March 31, 1995

Police are investigating a two-hour crime spree during the night of March 24 when a vandal or vandals with a high-powered BB gun drove across a large section of town shooting at windows in homes, parked vehicles, traveling vehicles, and at Newtown High School. Detective Harry Noroian said March 30 police have received information on the case which they hope will lead to an arrest. Although police received about 30 reports of vandalism from residents on March 24, 25, and 26 stemming from the March 24 spree, apparently no one was injured. In some cases, adults or small children were near windows when the windows were struck by BBs. The police station was a very busy place as reports filtered in. Motorist Jane Bauch, a Riverside resident, was eastbound on Pole Bridge Road at about 10:30 pm when a small, light colored car approached from the opposite direction. Someone in that car took a shot at Mrs Bauch’s Toyota Camry, resulting in the rear driver’s side window puncturing. Mrs Bauch’s daughter Brittany, who is almost two years old, was sitting in a child’s seat in the center of the back seat. Although her sleeping daughter was uninjured, the child could have been seriously wounded or blinded.

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St Rose Church has withdrawn its request for a special exception to borough zoning regulations to build an addition to the church’s school at 40 Church Hill Road. The church had been scheduled to present its plans for a 2,750-square-foot classroom addition to the east side of the 12,000-square-foot St Rose School to the Borough Zoning Commission at a public hearing on March 29. In a March 29 letter to Borough Zoning Commission Chairman Robert Connor, Rev George Birge of St Rose requested that the application for a school addition be withdrawn. “At this time the project is delayed, and I will keep you advised to its future development,” Rev Birge wrote.

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A coffee house featuring live music, art, poetry and other entertainment plus refreshments will be held on the first Friday of every month at Hawley School from 7 to 10 pm. The next coffee house will be held Friday, April 7. If you are interested in performing, call Katie Lukeris or Cheryl Bennett at 426-9511.

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Glory Days. This week in 1990. Nine different players scored points and Billy Swift knocked down a clutch free throw with eight seconds left, as the Celtics nipped the Hawks, 23-21 in the championship of the Newtown Parks & Recreation’s Intermediate Basketball League. Kevin Stockton and Andrew Gellert were the Celts’ leading scorers while Terry McGovern, of the Hawks, was the games leading scorer with nine points.

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This week in 1955. Marine private first class, Scudder Smith, received his Airborne Interceptor Operator’s Wings after completing a 22-week course in Cherry Point, North Carolina. Mr Smith is now publisher of The Newtown Bee, Antiques and The Arts Weekly, and Horses of Connecticut.

March 27, 1970

TAG SALE. The Newtown Historical Society announces that it will hold a tag sale of the Blackman House furnishings on Saturday, April 4, from 11 am to 3 pm at the house. The late Mrs Henry Blackman bequeathed the house to the society. The house is located on Mount Pleasant Road at the junction of Tunnel Road. Doubtless many people will want to see the property and also purchase items in the sale.

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As The Bee goes to press this week, the majority of readers can be assured that the paper will reach them on time, since most striking postal workers have returned to work and the mail embargo for all classes of mail was lifted throughout the entire state on the afternoon of March 24. However, it was a period of inconvenience and frustration as the strike began and mushroomed throughout the state and country. Indications of things to come began Wednesday, March 18, with rumors of the strike, and on Thursday The Bee was told that papers bound for New York could not be accepted by the post office. Friday began and ended as a day of woe. Early in the morning Bee staff began making phone calls to area post offices to see if any papers had reached their destination and if there was a possibility of getting the papers from central post offices so they could be delivered to neighboring towns by truck. It took two calls to learn that all papers had been impounded and could not be taken from the post offices, since other postal workers had decided to strike in sympathy with those in New York. Phones were overly active on what is usually a quiet day at The Bee as people called to find out about the postal status. There were many small post offices in the state whose personnel did not go out on strike, including the four in Newtown, and what mail came into town was delivered as usual.

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Bids on a station wagon for the Newtown Dog Warden will be opened at the April 7 meeting of the Board of Selectmen at 8 pm in Edmond Town Hall. Specifications are available at the police office on the lower floor of Edmond Town Hall.

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Word has been received that Fran White, a 1969 graduate of Newtown High School, has been named to the dean’s list for the first semester at the school of Home Economics at the University of Connecticut.

March 23, 1945

The Sacred Lily of India, which has been of so much interest in the home of Mr and Mrs W.M. McKenzie on Queen Street for several years, is again ready to burst into bloom. At last, it grew 21 inches from Saturday to Wednesday, now standing 41 inches high. Mrs McKenzie, judging by past performances, thinks that the flower will be open at least part way by Sunday. The flower now measures 18 inches in length and when in full bloom for the last two years has reached 26-1/2 inches. The bulb is now seven years old and this will be the fourth time it has blossomed. The lily’s rapid growth is realized from Mrs McKenzie’s measurements of 12 inches on Wednesday. She also has two other bulbs whose shoots and blossoms are growing not nearly so fast. Anyone interested in seeing these Sacred Lilies is welcome to call at the McKenzie home on Main Street.

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An appeal for mouth organs has come from Pfc Arthur “Buddy” Smith, son of Mr and Mrs Ben D. Smith of Dodgingtown, who writes home from Germany that the boys want mouth organs. He is a member of the 469th Engineering Corps with General Patch’s Seventh Army and they have a professional player who would be quite willing to teach the boys to play mouth organs — if they had any mouth organs to play. Mrs Smith has appealed to The Bee to give publicity to Buddy’s request. Anyone with a mouth organ they are willing to donate is asked to notify Mrs Smith (phone 17-12) who will be glad to collect them and ship them to the boys so they can play their own tunes as they go storming into Berlin!

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Two children in town are victims of scarlet fever, “Stevie” Jones, son of Mr and Mrs Allen Northey Jones, and Hugh Brodie, son of Captain and Mrs Herbert Brodie.

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Mrs Paul S. Smith and son, Teddy, spent Friday and Saturday visiting the home of her sister, Mrs Robert E. Beers, in Hohokus N.J.

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The Newtown and Hawleyville Fire Companies were called to the residence of First Selectman Stanley J. Blackman on Wednesday afternoon to extinguish a chimney fire. Only slight damage was done.

March 19, 1920

Edward Thompson motored to New Haven Tuesday, on business connected with the automobile shop.

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The Lakeside Lyceum club held their weekly meeting and the question under debate, this week, was, “Is a Dollar Worth a Dollar?”

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The interior of the Sandy Hook Market is shining in a handsome coat of fresh paint. Everything looks more and more like an approaching wedding in the Banks family.

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Fred Mayer has returned to work in the shop of Premier Manufacturing Co., after being laid up with an injury to his head. Dr D. Chester Brown and Dr W.H. Kiernan have attended him.

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One sweetly solemn thought comes to us o’er and o’er. Our taxes are higher this spring than they have ever been before.

Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with The Newtown Bee readers. Images can be e-mailed to kendra@thebee.com, or brought to the office at 5 Church Hill Road to be scanned. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.