March 8, 1996

Representatives of the State Department of Transportation’s engineering office intend to meet with town officials on Wednesday, March 20, to discuss the state’s plans for the replacement of the railroad bridge over Church Hill Road... The bridge, which sits just 12-feet, 7-inches above the street is hit regularly by tractor trailer trucks whose drivers apparently do not see the warning signs and lights.

***

The scheduled start of construction on the Fairfield Hills bypass road has slipped yet again, receding to the spring of 1997 at the earliest... As of last November, the tentative start of construction on the bypass road was slated for the late summer or early fall of 1996. Tim Gaffey, the State Department of Transportation’s bypass manager, said Tuesday that even an April 1997 starting date for the work is “extremely optimistic.” A project such as the bypass road takes “a lot of coordination” among various state agencies, he said.

***

Members of the Board of Education made it clear Tuesday night they wanted to proceed with the Hawley School addition, despite delays with the high school project. The $3.5 million Hawley School project is expected to go before the town for a vote this spring. If approved, it would add 22,000-square-feet to the elementary school and feature a gymnasium, a media center, science rooms, and an administrative area.

***

The Sandy Hook PTA is looking for an organization to take over its project of getting local residents to sign up for special interest license plates heralding Newtown. The PTA arranged for Sandy Hook artist and children’s book illustrator Stephen Kellogg to design the plates. The group had hoped to raise money and pride in Newtown through the plate promotion. Unfortunately, the PTA was unable to get the 200 participants required by the state to launch the plate.

***

The unending problem of maintaining and improving dirt roads confronted the Board of Selectmen again Monday night when a group of property owners on Tamarack Road and Sanford Road demanded that the board leave the roads alone. Some residents of Tamarack, Sanford, and Echo Valley Roads came to the selectman’s meeting The public participation portion of the meeting lasted well over an hour as the handful of residents lectured the board, sometimes stridently, about the proposal to widen Tamarack and Sanford Roads... First Selectman Bob Cascella said the project has been approved by the Conservation Commission... The cost of the project is estimated at $213,000 and would be borne by the developer.

***

Wednesday, March 6, was a record-breaking night at Newtown High School in many aspects. The NHS boys’ basketball team, playing in the second round of the CIAC Class L tournament, after receiving a first-round bye, laid waste to the visiting East Haven Easties, 74-47, to become the first basketball team (boys’ or girls’) in school history to win 20 games in a single season. NHS coach Kevin Sullivan, incidentally, pocketed the 250th victory of his coaching career that night as well... “We really wanted to reach the state quarterfinals... the furthest we’ve ever gone has been the quarterfinals in 88-89 and now we’ve matched that, as well.”

March 5, 1971

As the Bee goes to press this week a March storm of the most unpleasant type is raging through the area. Trees and power lines are down in a lot of sections, and road crews are hampered by these and falling branches, not to mention a combination of snow, sleet, and ice that is covering everything.

***

The week of George Washington’s birthday, the boys and girls at the Children’s Adventure Center learned about the early history of our country. After discussing the first president, the children talked about the pioneers who helped to build our country, like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. For arts and crafts projects, the children made soldier hats, stick horses, boats, and some pictures of George Washington.

***

The latest project of the Newtown Jaycees is on behalf of the American prisoners of war and those missing in action in Southeast Asia. The purpose of the project will be to encourage local citizens to write letters expressing their views on the inhumane and cruel treatment of American prisoners of war and men missing in action. The goal of the project is to pressure Hanoi into living up to the Geneva Convention, which was signed June 28, 1957.

***

Newtown is starting a newspaper recycling program with the cooperation of First Selectman Timothy Treadwell. A trailer truck will be at Newtown Middle School next week to collect newspapers. The truck will then go to the landfill site, where it will stay, and any Newtown residents may bring their newspapers there and put them in the trailer. When the trailer is filled, the papers will then be taken to be recycled. For every ton of paper, you save 17 trees.

***

William Petry, chairman of the Newtown Inter-Club Association, which is a group of citizens from various service organizations and clubs in town who are hoping to start a youth center, announced his committee appointments at a meeting on March 1... The members present heard Arthur Spector tell the group of his desire to see the youth center service not only the high school children, but also the younger teen-agers and pre-teen group... The point stressed most emphatically by those in attendance was that proper programming will be the key to success in this venture.

***

The large seating capacity of St Rose Church was barely enough to hold the congregation which attended Sunday afternoon’s ecumenical service. And those who were present found the service a moving and unifying experience. An atmosphere of good fellowship seemed to permeate the edifice, radiating a feeling of gratitude for the opportunity for townspeople to worship together in one body.

March 1, 1946

The Hawley High School Girls’ Basketball Team covered themselves with glory Saturday afternoon on the Bethel high school court, when they played the Housatonic Valley League Championship game and defeated the Northern division contender, Washington, by a 41-18 score. For two straight years the local girls have gone undefeated in the regular season.

***

The blizzard and heavy snowstorm which hit New England last week did not spare Newtown. In the opinion of many people, it was one of the worst storms of the winter. Snow began falling shortly after supper Tuesday evening and continued all night. On Wednesday there was a very strong wind, which filled up the paths dug with so much effort and the work had to be done all over again.

***

The Stepney Firemen defeated the Newtown Captains two out of three games in a bowling match at the Long Hill Fire House Sunday night, February 17. This win gives Stepney a two to one lead in the matches so far, and Newtown will be looking for revenge again at Long Hill this Sunday night.

***

The Fairfield State Hospital now has a new Mack Model 45 fire engine, which is ready for service in case of fire. It is equipped with a 400-gallon booster tank and carries 1,000 feet of 2 1/2 inch hose... Ernest Fenn, chief engineer at the hospital, is in charge of this fine piece of fire-fighting equipment and it is hoped soon to organize a permanent fire company among the employees.

***

Boys of Wooster School were taken by surprise Wednesday afternoon, when the Hawley boys won by a decisive 33-26 score, in a fast game played at Edmond Town Hall gymnasium. For the Woosterites, who had recently defeated Bethel by a comfortable margin, defeat at the hands of Newtown had not entered into their calculations.

February 18, 1921

Fine weather favored the Farmers’ institute on Wednesday, which was held in two sections, the women’s section at the Grange hall and the men’s division at the Town hall. The attendance was about 12 in the morning in each place and 25 in the afternoon. In the ladies’ division the speakers were Miss Mary Deming and Mrs Dakin. Miss Deming had as her subjects, “Remodeling of Clothing”...and Mrs Dakin spoke on “Nutrition of Children”... At the Town hall, A.W. Manchester spoke on “The Profits in Farming”... and Prof P.A. Campbell on “Increasing Production by Better Breeding”... At the noon session the ladies of Newtown served an excellent lunch.

***

A.B. Nichols, while working at his saw mill, Monday afternoon, attempted to kick a piece of bark away from the big circular saw. In some way, he got his foot caught in the big saw and his foot was injured. Dr W.H. Kiernan was called and was obliged to amputate one of his toes.

***

The Town School Committee have not given out their plan for the proposed new school, but we are of the opinion that in the long run a good, up-to-date, central school building will have a favorable result on the property values in town. If the burden is spread over a series of years by a bond plan, it would not necessarily be a burden upon anyone. Who wants to move into a town that has not good schools?

***

W.H. Sanford, who has been in New York for a time, has returned to his home in Newtown, as he finds he feels much better here... Fred Johnson of Sugar street has purchased a fine pair of black five-year-old horses of Hamilton Brothers of Bridgeport... Frank Perkins has been confined to the house for a week or more with quinsy sore throat.

***

February 22 will be patriotic night in Pootatuck Grange. The ladies are invited to come in Colonial costume. The grand march will be led by Worthy Master Raymond Hall and ladies judged by the brothers to have most attractive costume.

***

Two freight cars loaded with merchandise and two cabooses were destroyed by a fire which resulted from a rear-end collision at Botsford, Friday night, at 9 o’clock. The fire started from the overturning of the stoves in the cabooses and with no fire-fighting apparatus at hand, the flames entirely consumed the cabooses and two cars, only the trucks remaining after the fire had burned itself out... By the time the cars could be uncoupled from the remainder of the train, the flames had spread from the cabooses to the two cars ahead... The derailment and fire blocked both tracks for several hours... the fire was an expensive one on account of the merchandise destroyed.

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