Worship services, a Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard event, and this month’s meeting of The International Club of Newtown (ICN) were among the gatherings and events canceled last Sunday due to the weekend’s miserable weather. As with many others, ICN made its decision to cancel its Sunday afternoon gathering early. We received an email early last Friday evening, in fact, letting us know the club’s members were going to play things safe and just stay home for the day. Solid choice, considering what we saw out the windows for much of the weekend.

It was nice to reconnect with ICN recently. Bee Reporter Jenna Visca had reached out a few weeks ago to its current president, Edith Harvey, while updating files for the 2025 Guide To Newtown. When Edith returned Jenna’s call she said the social and cultural club is still celebrating the heritage of members, nearly 50 years after its creation. Members are people who have lived overseas at some point in their life, and speak the language of that country. They share their cultural backgrounds during monthly meetings, often over lunch or at the home of a member. Although based in Newtown, the club has long welcomed residents of neighboring towns. We look forward to hearing from Edith when plans for the March meeting are set — she promised to keep in touch — but you don’t need to wait if you’d like to learn more about and perhaps join the club. Contact Edith directly at 203-261-9793 to learn more.

The February 11 Borough Board of Burgesses meeting covered a lot of ground, including the current condition of the Main Street flagpole finial. The gold ball was knocked from the top of the 100-foot tall steel pole in the middle of the road around 4:30 pm Sunday, January 26. A 42-year-old Bethel resident hit the landmark while he was operating a 2021 Nissan Titan. From the photo I’ve seen, it looks like he was traveling west off Main Street and then just hit the pole. Burgesses John Madzula and Sarah Phillips were both nearby when the crash happened; John said he looked out the window and saw the flagpole swaying, while Sarah said she heard both the crash of the truck against the flagpole and then the ball hitting the ground. John snapped the photo we had in the paper and online last week. What wasn’t mentioned during that meeting, but that I’ve since learned, is fellow Borough residents Sherry and John Bermingham were also in the immediate vicinity when everything happened a few weeks ago. The longtime Main Street residents were traveling north on Main Street, south of the flagpole (or “sopo,” as Sherry referred to it) when they too saw the pickup truck in the road and the gold finial next to it. John checked on the condition of the driver, and then the Berminghams also made sure the finial from the state-sanctioned landmark within the National Register of Historic Places was picked up for safekeeping.

Sherry told me this week she and her husband immediately recalled the demise of the previous 16-inch diameter finial and its truck, or the small metal rod that attaches from a flagpole to its finial, that happened in October 2012. That was the month a tractor-trailer truck also struck the flagpole hard enough to knock the finial off its post. The gold ball was never found after that hit, however, leading many to believe it fell into the trailer and traveled away from Newtown, or at least the center of the Borough.

Tickets aren’t yet on sale, but I can confirm Newtown Youth & Family Services and NewSylum are teaming up for a new Mental Health Awareness Month fundraiser. NYFS will benefit from funds raised during Keys For A Cause, a special event being planned at the Keating Farms Avenue brewery on Wednesday, May 14, from 6:30-9:30 pm. New York NY Dueling Pianos will bring their comedy-based dueling piano show to town that night. Their performers sing and play everything from Taylor Swift, Jimmy Buffett, Garth Brooks, Queen, Maroon 5, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, Jerry Lee Lewis, Disney, Madonna, Ed Sheeran, Metallica and just about everyone in between. Most importantly, the show is all about the audience. Since 2012 New York NY Dueling Piano has offered clap-along, sing-along fun and high-octane comedy. All ages are invited to enjoy great food, craft beer (21+), and live music. The evening will also include raffles. Tickets are not yet on sale, unfortunately, but I’ll keep an eye out and let you know when they appear. If not soon, I’ll sit outside the NYFS office on Berkshire Road and start caterwauling. That’ll get those tickets moving!

I’m offering my final reminder that this month’s Friday Night Bingo at St Rose was postponed due to a scheduling conflict. All ages will be welcomed to the Monsignor Weiss Gathering Hall at St Rose of Lima School, 40 Church Hill Road, next week, on Friday, February 28. Doors open at 5:45 pm, and games run from 6:30 until about 9:30 pm each week. Admission is $20, which covers all regular games.

Also in the vein of planning ahead, I understand Reverend Steve Volpe at Newtown United Methodist Church will be outdoors the morning of Wednesday, March 5, offering his second round of Drive-Thru Ash Wednesday. Last year’s inaugural offering drew 18 people to the parking lot of the Church Hill Road house of worship, where the pastor was happily waiting with his wonderful smile and plenty of ashes and prayers the morning after the season’s biggest snowstorm to date. Additional details will be shared next week.

I received some very sad news this week. Maggie the Comfort Dog passed away on Friday afternoon. The beautiful golden retriever, who gave nearly a decade of exemplary service to Newtown and surrounding towns following 12/14, died on Valentine’s Day from cancer. She was, according to a note from her local handlers, “peacefully embraced in loving care among those she knew and those that loved her” when she took her final breath. Maggie and her sister Addie were newly trained K-9 Comfort Dogs with Lutheran Church Charities when we first met 14+ years ago. The girls weren’t even a year old at that time, but went immediately to work, living up to their “comfort dog” titles. Maggie moved with one of her handlers to Florida in 2021, formally retiring from service in November of that year. She made at least one more trip to Newtown, returning last June to celebrate graduation with Newtown High School’s Class of 2024, but had otherwise been enjoying a life filled with lots of Floridian sand, sunshine and smiles for the past few years.

I’m going to continue to remember Maggie through my memories, and the words Christ the King Lutheran Church Pastor Rob Morris gave us for a February 2022 story about her retirement: “As Christians, we are taught to love our neighbor just as Christ loved us. I learned that sometimes, that love arrives much more easily on four legs than on two. I will always be grateful for the opportunities that arose to love and care for others in need just because a beautiful, blue-vested golden retriever was walking at the end of the leash.”

I hope you too will remember those words, and always be nice to everyone you meet. Listen carefully. Try to not judge. It’s a good way to live. My way of living also includes gathering nibbles of news to share with my friends, which you can enjoy again when you come back here next week to … read me again.