West Jefferson in Days Gone By - series 65 by Charlie Miller

____March 4, 1930 – Alex Strain, Village Marshal for years, dies at age 70. 

____The manager of the Orient Theater has contracted for the installation of the Superior Sound Pictures, which will be in operation by the middle of the month. With this new sound device, all the latest and approved sound effects are given as sound is taken directly from the film. The Orient is one of the prettiest picture houses in Ohio. (This was in the building that was erected in 1862 and was the Methodist Church. It sat just west of the old Huntington Bank Building. Your writer worked there cleaning it and posting bills in 1951, Bill Strauss was the projectionist.) 

_____April 10, 1930 – The West Jefferson Flour Mill burned to its foundation Monday afternoon with a loss of $10,000 or more. The West Jefferson Flour Mill was recently purchased and put into operation by Mr. W. A. Rush, caught fire in the upper portion of the mill Monday afternoon, and burned to the ground. Mr. Rush had made extensive repairs and had installed new machinery. The mill was probably 100 years old, yet had been built of solid oak timbers that were still in a fine state of preservation. The mill was operated by water power for years when the waters of Little Darby were utilized. (This mill sat at the end of the Mill Road along the Creek.) 

____April 27, 1930 – James Chambers, 93, died at the home of Eugene Chambers west end of town, Monday morning. Mr. Chambers was a Civil War veteran and one of the few remaining soldiers of that Army. He was a member of the local G. A. R. Post. (James was born January 10, 1838, in Burlington County, New Jersey, the same county where the founders of New Hampton came from. He served in Co. A, 40th O. V. I. During the Civil War.) 

____July 3, 1930 – Monday, July 7th the Columbus papers will probably give West Jefferson a little more free publicity with first-page articles, for that is the date set for Mayor Stutson’s hearing before Gov. Cooper. A petition bearing the names of 200 persons asking for the Mayor’s removal, was filed with the Governor. Following this, a petition with an equal amount of names has been presented asking that the Mayor be retained. 

____July 18, 1930 – A hearing against Mayor Stutson has been postponed until August 18th. 

____August 21, 1930 – Charges against 82-year-old Mayor Stutson of West Jefferson will not be received by Governor Cooper.