Chapter 2 The Early Years
In the late 1960s, the construction of Interstate 89 was nearing Grantham and Stocker Pond. While several construction firms were involved in the project, the Palazzi Corporation was in charge of the section which passed by most of Stocker Pond.
In 1968, the Nashua Telegraph published an article chronicling the initial damage caused by the road construction. It opens with the sentence "John Palazzi, chairman of the New Hampshire Water Pollution Commission, said Tuesday that he’s the ’most embarrassed guy in the state’ because his construction firm is muddying Stocker Pond in Springfield—in violation of the strict 1967 state laws against water pollution." Aside from some factual errors in the article, it is an interesting read.
In May of 1968, Stocker Pond property owner John Heinlein [property 236-023] wrote to Governor John King to report on the initial damage to Stocker Pond. The Governor’s reply acknowledged the issue with the pond was known, and requested that "Mr. Robert H. Whitaker, Deputy Commissioner of Public Works and Highways, who is already familiar with the problem at Stocker Pond, to rigidly enforce all conditions of the contracts and to do all that is reasonable and possible to speed stabilization of the highway banks and restore water clarity to the pond."
