Compiled by Nick Sestanovich

75 years ago

Board Refuses Los Angeles “Scrap Plyboard” Makeshift For Benicia School Children (Feb. 11, 1943)

Refusal by the Board of Trustees of the Benicia Unified School District to accept demountable former WPA storehouses constructed from plyboard to house Benicia school children has failed to check the FWA regional office in Los Angeles in its insistence that the discarded buildings be shipped here to be remodeled into class room.
The school board met Thursday in the office of County Superintendent Tenant McDaniels in Fairfield with Charles Bursch, chief of Division of School House Planning for the State of California, and D.C. Williams, structural engineer of the State Division of Architecture, Kenneth Jones, deputy district attorney, County Superintendent Tenant C. McDaniels and J.H. Henderson, principal of Benicia Elementary schools, to study the preliminary plans for the proposed school to be constructed from warehouses. The board went on record by a unanimous vote not to place students in the proposed school nor operate it as a plant.
Despite the fact that the FWA claimed to have approval of the plans from state agencies, both Bursch and Willits denied having given approval.

50 years ago

Mary Farmar Principal To Retire In June (Feb. 8, 1968)

Mrs. Evelyn Nebergall, principal of Mary Farmar Elementary School, and an employee of the Benicia Unified School District for 18 years, submitted her resignation Monday evening at the regular meeting of the board of trustees. A unanimous vote by those trustees present, Don Passalacqua, Mrs. Evenlyn Sprague, Ron Rice, and Dr. John R. Van Buren, accepted the resignation, effective June 30, “with regret.” Mrs. Nebergall noted her years as a BUSD employee as “happy and gratifying” and said she was giving her resignation early to allow time to the board to find a replacement.
She is the second long-term Benicia teacher to resign in recent months. Mrs. Evelyn Jensen, fourth grade teacher at Robert Semple School, also will retire June 30.

25 years ago

Experts review soil tests on Rose (Feb. 7, 1993)

By Sarah Rohrs

Ground radar testing completed Thursday at three Rose Drive homes abutting Blake Court must be analyzed and reviewed before the state can make a determination about how stable the ground is in the area.
Environmental consultants from Levine-Fricke and NorCal Geophysical conducted the tests Wednesday and Thursday at 874, 876 and 878 Rose Drive. The tests were ordered after an egg-shaped sinkhole was discovered Jan. 22 in the back yard of 876 Rose Drive.

The full articles of these and other stories are available on microfilm at the Benicia Public Library.

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