Monday, August 11, 2008

Guilford Historical Society brawl

Well, one doesn't generally equate a historical society's membership with a propensity for scuffling, but apparently there is always an exception to the rule. Witness the Guilford Historical Society, recently the focus of some member conflict resulting in assault charges.

The Katahdin Regional Wiki reports that "The Guilford Historical Society was founded in 1983 by a small group of interested people." Very interested, it seems.
Heated' historical society meeting leads to assault charge in Guilford
Thursday, May 29, 2008 - Bangor Daily News

GUILFORD, Maine - A "pretty heated meeting" among Guilford Historical Society members over the display of old photographs turned uglier Tuesday when fists and hair started flying.

As members were leaving Tuesday’s meeting, the society’s secretary, Zarvin Shaffer, 38, allegedly punched member Al Hunt, 48, in the jaw with his fist, and Shaffer’s teenage son allegedly pulled the hair of Hunt’s wife, according to Investigator Guy Dow of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department.

Shaffer, who was charged with assault, claimed Hunt had intentionally bumped into him as they left the museum where the "heated" meeting was held, Dow said. After Hunt allegedly was slugged, Dow said Hunt’s wife Laurel Hunt, 44, started yelling and she picked up a chair reportedly to protect herself. When she did so, Shaffer’s son allegedly pulled her hair, Dow said. The juvenile has not been charged but the matter is still under investigation, he said.

The disagreement among members was because Robert Shaffer, society president and Zarvin’s father, had removed "one-of-a-kind photographs" of the town from the museum for display in a local restaurant, according to Dow. He said his department received a call last week reporting that some historical society members were troubled that the donated photographs had left the museum’s safe surroundings. Dow said the photographs have since been returned to the museum, but the disagreement apparently continued to smolder.

Robert Shaffer, society president and father of Zarvin Shaffer, told Dow that club members had voted to place some of the photographs in the restaurant for viewing.

[Source
About a month later, other developments ensued, related to the incident:
Guilford: Teen charged with assault over museum
Saturday, June 28, 2008 - Bangor Daily News

GUILFORD, Maine - A second person was charged this week in connection with an alleged assault that occurred last month after a heated Guilford Historical Society meeting.

Police charged Zarvin Shaffer, 38, last month for assault and this week they charged a teenager for assault. Both individuals are expected to make their initial court appearance on July 28 in 13th District Court.
...
Shaffer claimed Hunt had intentionally bumped into him as they left the museum where the meeting was held, Dow said. After Hunt was slugged, Dow said Hunt’s wife, Laurel Hunt, 44, started yelling and when she did so, the teenager allegedly pulled her hair, he said. The teenager told police he was trying to protect himself.

Dow said Laurel Hunt held up a folded canvas chair that she carried to the meetings to protect herself during the alleged assault.
...
About 50 members attended a meeting earlier this week and voted a new slate of officers as follows: Sieferd "Stubby" Schultz, president; Brian Woodworth, vice president; Cindy Woodworth, secretary; and Laurel Hunt, treasurer.

Schultz said members voted earlier to bar Zarvin Shaffer and the teenager from the historical society meetings and the museum.

Read full article here: [Source]
Guilford has other charms beside its active historic preservation contingent, including a covered bridge, and streets that sound delicious: Butter Street and Candy Road. Another feature is the Trebor Mansion Inn, described by Pamela Lanier's B&B site as "Unique and mysterious hilltop mansion on three acres of gardens with mature oaks and maples, overlooking the Pisquataquis River. On the National Register of Historic Places."

Mysterious how? Well, the folks at the inn have a whole page dedicated to discussing the peculiarities of the place, titled The Mysteries of Trebor Mansion: The Inn on the Haunted Hill. The family that runs the inn are not shy about their own mysteries, and on the page titled Your Eccentric Hosts regale readers with hints of tales of themselves: "As to their background, the timid need not inquire and the bold will not need to be told, but let it suffice to say that various family members have sought high political office, been imprisoned by nefarious foreign governments, met everyone from Catholic Cardinals, Grand Rabbis and Sufi Sheiks to confidants of Adolf Hitler, been guests in the homes of Heads of State, broken bread with Communist revolutionaries (reformed and unreformed), and have lived everywhere from Monasteries and mansions to down and out on the streets of Rome and The Big Apple. We look forward to meeting you." Sounds good to me! Curious? Well, there are even links to television features on the inn, click here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Savages! I wonder what trash talk sounds like among historians?
"Your mother was is badly yellowed because she was not hermetically sealed in proper fashion."
"Look here, you. You take that back or I will be forced to drum you with this 19th century knotting spool."
"Rube! That is mid-20th century at best!"
And so on.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget that the owners of the Inn are the same crew charged with assault in the Historical Society incident. Might want to lock your door if you stay there.