One of the problems with working on a newspaper is that every little mistake gets printed up and distributed to thousands of eager subscriber/proofreaders just waiting with their red pencils to underscore our shortcomings, of which, alas, there are too many.

One of our more polite subscriber/proofreaders, Lin Walsh of Saw Mill Road, gently corrected us last week when she spotted the caption for our photo of “Four-and-20 Blackbirds” on the cover of the Bee Extra last week. After mentioning that these birds “congregate at twilight before heading to their roost, which is often at a different location,” Lin rightfully pointed out that these were crows not blackbirds. So to be entirely accurate, the “flock of blackbirds” should have been termed a “murder of crows.” Duly chastened, we looked up the reference and found there are two sorts of crow gatherings –– a murder of crows, or a storytelling of crows. With all due respect, we would prefer to attend the storytelling kind. But thank you, Lin, for keeping us on our crows, er, toes.

Lin also mentioned that “several recipes for blackbird pie exist, but none call for crow.” Too bad. It would make eating crow a little easier for us.

Don’t let this week’s bitter cold snap fool you. The days are getting longer and the sun is getting brighter, and Bee reporter Jan Howard has found proof that spring is already on its way. “I saw the first tiny shoots of snowdrops poking up in my garden this week,” Jan said. “Usually at this time of year, they’re covered by snow so I don’t notice them.” By the end of February, snow or not, those early spring flowers will be putting on a show.

During Tuesday’s meeting of the Tercentennial Commission’s Steering Committee, John Martocci questioned if a proposed logo would be in color or black and white. That was the wrong question to ask Mae Schmidle, who is heading up the logo committee. Mae has a strong predilection for color ––and not just any color. Mae loves the color red. In fact, when she looked over some of the initial designs for the logo, her comment was, “I can’t believe there’s not some red in this.” I’m betting there will be red in the final version.

Meanwhile, the Board of Selectmen was struggling with problems of its own. On Monday night, the board members were trying to decide who would speak first in regard to possible modifications to the master plan for Fairfield Hills. Selectman Bill Brimmer suggested the members of the Board of Selectmen “go alphabetically.” Bill quipped, “Joe always sat in front of me in class,” referring to Selectman Joe Bojnowski. “I yield to alphabetical order,” Mr Bojnowski said. That system put the first last –– first selectman Herb Rosenthal, that is.

Bill Brimmer may have more reasons than one to oppose a central business district or “downtown” at Fairfield Hills as suggested by jewelry storeowner and local resident Wayne Addessi at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. Mr Brimmer told Mr Addessi, “My wife has used your store [in Ridgefield] often,” suggesting that the store was far too close as it is.

Before too long, two longtime Newtown police officers plan to tie the wedding knot with each other. Police Patrol Sergeant Darlene Froehlich and Detective Robert Koetsch have announced their engagement. The nuptials are expected to occur sometime later this year, explained Sgt Froehlich, who is now wearing a sparkling diamond engagement ring. The sergeant supervises patrol shifts. Det Koetsch, who conducts long-term criminal investigations, also is the president of the Newtown Police Union.

After a lengthy absence, Animal Control Officer George Mattegat is back on the job. George was full of vim and vigor this week as he returned to his delicate job of handling errant canines and the even more delicate job of dealing with their owners.

We are used to dashing out to cover various emergency calls around town, and on Monday we did it again. We didn’t have to dash too far, however. Ted Farrell’s car caught fire right in The Bee’s parking lot. Ted, who is an advertising representative at The Bee parked his smoldering car, calmly walked into the office, got a fire extinguisher off the wall and asked in his low-key way, “Anyone know how to work this thing?” Fortunately, Scott Baggett did, and he did battle with the flames until Hook and Ladder arrived a minute or two later to completely douse the car. Having gotten his fire extinguisher lesson, Ted Farrell went back to work.

Now I’ve got to get back to work, be sure to…

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