication of the new building (2002), a town memorial service for 911 (2002) and the opening of new middle school (2003). The Suffield Community Center Steering Committee was established (2003), the McAlister Intermediate School opened (2004), Irish Scouts visited Suffield (2005), the Town Center project moved ahead (2006), the library referendum was defeated (2008), the Extreme Makeover show came to work on the Hill family home (2009), a proposal for apartments at the former Bridge Street School property was made at Town Meeting (2012) and the Boston Neck bridge reopened (2013). The Friends of KML book sale moved to Sacred Heart Church (2015), Pokemon Go was popular (2016), Holyoke Bank acquired First National Bank (2018), Emergency Aid becamr Suffield Community Aid (2018), the Hastings Farm was honored with the Connecticut Century Farm award (2019), tropical storm Isaias hit Connecticut (2021) and the old St. Alphonsus seminary was converted to a Lubavitch yeshiva (2002).
The Observer often highlighted people as well on the front page. Some people reported on over the past 25 years included Dr. Peter Conserva’s saving a horse (2002), new police chief Michael Manzi (2003), Hawley Rising and his gift of photos to the Suffield Historical Society (2004), new school Superintendent Dr. Jack Reynolds (2005), Bob Lowell, who donated a kidney to Bill Johnson (2006), new McAlister principal Karen Carpenter and vice principal Jack Ferraro (2007), Katie Gardocki, Olympic swimmer (2008), Johanne Presser and her African adventure (2009), Karen Baldwin, new school superintendent (2011), TJ Galis and his heroic rescue (2013), new middle school principal, Damon Pearce (2014) and Suffield Pride’s Sandra Bixler (2018).
We hope to provide a look into the past years, month by month, as we remember some of the front-page highlights.