Concord Monitor
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July 5, 1976
“Live Free or Die”
Proudly Serving Concord, New Hampshire for Over 150 Years
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Big ‘Mistake’ Leads to Bigger Celebration!
Reporting – Dick Waters
Yesterday, during America’s celebration of its 200th birthday, many in Concord will have even more memories. Fortunately, those 200 candles weren’t lit. Here’s the rest of the story –
Neighbors near Chase Franklin’s Oak Hill Road farm had been concerned about what he might have been up to in his barn for weeks.
The normally very open man became very seclusive and tight-lipped about his actions. Secretly they had been trying to observe his strange behavior and deliveries of building materials and late-night activities. The police had been alerted and they too were ready for anything disruptive.
Well, everyone had enough waiting, and during the many bells, whistles, sirens, and horns yesterday, the police confronted Mr. Franklin. The Oak Hill Barn landmark will be better known now for what they found in the basement.
The puzzle pieces finally fell into place early yesterday –
He was building a giant birthday cake to celebrate the 200th anniversary. In the barn’s basement, he had built a twenty-foot diameter cake with bricks, thousands of them. In the center of the cake were two hundred metal stacks to simulate candles. Pictures are on page 20.
This “Cake Event” has received national attention, leaving out the original neighborhood suspicions.
The mayor of Concord has asked local, state, and national architects to create designs for keeping the barn and adding glass viewing to the cake. The cake could be dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere, but he believes it needs to remain where it’s currently located.
During the interviews of Mr. Franklin, he indicated he was indeed a descendant of Benjamin Franklin, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was motivated to honor his ancestors and do something memorable for the occasion. He commented, “I might have gotten more than a little carried away!”
As far as the neighbors go, they didn’t get to eat cake, which will be in their neighborhood for many years. It might be hard for someone to top this event when America reaches its 300th birthday, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
“Happy Birthday America!”
Comments to Broken Clock
Writer [I bet I could come up with many stories about that broken clock]
Home Owner (husband) [Another thing to add to my list]
Home Owner (wife) [Should I try to fix it myself?]
Good son [I should fix that for dad]
Lazy son [I hope he’s not going to tell me to fix that this Saturday]
Next-door neighbor [“Did you know your clock isn’t working?”]
Bad neighbor [How long will it take him before he fixes it?]
Good neighbor [“Can I see if I can fix your clock?”]
Home Owner Association (HOA) Representative [What do the CC&Rs say about clocks on houses, including broken clocks?]
Optimist [It’s still correct twice a day]
Pessimist [Probably can’t be fixed anyway]
Realtor [“The house for sale is three down from the house with the large clock on it.”]
Kid in the neighborhood [Strange, every day I pass this house it is the same time.]
Jogger [I miss using that clock to time my laps]
Gossiper [“Did you know it’s been days since they haven’t addressed that broken clock?”
Politician [Obviously they belong to the other party!]
Analyst [That makes 16 days, 3 hours, and 15 minutes since I noticed their clock not working]
Visitor [They said to look for the house with the large clock on it]
Engineer [Most likely made in some foreign country]
Designer [I bet that would look better in the family room]
Battery Designer [That should have been a solar-powered clock]
Hardware Store Owner [I wonder if we carry the repair parts for that clock?]
Reporter [There might be a story behind that broken clock]
Weather Man [I wonder if the recent rain or the Sun caused that clock to break]
Consultant [Can I learn anything from that broken clock, and will I make $$ with that knowledge?]
Airplane Mechanic [Looks like an easy fix]
Handyman [I wonder if they would pay me $25 to fix it?]
Yard Sale Enthusiast [Would they take $5 for it?]
Scrap Picker [Looks too light to be worth picking]
Clock Repair Person [Do I want to get involved, it’s probably just a battery issue?]
Frequent Shopper [I wonder if they got that on Amazon, for how much, and any negative reviews?]
Landscaper [That would look much better on the back block wall]
Lighting Engineer [Good thing that broken clock is not lighted]
Project Manager [laughing “I could complete things more often if time wasn’t an issue!”]
Historian [Who determined to measure time, and how did they know what was the ‘correct’ time?]
Teacher [That’s a good idea…start an analog lesson plan]