jlowry@bbnccv.UUCP (John Lowry) (09/25/85)
From the _Berkshire_Eagle_ 9/16/85, without permission.
'Officer Obie' and restaurateur Alice toast end of an era in Stockbridge
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by Stephen Fay
WEST STOCKBRIDGE -
A couple of legends got together with
a couple of hundred friends yesterday at
the Shaker Mill to toast the end of an
era.
The occasion was the retirement of
William J. Obanhein, for 27 years the
police chief of Stockbridge. He became a
legend in the late '60s in the wake of
the song and the movie "Alice's
Restaurant." Suddenly, everybody knew of
Arlo Guthrie's "Officer Obie."
But to his friends, he has always
been Bill. And not everybody knows Bill.
One who does know him is
fellow-legend Alice Brock. Alice, as in
"Alice's Restaurant," was there
yesterday. She and Obanhein, arms over
one another's shoulders, talked about the
old days.
"Now Bill and I belong to a very
exclusive club: good people unappreciated
by the Stockbridge Selectmen."
Brock who now lives in Provincetown,
had her share of hassles with the
Stockbridge town fathers a decade ago
when she sought to expand her old
restaurant on Route 183 in Glendale. She
has a new career now as an author and has
just published her third book. Her first
was called "My Life as a Restaurant."
Then came "The Alice's Restaurant
Cookbook." Her latest is entitled "How to
Massage Your Cat." Asked what her latest
was about, she said it was about how to
massage your cat.
Many of the 200-plus people who came
to drink and dine with Obanhein had
stories to tell. They told stories of
the unofficial acts of a small-town
police chief. They told of Obanhein
driving them home when they were tipsy,
giving religeon to a rebellious kid who
was headed for trouble, telling a local
gambler to clean up his act, searching
for a lost dog.
One speaker told about being caught
by Obanhein about 22 years ago when the
speaker and a young friend were breaking
windows at an abandoned house. Obanhein
caught them and scared the hell out of
them, he said. He lectured and growled
and threatened. But he didn't arrest
them. Instead, Obanhein talked to the
man who owned the building and asked if
the two boys could work for the man to
pay him back for the damage.
"One of these days," the speaker
said, quoting Obanhein, "these guys are
going to try to get a job. I don't want
them to have court records."
The speaker doesn't have a court
record. And he got the job. The speaker
was Richard B. Wilcox, the new police
chief of the town of Stockbridge.
"We can lean a little bit," Obanhein
said. "The trees lean and so can we."
He turned to the crowd.
"Thanks," he said, "I love you all."