By a vote of 67 to 9 Tuesday evening the Town Meeting approved a special appropriation of $358,000 to finance the phase one development of the 57-acre town-owned former Stefanko property on Philo Curtis Road as a second town park. Half of the amount, $179,000, is reimburseable by a federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation grant. A handful of people in the Middle School auditorium for the meeting spoke against the proposal.

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A proposal for a shopping center on the westerly side of Route 25 in Botsford is expected to be submitted to the Newtown Planning & Zoning Commission in the very near future by an as-yet-unnamed applicant. Site is the 38-acre former Cappy’s mining site. The industrially zoned property has been unused for several years.

The big hunk of the proposed 1978-79 budget before the taxpayers next Tuesday night will be for the schools, $8,200,000 as being recommended by the Legislative Council. This reflects an 11 percent increase over this past year’s budgeted $7,450,455.

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Newtowners will go to a town budget meeting on Tuesday, April 25, starting at 8 pm at Newtown High School to decide upon a $12,415,307.93 budget proposed for the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen for the 1978-79 fiscal year. The Legislative Council has given the Newtown Police Department a budget recommendation slightly higher than that of the Board of Selectmen, okaying a nine per cent increase and providing a budget which would give the police an additional officer. In other protection accounts the council gave the fire departments more money for capital items than the selectmen approved, voting a 39.5 percent budget increase, and doing the same for Civil Defense, recommending a 79.6 percent budget hike.

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Sing out. Those are the instructions senior citizens are receiving these days: sing out! And enjoy the thrill of entertaining appreciative audiences. That’s the aim of the Golden Notes senior citizen chorus under the direction of Jan Ziegler.

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The Newtown League of Women Voters held its annual meeting Tuesday evening to elect new officers and re-affirm its support positions for the coming year. Serving as co-presidents, Lynn Royce will cover LWV local, state, and national programs and action and voters service, and Serena Caperonis will head up the administrative operation of the League.

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Police are working investigating cases of vandalism to mailboxes in the Taunton area and have a suspect. Lt Michael DeJoseph reports that about two weeks ago there were five cases of vandalized mailboxes reported and investigated. Then after last Friday night, five more were reported and when police went into Taunton they discovered 22 mailboxes damaged as well as a vandalized stop sign at one of the corners.

APRIL 24, 1953

The designation of the new Route 6 highway bridge across the Housatonic River near the end of the Riverside Road as the “General Rochambeau Bridge” by this year’s general Assembly, has turned back the pages of history nearly 172 years to one of Newtown’s liveliest weekends in its history, the camping of the Castle Hill and adjacent meadows from Thursday, June 28, to Sunday, July 1, 1781.

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Newtown will participate in a Civil Defense test this Sunday, April 26, with communities from Stamford to New Fairfield entailing the solution of a theoretical attack sometime during the afternoon. All town sirens will sound the “red alert,” the signal for all road traffic to stop and pull to the side of the road. The “all clear” is expected ten minutes later.

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The Newtown Boy Scouts received approximately 400 young Christmas trees this week for planting on the Scout property on Church Hill Road. They plan to have all of the trees planted by this weekend.

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The staff of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library engaged in a bird hunt Monday afternoon to run down the identity of a quartet of strange-appearing birds which had been haunting the barberry hedges on the library grounds for about two weeks. The consensus, backed by various library volumes, was that these were winter-plumaged Baltimore orioles, arrived in New England while they should still be warming up in the tropics.

A daughter, Debra Jan, was born to Sgt and Mrs Donald C. Burr, April 11 in Rome, N.Y. Sgt Burr is stationed at Hancock Field, Syracuse, N.Y., with the US Air Force. Mrs Burr is the former Ruth Berglund of Sandy Hook.

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The birthday luncheon of the Women’s Federation of the Congregational Church was held last Thursday, April 16, at the church house. About 35 members brought a variety of covered dishes and the committee provided the meat, dessert and coffee. Mrs William Green of Queen Street was the speaker, her subject being “Growing African Violets.”

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The women’s Auxiliary of the United Fire Company of Botsford will present a dinner known as “The Firemen’s Feast” at the Pines Inn, Newtown-Bridgeport Road, next Tuesday evening, April 28, from 5:30 until 8 o’clock.

APRIL 20, 1928

The New York and New Haven road has set out to isolate Newtown and all stations south to Bridgeport. By their new timetable, there will be only one train each way between Danbury and Bridgeport.

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J.F. McCormick, of Providence, R.I., who has the local state road contract, is stopping at Parker House. Already he has some 50 men employed.

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Arthur Beard is doing the mason work on the new residence of Martin A. Moller.

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Thanks to the leadership and splendid energy of W.A. Upham, Hawleyville, is soon to have electric lights. The Danbury and Bethel Gas & Electric Lighting Company is this week setting poles along the state road into Hawleyville, and electric lights for the residents of that town will soon be an actuality.

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John Pangaly is driving a new Chevrolet coupe.

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P.J. Katz, the iron and plumbing fixture man in Danbury, has just bought five cars from the Lapp circus over at the Danbury Fair grounds. The circus is showing in Danbury this week, and will go on the road with motor cars instead of train service this year.

APRIL 24, 1903

P.L. Ronalds is expected to arrive in New York on or about May 20, and will probably be in Newtown a day or two later.

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Mrs M.E. Botsford of Lake George district remembered The Bee representative with some fine apples one day last week, that were as crisp and fresh as the day they were picked.

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Alexander Hart of Danbury was in town on Tuesday doing tuning and other work on pianos.

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Mrs Benjamin Handfeld, who recently bought the Bassett place, is having the house built over and thoroughly renovated.

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Dr H.E. Waite left on Monday to attend a medical convention at New Orleans, La.

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Mrs Hervey Wheeler will take charge of the “cradle roll,” to be organized in connection with the Congregational Sunday school.

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Miss Abbie Peck is improving her residence on the Boulevard by newly siding it on three sides. New windows will also be put in. Edward Botsford is doing the work.

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There came near being a serious fire in Taunton district, extending over the Bethel line on Saturday night. Some children had started a fire, which had swept into the woods. About night, seeing the danger of its covering several hundred acres, Albert W. Fairchild, Arthur D. Fairchild, Frederick Andrews, Jr, and others set out to fight it. After a two-hours’ contest, the flames were subdued.