There were rumors going around town last Saturday about a big rabbit riding around in a fire truck, and it turned out that the stories were true. After the Hawleyville Fire Company held a pancake breakfast with the Easter Bunny, the rabbit visited the Big Y parking lot and the Villa restaurant in Sandy Hook to give candy-filled plastic eggs to all the lucky kids who happened to be in the right places at the right time.

This weekend the fire companies also will be busy. There will be flower sales going on at the Sandy Hook and Botsford firehouses and the Botsford firefighters also are sponsoring the annual carnival that is taking place on the grounds of Newtown High School through Saturday. And to cover all the bases, the Botsford firefighters are selling Krispy Kreme donuts at both locations.

Mother Nature has been kind to those that stayed in Newtown for the spring vacation, but the question remains, will it last? Temperatures were poised to plummet again at the end of the week. What have New Englanders done to deserve such cold temperatures all the way into the middle of April? Come on spring!

It’s one of those little taxes levied on us that we never think about. The piles of raked sand are accumulating along the curbs of more and more residential streets as Newtown residents are working hard to get rid of all that road sand sprayed onto their lawns –– along with heaps of snow –– by the plow trucks. On the low-tech side, Gordon Williams at 32 Main was definitely not leaning on his rake as he worked hard all morning to rid his grass of road sand. Further up the street, Laura Lerman at 55 Main was taking the high-tech route. She wore a leaf blower strapped to her back as she neatly whisked the sand off her lawn and into the street, and she seemed to have finished in less than ten minutes. Either way, the town’s big Zamboni-like sweeping machine will be making the rounds over the next few weeks, sucking all that sand right up and leaving a fine spray of clean water to settle the dust in its wake.

Gordon, by the way, says the United States Air Force Band of Liberty’s concert band will be coming to Newtown High School for a public performance on Tuesday, May 6, at 7:30 pm. Admission is free but tickets are required because seating is limited. Tickets are available by mail order only and are limited to four per request. To get tickets, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to US Air Force Band Concert, c/o the Newtown Lions Club, Jason Hsu, 17 Old Castle Drive, Newtown 06470.

Gordon also wants everyone to know that the Lions Club’s annual Lose the Litter Day will be held on Sunday, April 27, this year. To sign up for a particular road cleanup, call Jerome Mayer at 426-4547.

Speaking of Gordon, his birthday is this weekend. But since it conflicts with Easter, he celebrated it last weekend when he and Lina went to concert in Danbury and dinner at Nick’s.

Bob Brown is busy helping to organize the 50th class reunion of the Newtown High School Class of 1953, the first class to graduate from the new high school (now the middle school) on Queen Street, although it spent most of that year in the Hawley School. Bob says the reunion will be at 7 pm on Saturday, July 26, at the Stony Hill Inn. There were only 32 in the class, and a few are deceased, but most of the rest have been located. Bob is still looking for information on John Beach, John Grady, Robert Kingman, and Jeffrey Westcott, so if anyone knows their whereabouts, contact Bob in Bridgewater at 860-354-4190 or at Bwtr107@aol.com.

Last week’s story about the April Morning treasure hunt at C.H. Booth library proved to draw crowds to the library. Program coordinator Kim Weber reported that so many people participated that “we had to go out and buy more prizes.”

One set of hunters for the revolutionary treasure items was in a bit of a hurry. Although they cared about all the hidden treasures, they really just wanted to see the musket in a display case on the third floor.

Don’t forget that fifth graders in Ms Swanson’s class are collecting items for Operation Care Package to send to soldiers (and a search dog) that will remain in Iraq for a while. Items such as toiletries, eye drops, wipes, sun block, candy that does not melt, and dog’s toys can be brought to Reed Intermediate School by April 25.

I remember when the furniture in police Captain Joe Rios’s office in the police station was so old and creaky that it looked like something out of a 1940s’ police station movie. Not only did the furniture look dated, it also was nonfunctional, with moving parts sometimes not moving, and locks not locking. Well, that situation has been rectified. The captain now has a modern, tasteful, even elegant, suite of office furniture with natural warm wood tones, brushed brass accents, and subdued dark metal panels. The captain’s horseshoe-shaped desk also brings good luck.

It is your good luck that I will be back with more inside info on Newtown next week, so be sure to…

Read me again.