West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 129 by Charlie Miller
____January 1, 1934 – Council appropriates $13,238.00 for the year 1934. The next meeting of the Business Men will be held at the Star Hotel.
____January 11, 1934 – “Old Big Foot’s” cunning finally failed him. The monstrous 28-pound raccoon, who has been stealing chickens, geese, and ducks in the vicinity of West Jefferson for the last five years and has made him a mark for many hunters, is dead. He was shot on the farm of Henry Feder north of Jefferson after a three-mile chase.
____March 13, 1934 – Ora B. Horn, 56, a well-known barber, died today at Mt. Carmel Hospital. Mr. Horn came here 19 years ago and opened a shop in the Metropolitan Building. (The Metropolitan Building sat on the current site of the Huntington Bank on the corner of Main and Walnut Streets. Your writer got his first haircut in that building around 1940.)
____April 2, 1934 – A new motorcycle has been purchased for $370.00.
____April 5, 1934 – E. E. Gregg, Secretary of the West Jefferson Gun Club, celebrated his 10th anniversary as a trap shooter in a very auspicious manner on July 4th when he won the “Crooksville Shoot.” He was presented with a 35-piece set of Crooksville China dishes for his marksmanship.
___July 30, 1934 – Miss Grace Webb, member of the ‘B’ Centralized School Teaching Corps, was one of the graduates to receive diplomas in the Elementary Teaching Course at Capital University. (The ‘B’ School was attended by children out in the Township until they reached the 6th grade when they attended the town schools. Eventually, the building will house the school board offices.)
____August 2, 1934 – James Kehoe, 89, a retired railroad man, died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Frank Wise, on S. West St. “Granddad Kehoe” was a native of Ireland born in County Tipperary on May 5,, 1845. He has resided in Jeff for more than 60 years.
____August 16, 1934 – The greyhound races will be resumed at the West Jefferson track on Saturday.
____October 8, 1934 – Capt. Walter Seamon, Fellow Ave., veteran army man, was promoted to Major on October 1, 1934. (Major Seamon later served as Mayor of West Jefferson in 1938 and 1939.)
____December 6, 1934 – The West Jefferson Power and Light Company has been purchased by the Dayton Power and Light Company for a price of $64,411.54. The West Jefferson concern served Madison and Union Counties.
____December 20, 1934 – State Utilities Commission has authorized the sale of the W. Jefferson Power & Light Company to the Columbus Railroad and Light Company instead of the DP&L. Mayor Putnam and members of the council protested the sale to DP&L asserting that the Columbus firm could give lower rates and more efficient service.