{ title: 'Press-Republican. (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) 1966-current, April 27, 1981, Page 6, Image 6', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/sn88074101/1981-04-27/ed-1/seq-6/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn88074101/1981-04-27/ed-1/seq-6.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn88074101/1981-04-27/ed-1/seq-6/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/sn88074101/1981-04-27/ed-1/seq-6/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Northern NY Library Network
isable Here's a man who has done it all, so it seems Press-Republican—Monday, April 27, 1981 BySUEBOTSFORD Staff Writer PLATTSBURGH — What hasn't he done? Well, he hasn't moved to New Mexico yet. He is Bill Burgess, and other than that one dream, he has done just about everything from being a clerk and stockboy in a rural grocery store and drumming in a band to be- ing a bombardier in World War II and a private investigator. Burgess recently wound up another portion of his life when he produced his 355th Rotary bulletin and then passed the post of bulletin editor on to Gil Zahn. A Rotarian for 13 years, Burgess spent almost seven years editing the bulletin. In that time he missed editing one of the weekly in-club newsletters when his wife was hospitalized. Going back to the beginning is go- ing back to Upper Jay, where Buraess had his first job as a clerk and Itockboy in a country store. \It was five-cents an hour, 10-hours a day, six-days a week/-' he said. He said he learned one of his first lessons in life from the storeowner. \Don't ever lie to anybody. If you do, write it down so you can tell the same lie the next time/' he said, with a grin. Up close Bill Burgess found out he knew telegraphy. \I learned that when I was 10 years old in AuSable Forks,\ he said. He then took the exam for aviator's school, trained in New Mexico (where he left his heart) and became a bombardier. 4t I flew 17 missions over Japan,\ he said. He was stationed in Guam. He also began his writing career then having written for the \Bom- He then moved on to bigger and burst,\ the squadron newspaper for the 485th Bomb Squadron on Guam. Burgess retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve in 1968, after 25V2 years of service. better things — his father's barber- shop in AuSable Forks, where he not only learned barbering but also to be an electrician. \I hitchhiked to Schenectady with a few dollars in my pocket and went to work for GE,\ he recalled. He was there 10 weeks in 1942 before enlisting. He was made the battalion com- mander's radio operator when they His first job when he got home was as a relief driver on milk trucks owned by Rockwell Kent in AuSable Forks. \He was the nicest man to work for. He always had a smile,\ Burgess recalled with real affec- tion. Because he had been taught wood- working by his father, he then went to work for Arto Monaco at Monaco Arts. \My father also taught me to play drums. I played in an orchestra at the Riverside Hotel in Keeseville five nights a week/' he said. \One night a woman kicked out the front of my drum because we wouldn't play 'Baby Face/ She was a big woman/'he said. \I believe everyone should learn everything humanly possible/ 1 Burgess said. From 1948 to 1953, he worked as a telegrapher for the Deleware and Hudson Railway at stations between Rouses Point and Whitehall. During that period, he wrote for the Order of Railroad Telegrapher's magazjne. This job .taught Burgess another important lesson: \If anyone hollers and yells, they're wrong.\ Burgess then got into a business that has taken much of the rest of his life. For 13V2 years he was sub- office manager for a national in- vestigations company. \puring the 1960s, I started a hob- by\ — Burgess Enterprises/' he said with a broad grin. The hobby became too^much with the in- vestigating and he quit to manage his own business. He sold it m 1979. He then worked some as a transportation consultant and for a firearms dealer until his old business firm asked him to return to work. He is now sub-office manager^ again. \I never had a*secretary and never had a desk,\ he recalls. \I did everything from empty the wastebaskets on up. I always look at a job before I start it to find the easiest way to do it, because I'm basically lazy/* he said, settling his short frame more comfortably into an arm chair. He and his wife, Nadine, a native of AuSable Forks, have never had a fight in almost 31 years of marriage, he said. \I smoke a pipe and I'm too lazy to take it out of my mouth.\ They have two children — Cindy, a. mi r I par medical. tprhnirian in Florida, and Eric, who is one of the owners of Burgess Enterprises now. Burgess said one of the reasons his bulletin was a success was that he included \Tickle Time,\ a group of four or more jokes at the end. \You've got to have a gimmick to make them read it/ he said. \I can remember every joke I've ever heard. Some I stole. Some I made up and some I changed,\ he said. He did admit he had some help from joke-telling Rotarian George Reich, manager of the Municipal Lighting Department. Burgess wants to write a joke book, or two or three, now. \I'm tak- ing a course in cartooning. Some jokes I'll turn into cartoons.\ He said he averaged four jokes a week for 355 weeks which should give him enough for two books that can be us- ed for any purpose. \Then there'll be three more (books of jokes) that can't,\ he chuckled. He said with his old-new job and some family concerns, his time is now limited and he just doesn't have the five-plus hours it takes to put together the bulletin. \I typed every one myself. I type 170 words a minute.\ One thing he did pass on with the bulletin, he said. \'Laurie (Criss). Celebration N ick Lentzos, one of the few native Greeks in the Plattsburgh area, gets some help from his niece, Georgia Lentzos, in preparing a traditional roasted lamb at his home on Cumberland Head Sunday. Lentzos was joined by relatives and friends to celebrate the Greek Easter. (P- R staff photo by Tom Bergin) % Stafford offers variety of legislation PLATTSBURGH — School districts, firemen, hazardous waste facilities, and financial assistance for dam repairs, are among the sub- jects-covered in recent legislation introduced in the state Legislature by Sen. Ronald B. Stafford, R- Plattsburgh. Stafford is among state senators who proposed a bill to allow volunteer members of a fire com- pany credit against personal New income tax lor thp cost of gas used in the performance of their duty. State senators fear the cost of gasoline has risen so high some volunteer firemen may have to cur- tail their duties. On the topic of hazardous wastes, the town of Fx>rt Edward has asked that its approval be rjequired before any industrial hazardous waste facility be located within its borders. Saying he believes in the philosophy of home rule, Stafford is among those who introduced legislation to amend the En- vironmental Conservation Law to establish this requirement. Recently, the Chateaugay Lake Water Level Control District has found it necessary to make substan- tial repairs to the Forge Dam which regulal.es thp lakels .waxer level. The cost of the repairs has resulted'in a real property tax vy on district lan- downers. New York state has not made any contribution to this project, although it owns a large wetland area and public boat launch site on iheiake^Thejiew legislation would require the state to pay a fair share. A fourth subject of new legislation Dinner to honor couple active in local history deals with recent school district consolidations ordered by the state. Residents are finding they have to travel increasing distances to vote in school district elections. The legislation states the increas- ed travel may be excessive and allows residents of less populated towns to vote locally rather travel long distances to vote. Saranac man dins 7 in auto accident FRANKLIN — A Saranac -maji was killed Friday night when the car he was driving left the road and went down an embankment, throw- ing him from the car. State police in Ray Brook said Philip J. Ferrara Jr., 28, of Saranac was traveling north on Route 3 in the town of Franklin around 11:15 p.m. when his car slid across the highway. Ferrara's car went down the em- bankment, hit a guardrail and roll- ed over several times, ejecting him from the car. OTtf •hi aj •Star WESTPORT — Gordon and Elsie Sherman of Westport will be honored for their ,work in local history at the Marjorie Lansing Porter Memorial Dinner May 20 at the Westport Hotel. The Shermans, lifetime residents of Essex County, have devoted themselves to the collection and compiling of local history. Their publications include \The Sherman Genealogy\ and \The History of the Champlain Valley.\ Gordon Sherman, former miner and longtime Westport farmer, counts among his forebearers the Placid. The program will be highlighted by an illustrated presentation of the history of Adirondack mining by Dr. Joseph Moravek of Plattsburgh State University College. There will be vocal selections by Sheila Kuschner of Our Lady of Vic- tory Secretarial School and an in- strumental interlude by students of Westport Central School. The dinner will be by invitation only. Those interested in attending who may not be on the guest list should write to the Indias Occiden- Children's World Buy Buster Brown ponts Q» Reg Pnce and ge^ a Buster Brown shirt at 50°/c QjOfff INFANTS M CHILDREN'S CLOTHING •+*.? WOI 111 Damien Gilbert of Au Sable Forks gets a look at a nightcrawler found by Earl AAaicos recently. With the -recent opening of trout season, if the length of this worm is any indication of the size of the fish then the fish may turn out to be the kind that fish stories and other tall tales are made of. (PR photo by P. AAaicus) employee at Burgess Enterprise and helped with all those bulletins. She will continue helping Zahn, he said. In recognition of his service, he was named Rotarian of the Year in 1977 and a Paul Harris Fellow in 1980, two Rotary awards of which he is extremely proud. builder of the original Cascade House between Keene and Lake tales Association, Box 1361, Platt- sburgh, N.Y. 12901. Plattsburgh Plaza 563-1030 Due to the tremendous response to our Mon. & Tues. Sped a Milano's now Features... — OPENING TUESDAY. MAY 5th, 10:00 A.M. --• ~o TRACK OUTDOOR U GHTING P-oua. ALL THE SPAGHETTI YOU CAN EAT FOR ONLY 3.95 With Our Famous Tomato or Meat Sauce 1 NIGHTS A WEEK! Children Under 14 For Reservations Cell 561W09 $1.95 or 5*1-634* Italian frV* will start opening for Lunch at 11:30 A.M. on May 4th.
