Starting soon after April 15, larvacide will be sprayed on the village dump and in the vicinity of the airport and town barns in the animal campaign against rodents as part of the spring cleanup program. Fred Oberst of the insect control company will direct the work at the dump and advises owners of pets to keep them away from that area.

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Housing shortage

The housing shortage in this village is becoming more acute with not enough current building to relieve the situation. Families who are forced to move for one reason or another or through sale of the premises are finding it hard to find any kind of shelter.

During the year in which the army conducted a redistribution station for service men at the Lake Placid Club, most of the officers and some of the permanent soldier staff lived in the main village. The shortage was bad then, due to the war, but some persons with large homes cut them up into apartments to take advantage of the generous rents available at the time.

These furnished the village with more apartments than it had known heretofore. These have become absorbed by the servicemen’s return who married. Some of the couples doubled up with relatives, but with family increases, they have branched out into quarters of their own.

A few of the veterans are building through desperation, having postponed it thus far because of high costs of materials. The new homes are very limited because of the low income of most of the veterans.

The village has plenty apartment buildings. It needs more as the present number does not suffice, and there is seldom a vacancy. The average owner does not care to rent the year around, preferring to take advantage of the larger rentals received from summer visitors. This necessitates two moves a year, by renters who live here in spring and fall.

A few owners now allow tenants to remain throughout the year but have kept rents in high brackets for the average working man. There are more families than before the war, and construction is practically nil.

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Hospital open house

Local and area residents will get their first formal view of the new $600,000 Placid Memorial Hospital at an open house to be held Sunday, April 23, it was announced this week by J. Vernon Lamb, chairman of the building committee. The actual construction of the building is slated to be completed some time this summer, with the opening scheduled for early fall.

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Dick Button news

Local figure skating enthusiasts are jubilant over the fact that their idol, Dick Button, has refused to turn professional for a reported offer of $100,000.

Button, three-time world title holder who makes Lake Placid home for a good many months each year while training here under Gus Lussi, snubbed the offer so he could defend his Olympic championship in 1952. Finishing his studies at Harvard and winning the Olympics again mean much more to him, he said, than the professional proposals.