The rancor being peddled throughout the community over tax-related issues fifty-some years ago had now became entrenched at the central school. With two members of the taxpayers association now on the board of education, board room conversations that normally would have been classified as private “personal matters” and discussed by members during executive session with supposed confidentiality, filtered into the community. With a little knowledge and a lot of misinformation, townsfolk, and the Livingston Manor Times, were now privy to personal issues that should have remained behind closed doors.

James Ramage came to the Livingston Manor Central School as Supervising Principal in 1968, replacing Russell Ludlum who was retiring after serving sixteen years as the school’s lead administrator. Ramage was both experienced and highly qualified for the position. During his sixteen years in the field of education, Ramage taught at both the elementary and secondary level and worked administratively as elementary curriculum coordinator, elementary school supervisor and assistant superintendent at upstate schools. He was also the author of several educational articles published in various educational journals and curriculum publications. 

With a degree in business administration along with experience in coordinating new building projects, the 43-year-old Auburn, New York native seemed to be the right man for the job. However, in coming to the Manor, the World War 2 veteran who had participated in storming the Normandy beaches on D-Day would again find himself in the crosshairs, not from the guns of German pillboxes, but from the power struggles amongst the fractured community. - Fred