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Home My WebLink About1971-12-08-LBC-min.pdf LEXINGTON BICENTENNIAL COMMITTEE Minutes December 8, 1971 The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, King Howard, who welcomed Mrs Jeanne Baltz as an interested citizen and Roland B Greeley as the newest member of the LBC John B Finigan, Chairman of the Concord 1975 Committee was present at the invitation of the LBC A short time after Mr Finigan began to speak, it became apparent that there would not be room enough for the many people attending this meeting Therefore, the meeting was relocated in Cary Hall Mr Howard introduced the full committee to those present and opened the meeting to Mr Finigan for his report of the progress in Concord to date Mr Finigan stressed the fact that Concord 's problems are common to all the area towns A strong relationship has to be maintained among them. Concord petitioned the General Court in 1967 to be allowed to accumulate money from the tax levy This income has been $5,000 a year up to now and the town hopes to increase the amount to $10,000 in the next years Income has also been developing from trusts and gifts A non-profit corporate entity was established for interested people to funnel their resources The Concord Committee has been set up in two parts The Advisory Committee which does the planning and organizing and the Active Committee to to implement these plans In 1966, Phase one started with nine people appointed by the Selectmen and in 1969 sixteen were added to bring the Committee to its scheduled 25 members They have studied all the overall r UL1c.,O L...,1UUL.., raLa1C.o, ISLsLaLy Lall, LLaffs. , pLUtc..Lw. , - sanitation and a permanent memorial. They have a separate committee to study the permanent memorial The guideline committee had decided that the celebration should be educational in character, there should be no sham battles, they will not be involved in massive military display Concord will keep quality control on items sold within the boundaries of Concord and in the use of symbols etc Traffic control is an overwhelming problem. Concord can handle 1/2 million people without much help from outside, but it cannot handle the vehicles which bring these people The Concord Committee would like to see literary exercises ; events taking place over a longer period than the 3 days in April They are particularly concerned with interesting young people who will be participating adults in 1975 There is an honorary committee set up for former Selectmen, former 2-- Minutes, December 8, 1971 Committeemen, State Judiciary members, etc As Mr Finigan concluded the meeting was opened for questions about the Concord plans Q Do you consider any other dates for special events? A. Concord discussed having each month after April include an event but abandoned the idea They are planning activities in a 10 day period surrounding April 19 They may plan programs with other groups but not yet There are no plans for 1976 Q What about the literary or academic phase? A The committee concerned with this has not reported back. Concord expects to use such resources as the Concord Players, Schools, Minutemen, Choral groups, churches and oratory--they want no political speeches at the parade Q What cooperation is planned with the National Park? Huge numbers of cars and trailers are to be expected possibly 1,000,000 through the warm months of 1975 A. Concord is aware of this The Town should be taking these problems as its concern. Q What about re-enactment of the battle? A. Conditions do not permit a sham battle at the bridge in April The Committee has abandoned the idea. They hope to have TV take coverage of this idea. Q Could professionals be used in this regard and what about public trans- portation from Boston? A. Use of the existing RR track is possible, also Rt 2 We hope to dissuade planners from construction on Rt 2 in 1975 The State Bicentennial Commission should help with transportation problems Channel 4 has voiced interest in TV films This of course would allow many thousands a chance to see the events who would otherwise be unable to do so Q Shouldn t Lexington and Concord face the celebration as one deal -every- one participating? A. All should work together--there is need for regional planning. Various towns are in uneven degrees of preparation. Concord has appointed an historian and a committee for a town report Communication between towns is necessary Q Contemporary information and historical knowledge is available giving more insight into the actual facts than in 1875 Could this be utilized? A. Definitely could be done Q Boston is the- only major city in the US or Canada with no Plans for trailers or pick-ups Shouldn't there be great stress on planning in this area? A. There is to be a joint meeting of planning boards to this question -it is a problem for the towns and the planning boards, not the 1975 committee Our function would be to point out the need in such areas Q What will your permanent memorial be? A. Something which has interest of many also something we can afford The 3--Minutes, December 8, 1971 town has to be enthusiastic Concord was unsuccessful in getting a Federal grant for such a memorial. The Concord 1975 Committee has considered Beautification of the town; the Col Barrett Farmhouse where the munitions be were actually stored to included in the National Historical Park--it might possibly be the towns gift to the government; a wing to the Antiquarian Society building There should be a decision by 1972 Mr Finigan concluded at about 9 30 and the meeting was then opened for Lexington Committee business Mr Howard reviewed the duties of the members of the committee and its formation. Then he solicited questions and ob- servations from the floor Louis Zehner--presented a proposal He like the idea of de-emphasizing armed might He would like to see the central theme be "reconciliation" He said this would give us a springboard to his second point to use all leverage to bring the King and Queen of England to our celebration. Perhaps use our Minutemen as a body guard. There could be another statue, this to the idea of reconciliation. His third point was that Lexington should put its best foot forward--the target to have every home spruced up -- perhaps a Garden Club contest Mrs Jackie Davison--suggested that Buckman and Munroe be restored as taverns; that the LBC sponsor a museum for our historic artifacts; that there be a guide to the oldest houses in town not only those nearest the Green. Richard Eaton -reminded the meeting of the success of the musical play "They Nobly Dar'd" in 1963 and hoped there could be something similar for 1975 He said the Lexington Choral group is one of the finest and should be included William Page--recommended seeking information from Donald Brown of the Boston Redevelopment Authority Also LBC should schedule target dates Wallace Baylies--hoped the local character would not be entirely lost He would like to see the emphasis put on the significance of a permanent memorial rather than the amount of money The organizations not able to attend our previous meeting were then given an opportunity to express their suggestions Elks- Louis Bentley a. hoped to have information published for distribution to the National organization-- lodging, restaurants, etc b The national meeting of the Elks will be held in Boston in 1975 Some 20,000 are expected for a 9- 12 day meeting in July Masons--Donald F Albertine a expect to help in every way possible b considering a joint venture with K of C f r nart in th, n-ar-R1, 4-- Minutes, December 8, 1971 Suggestions from the audience included special invitations to Canadian friends; Cary Lecture funds for special events in that year; a reproduction of the old meeting house on the Green. At the close of the meeting the five members of the LBC still present (Butters, Howard, Michelson, Nussdorfer, and Pullen) scheduled an important meeting on December 29, 1971 at 7 30 in the Legion Room to discuss and develop the Articles for the Warrant. The deadline for articles is January 7, 1972 The meeting was adjourned at 10 30 P M. Respectfully � submitted,d, c i/� bd.)et l (x Becky Nussdorfer, Secretary