Well, I guess the prayers of Rev Bob Weiss have been answered.

For the past month, the pastor of St Rose has been quite verbal about the need for the congregation to pray for good weather for the annual, new-and-improved St Rose Carnival that kicked off this Tuesday. I’m sure he added a few requests himself. Well, judging by the huge turnout at Tuesday’s opening, under a perfect dome of early-evening blue, he must be a happy man. And judging by the weather forecast, this year’s carnival could prove to be the best ever.

My eyes may have been deceiving me, but I think I saw Don Leavitt at the carnival Tuesday night. The longtime Newtown resident was there with a handful of his large contingent of grandchildren.

The Fourth of July weekend is typically a big weekend for movie moguls, as big box office returns over the long weekend often serve to jumpstart a stagnant summer movie season. This year was no exception, with several big budget blockbusters opening on the same day. With ticket sales still being counted, experts are already calling it Hollywood’s biggest Fourth of July weekend ever. I wonder if former Newtown resident Chris Seaman’s role in The Patriot had anything to do with it.

Those of you who have gone to see Mel Gibson’s latest flick, set against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War, may have seen Chris’ face up on the big screen. The 1996 graduate of Newtown High School is an extra in the movie and spent several weeks on location during the filming.

Though the Fourth of July was big for the movie industry, it was pretty quiet here in Newtown. Since the town lacks a big fireworks show, many residents opt to set them off themselves. This is bad news for us animals who happen to be afraid of such outbursts.

Donna Safee, president of Spay & Neuter Association of Newtown, confessed that she had to bail her dog, Lucky, out of the Monroe dog pound on the Fourth of July. She said Lucky is terrified of thunderstorms and thinks that fireworks are thunderstorms, too. When firecrackers went off in her neighborhood, Lucky bolted right through the screen door and down the street.

Within an hour, she found him locked up at the pound. Another time Lucky wound up in the pound after he knocked a box fan out of a window to escape during a thunderstorm. “I can’t tell you how many times we’ve had to go searching for him,” Donna said, “but you can’t keep him tranquilized all the time, especially over the weeks around July 4.”

Winding up in the dog pound twice in the two and a half years Lucky has lived with the Safee family isn’t too bad, all things considered. The husky-collie mix lived at the Shelton dog pound for six weeks before they adopted him, so he was “lucky” to be adopted, Donna said.

Speaking of that big fireworks show that is lacking in town, I heard a lot of Newtown residents this week reminiscing about days gone by when Newtown was home to one of the best patriotic light shows in the state. I say, you want fireworks? Just go to a Legislative Council meeting over the next couple of months. There you will find fireworks as members try to figure out what to do with Fairfield Hills.

Council members won’t be the only ones likely to be weathering a few frustrations in the weeks to come. Motorists, be prepared for some traffic delays in Hawleyville and thereabouts for the next three months as workmen install both water lines and sewer lines for The Homesteads at Newtown, a 298-unit elderly housing complex now under construction at 166 Mt Pleasant Road. Sewer pipe will be extended from that address to the Bethel town line. Water pipe will be extended from the complex’s driveway to Blackman Road. Police will be on hand to regulate alternating one-way traffic on Mt Pleasant Road, as required for construction.

Speaking of council members, for those of you who have been trying to call the Studley residence this week, don’t panic. The Studley family has not moved out of town, although those dialing their number are getting a voice recording that tells them the number has been disconnected. The Studleys recently sold their home on Deep Brook Road and have taken up residence elsewhere. For now, they do not have a phone number.

If you were trying to get a hold of Chuck and Melissa Pilchard Tuesday night, you should have tried The Pleasance. I noticed their familiar faces enjoying the flowers and spending a few romantic moments in the gazebo.

Perhaps Mae Schmidle could use a break at The Pleasance. Her husband, Bob, reports that Mae has been working in overdrive getting their Echo Valley Road home spruced up for the Historical Society House Tour this weekend. Bob says he would get up from a green chair to get a glass of water, and when he went to sit down, it would be reupholstered red. The whole house has been redone, so much so that Bob can hardly recognize the place.

If you’ve had difficulty recognizing police cars recently, that’s because the department is testing out a new one developed by General Motors. Appropriate for the Fourth of July, you may have seen town police tooling around in a red, white, and blue Chevrolet police car. But the car is not new rolling stock for the police department, which uses Fords. Town police were asked by Chevrolet to try out the new car, and so they obliged and are taking the vehicle on the road to see how it compares to the vehicle they normally drive.

The police department has a new neighbor: the Salvation Army Social Service. The pantry is now located in Town Hall South and is in need of metal shelving for canned goods. Got some extra shelving? Call Ann Piccini at 270-4330.

If you’re looking for an attorney who can concentrate under pressure, Natalia Kerler’s the one for you. Natalia was recently on the phone discussing some important details of a pending closing when she leaned too far back in her chair. The chair toppled both Natalia and a nearby lamp onto the floor. Fortunately only the lamp broke. Amazingly, Natalia didn’t lose a beat in the phone conversation, and aside from all the crashing in the background, the person on the other end of the phone didn’t have a clue that anything was amiss.

Although not an attorney, Alana Meloni can also concentrate under pressure. The children’s librarian at the C.H. Booth Library had a run-in with a deer on Wednesday morning. She was on her way to Bethel on Route 302 on library business when the deer ran into the side of her car. Luckily, Alana was able to maintain control of the car and bring it to a stop. She was okay, but both the car and the deer were a little worse for the experience.

But remember, you’ll never be worse for the experience if you…

Read me again.