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Advocate Archives
This week’s look back into the Advocate Archives takes us to 1954 when the town got its first ever manager; to 1967 when the fate of the Highland House hotel was very much in doubt; and to 1977 for a 20-mile beach cleanup to remove oil globs.
March 11, 1954
Thos. M. Libby Is First Town Manager
Provincetown’s first Town Manager under its new Town Manager-Selectmen form of administration will be Thomas Martin Libby, 31, now serving as Town Manager for Oakland, Maine, a community of 3,000, a post which he has held for the past five years. He is coming to Provincetown at an annual salary of $7,000 and it is expected by the Board of Selectmen who made the selection after interviewing a number of applicants that he will take over his new post in ten days or two weeks.
Mr. Libby, a veteran with two years of Naval service in World War II, married with three children and expectations, has received special training for the responsibilities of Town Manager. In June 1948 he was graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in Public Management. The program of this field of study at the University of Maine is designed specifically for the training of town and city managers and combines the essential studies of civil engineering, sanitary engineering, public finance, public health and welfare, accounting, public utilities, economics, municipal administration and the basic studies of government at all levels.
March 9, 1967
Fate Of Old Hotel Hangs In Balance
What happens to the Highland House, North Truro, will be decided by the National Park Service, but the Advisory Commission to the National Seashore, which makes recommendations to the Park Service, is not giving the green light to continued operation of the hotel after expiration of existing arrangements which expire at the end of 1969.
The present operators of the hotel, Joseph Colliano and William Hastings, have a separate signed agreement with the Park Service permitting them to operate it from January 1, 1968, to the end of 1969, a period of two years. They cannot apply for renewal of their own contract until it is actually in operation, which is not until January, 1968.
But they made clear to the Park Service their desire to operate the hotel beyond 1969. With permission to operate after 1969, they would make extensive improvements to the exterior, Mr. Colliano said.
“It is a lovely old hotel,” Mr. Colliano declared, “a landmark in the town, and it shouldn’t be destroyed, whether we operate it or not.”
At a press conference in the Fall, Seashore Superintendent [Stanley] Joseph had said that the historic value of the hotel had not been ruled out and that a Park Service historian was to look into the matter further. Mr. Colliano said he hoped that if the Park Service reached the decision not to permit operation of the hotel after 1969 the agency would let him and his partner know of it so that their suspense over the decision would be ended.
March 10, 1977
Hundreds clean 20 miles of beach of oil blobs
Hundreds of local people have found profitable work this week cleaning twenty miles of beach on the backside from Eastham to Long Point.
At Newcomb Hollow Tuesday morning, the parking lot was nearly full with the cars of people working the beaches. Three crews could be seen down the beach working the high tide line at the edge of the dunes.
The work on the backshore is painstaking. Each small glob of oil must be picked up separately, with wire mesh baskets tied onto the ends of rakes. Some workers have fashioned scoops by attaching wire strainers to the ends of long poles.
On Provincetown beaches, where the oil is in larger clumps, rakes and shovels are being used.
The clean-up has been going on since the last weekend in February. Jerry McCarthy, head of the clean-up, said he thinks it will be another week before the oil is cleaned off the beaches.
Since most of the employees use the beaches often in the summer they seem enthusiastic. One worker stopped his meticulous cleaning to say, “If every potential blanket stain is worth a penny, then what we’re doing is worthwhile.”
Work in Provincetown is more satisfying. Rather than tiny, raisin-sized drops, the oil there looks like what is expected in an “oil spill.” “Picture yourself out in a cow meadow,” is how McCarthy describes the beaches there.
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Mar 6th, 2008