Congratulations cheerleading Nighthawks! The Newtown High School cheerleading team sure has had an impressive run this season. The girls followed their recent SWC and State Championships with a New England title last weekend! Read more about their success on page B-1 of this week’s print edition and online under our Sports tab.

If you read the March 14 print edition of this newspaper, you hopefully noticed a photo of a large group of Boy Scouts of America leaders and Scouts. The group stopped for a photo while delivering a large collection of food and other supplies to FAITH Food Pantry a few weeks ago, following a collection they did on February 23 they called “Scouting For Goods.” The collaborative effort was done among the two local BSA packs and the five local troops, and was the first of what pack leaders hope will be a regular occurrence. “A lot of the kids are friends in school anyway, so we’re trying to do more together,” one of the BSA leaders mentioned that night at the food pantry. The second Scouting For Goods event is planned for this weekend, so if you’d like to help, watch for the collections on Sunday in front of Big Y on Queen Street and Stop & Shop on South Main Street. Scouts will be at each location from 10 am until 4 pm, accepting nonperishable food, pet supplies, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene items. The Scouts will be alternating through two-hour shifts.

The same leader mentioned one of the coolest things he and some of the Scouts witnessed during last month’s collection: a man had been heading in to redeem bottles and cans when he spotted the Scouts, so he asked what they were doing. After the effort was explained, the man continued on his intended chore … and he then returned to the parking lot a little while later with a grocery cart filled with items for the Scouts to give to FAITH — he’d used the money he received from all those bottles and cans to help the Scouts, he told them. I was so impressed by that story. I think that anonymous man deserves a Good Egg Award.

If you read last week’s Top of the Mountain you would have caught notice of a change of plans for the Friends of Edmond Town Hall. As we were going to press last week the nonprofit organization announced they would be postponing their second annual gala, which was going to again raise funds to support the historic building at 45 Main Street. Funds were going to be used to restore the stage floor in the main theater, and toward the purchase of vinyl dance flooring to be used during performances to protect the surface. Soon after the March 21, 2025 print edition arrived, however, we heard another update: the in-person event has been canceled but an online auction is still happening. I haven’t heard anything further, and the group’s website and Facebook feeds hadn’t been updated as of Wednesday.

In other news, Bee Reporter Jenna Visca had her poem, “Sunshine,” accepted into C.H. Booth Library’s Poetry Walk in April! Members of the public were recently invited to submit their own short poems to be considered for the library’s annual Poetry Walk. Poems will be on display both inside and outside the library throughout April. A special reception will also be held on Sunday, April 6, from 2-4 pm, where Jenna and other local poets have been invited to read or recite one of their poems. I’ll let you in on a secret, readers: I’m something of a writer myself, but I got a little too distracted chasing squirrels to finish my submission for the Poetry Walk. Maybe next year.

Until this week I did not know that the word PEZ was created by pulling the first, and middle, and the final letters from the German word for peppermint. I learned that neat little bit of trivia while visiting Booth Library Tuesday afternoon, when I found a fun little display tucked into one of the first floor presentation cases. Some of the more unusual PEZ dispensers from the personal collection of Curtis Urbina are on display there, along with a few cards with additional information. The “Candy Hander” with Wile E. Coyote sharing space with The Roadrunner is among one of my favorites. In the photo shown here, you can also see additional dispensers in the background. Those are part of a group of Disney dispensers, one of a handful of groupings Curt put together for the temporary exhibition. There are groupings of Simpsons, Star Wars, Cars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters; boxed collections of Thomas & Friends, Snow White, The Wizard of Oz and even Presidents; a few Avengers in there, and plenty of other designs as well.

The Newtown Recycling Ad Hoc Committee is still hoping to hear from as many Newtown residents as possible before midnight Monday. The committee worked recently with Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority to create a survey concerning local curbside recycling. We’ve had multiple stories in recent weeks on the topic. It has also been discussed and even debated in recent town meetings and our Letter Hive, with people speaking for and against continuing the service. The survey is quick and easy, and personal information is collected only if those taking the survey decide to share it. As of Wednesday, the committee had received 2,910 responses. Those taking the 10-question survey are asked to be completely honest. The link is available at hrra.org/information-newtown-sayt.

Meanwhile, the first of four Save As You Throw/Pay As You Throw info sessions ahead of the new program coming to the transfer station took place this week. If you missed Wednesday’s event at Newtown Community Center, don’t fret. Additional sessions are planned: Tuesday, April 1 (no foolin’!), at 6:30 pm, at the community center; and then Thursday, April 24, at noon, and Saturday, May 3, at 10 am, at Newtown Senior Center, 8 Simpson Street. Each of those events will help residents understand why the Town is adopting the new program, how it works and what it will cost, items that will be accepted at the transfer station, and many other topics. We will continue to cover the program as we approach July 1, of course. These sessions will be another option for residents to ask questions and hear answers from those directly involved with the planning and implementation of this new process.

I’m going to curb my thoughts at this point. I’ll start putting more fodder together for next week, when you can come back and … read me again.