Tuesday night the Board of Education heard the final report from the 1978 School Survey Committee on its survey for new or additional educational facilities in Newtown. The main thrust of the report is that a new school is not needed in the near future, but the town should look to either a permanent or temporary addition to the high school.

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Dr George L. Geckle has received a three-year appointment as chairman of the Department of English at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, beginning July 1. A graduate of Newtown High School, he received his AB degree at Middlebury College and his MA and PhD degrees at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

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William F. Loutrel was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Church Saturday, June 10, by the Right Reverend Morgan Porteus, DD, Bishop of Connecticut. He is one of six Deacons ordained in the diocesan service held at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. Mr Loutrel was presented for ordination by his mother, Mrs Louis F. Loutrel, Jr, of Newtown, and by the Rev Stephen H. Gushee, the rector of Trinity Church, Newtown.

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The United Methodist Church on Church Hill Road is a much better place to park since Gary Lawton and the boys of Troop 370 completed Gary’s Eagle Scout project. It seems that the church had no traffic lines or arrows to guide people through the parking lot. Gary was aware of this and decided as part of his project to become an Eagle Scout that he would remedy the situation. He called the highway department to find out how long and how wide the lines should be (15’ long x 8½ wide with the lines 4” wide) and drew up a blueprint to carry out the planning.

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On June 1, the Newtown Planning & Zoning Commission approved an amendment to the town’s zoning regulations which would permit real estate agents and insurance agents to be defined as professionals in the town. The legal notice of the decision was published June 9, but just three days later the commission decided to rescind the action, basically because doing so would allow those activities to take place in residential zones as accessory uses.

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An unusual dual ceremony took place at Edmond Town Hall June 15 in the first selectman’s office. Helen Triacca, Lesley Mack, and Barbara Carlson, local Welcome Wagon representatives, made a special occasion call on the occasion of Welcome Wagon International’s 50th birthday to present the first selectman with a certificate of appreciation of residents, businesses, and organizations. First Selectman Jack Rosenthal accepted the certificate for the community and then read a proclamation setting aside the week of July 16 as Welcome Wagon Week in Newtown.

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The Toy Box along with the Park and Recreation Department sponsored a skateboarding contest with the cooperation of Father Steve Gushee and the Trinity Episcopal Church, who allowed them to use the parking lots behind the church to conduct the contest. Contestants from Danbury and Newtown competed in the event which was won by Mike Kocot of Danbury, a member of the Danbury Downhillers Club. Newtowners who won prize money in the event were: Anthony Melita in the under 11 competition, Garth Genes and Pete Jamieson in the 11–13 year category, and Jim Real, who took a second to Kocot’s first in the over 14 age group.

JUNE 19, 1953

Seventeen employees of Fairfield State Hospital who have served there for 20 years or more were cited by the institution at a luncheon meeting of the hospital’s board of trustee Monday, June 15. Each employee was presented with a certificate of service by Mrs Alice Russ Cochran, chairman of the board, following remarks by Dr William H. Green, superintendent, and Dr William H. Walker, former superintendent.

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Ten units have expressed their intention of participating in the Fourth of July parade here, being organized by the Newtown volunteer firemen, according to Edward A. Rutan, parade chairman. The units are the Newtown Hook and Ladder Company, the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Company, Hawleyviulle Volunteer Fire Company, Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company, United Fire Company of Botsford, Sandy Hook Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps, Newtown Boy Scouts and the Newtown Ambulance Corps.

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 Subscribing to an innovation in publishing an account of commencement exercises for Newtown High School, The Bee is using a report written by one of the school’s own students, Miss Kathleen McMahon, Class of 1954. It does so without comment, except to say it shares the viewpoint of a number of townspeople that commencement would probably mean more to graduates and parents alike if the services of a forceful and capable outside speaker were employed to mark the most important milestone in the lives of the community’s young people.

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 The opposition of residents along the proposed new route of the Intercity buses in Newtown led to the dropping of the application for a route change by the bus company at a hearing before the Public Utilities Commission in Hartford Tuesday morning. A petition protesting the running of the Danbury to Bridgeport buses over Grover Avenue, Queen Street, and Church Hill Road to replace the present turn-around at Edmond Town Hall, and signed by over 50 residents of these streets and elsewhere, and the presence of a group of Newtown officials and residents all opposed to the change led to a quick termination of the hearing when the Intercity Bus Company withdrew their application.

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Newtown voters will go to the polls Monday, June 22, in the statewide referendum to settle two questions regarding the state constitution. The electorate will be asked to vote “yes” or “no” on an amendment to incorporate 47 amendments in a codification of the 135-year-old state document, and on an amendment which is intended to simplify the procedure of the election of state officers.

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The selectmen have issued an invitation to bid for a 24-hour home-answering telephone service to handle fire, police and ambulance calls, at the request of the Board of Finance.

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A new publishing venture in Newtown known as Pamphlet Editions received an encouraging boost with a favorable review in the June issue of The Lion, publication of the International Association of Lions Club, of “You Can Put Your Club Across,” a booklet written by Zaner Faust, associate editor of The Bee to aid the publicity chairmen of clubs and other organizations anywhere in publicizing the activities of their groups.

JUNE 15, 1928

Mrs Charles H. Peck has opened her summer home on Mt Pleasant for the season.

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Pootatuck Grange members enjoyed a very interesting address Tuesday night by Rev Paul A. Cullens on his trip last fall to Dakota and Wyoming.

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George G. Canfield is decorating the exterior of the residence of W.M. Kimball.

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The commencement exercises of the Newtown Academy took place on Friday afternoon at the Academy building on the hill in the presence of a goodly number of visitors, parents of the boys, and guests.

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The pleasant weather over the weekend brought out an exceptional number of tourists and parties to visit Riverside on Lake Zoar. A steady traffic over Riverside Road was by far the heaviest this spring.

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A party was given June 9 at the house of Mr and Mrs Epstein by their daughter, Sally, and friend Molly Ellovitz. About 30 couples attended the gathering.

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The Children’s Day service Sunday morning at the Congregational Church brought out an audience, which filled the church.

JUNE 19, 1903

It is said there are several young couples in Hawleyville anxious to get married, but they are unable to find houses to live in.

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James Cavanaugh of Sandy Hook had a fine young colt added to his stock one day last week.

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T.E. Platt and Son of Hopewell have recently erected on their place two silos 14 feet across and 20 feet high. They are the Harde silos, and the ones for which Mr Platt and Son are the agents.

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George B. La Tour, clerk in the office of the Hawleyville station, has moved his family from Nashua, N.H., and taken the Haroley Jennings place in Taunton.

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The mail train north Sunday morning was delayed two hours in Botsford, owing to the breaking of a flange on the freight train in the cut just north of Botsford. Postmaster G.F. Duncombe showed his enterprise by driving to Botsford and bringing up the mail pouches and Sunday newspapers for Newtown.

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The North Center school closes for the summer vacation on Friday.

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Don’t forget the date of the library benefit, July 3, at the Town Hall. The play is A Bunch of Roses, and it will be worth your time and money to be there.