One of the features on display at the open house on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at the Matthew Curtiss House will be the Merino ram weathervane which James Brunot has given to the Newtown Historical Society.

***

“There is a message we must very strongly carry to the community,” David Larson, chairman of the Newtown Park and Recreation commission, asserted as he released the commission’s 1974-75 annual report at the commission’s August 12 meeting. “It is time to pay attention to the need in Newtown for further recreational facilities, and it is time for the townspeople to provide support at meetings and hearings for the recreational activities which are now being carried on throughout the community.” The report was prepared by the chairman and Commissioner Bill Denlinger with Park Superintendent Arthur Bennett, Sr, and Director of Recreation M. Lee Davenson.

***

Because of what he considers distorted and inaccurate and false newspaper reporting in one of the local daily newspapers regarding the shootings in Sandy Hook on July 31, Chief Louis Marchese has refused to issue any more statements concerning the incident. All information, the chief said, will have to come from the State’s Attorney General’s office. The police department also feels that the case is being tried in the press and this could have a direct bearing on the court when the accused, Donald Krosky of Trumbull, comes to trial.

***

Official groundbreaking ceremonies for the new elementary school on Boggs Hill Road are planned for Sunday, August 17, starting at 3 pm. The public is invited. Site work on the site began last week, including clearing and grading of the land and installation of an accessway into the property. Invited to be on hand to speak at Sunday’s ceremonies are First Selectman Frank DeLucia, Board of Education chairman Lester Burroughs, school building committee chairman Harry Greenman, former Board of Education chairman Dr Russell Strasburger, Assistant Superintendent of Schools A. Winthrop Ballard, and a representative of the firm which will build the school, W.J. Megin Inc. of Naugatuck.

***

Carloads of excited youngsters waited with their mothers in the Edmond Town Hall parking lot last week to welcome a new group of city children sent to visit Newtown families for two week by the Fresh Air Fund. Jaycees Wives in Newtown have sponsored the project for the past 15 years, locating host families and coordinating details. The nine children who arrived on August 7 were the second group to come to Newtown this summer. Host mothers compared notes while they waited. Some were expecting the same guests they’d had last year, and were planning meals they knew would please them. Others wondered if they’d made the right arrangements about food, rooms, and activities planned. The experienced ones said not to worry.

***

Nine Newtown residents graduated Thursday, August 7, from the Danbury Hospital Emergency Medical Technician course. Commencing last February, the course entails a minimum of ten hours of duty in the Emergency Room in addition to classwork, exams, and practical work. Members of the Newtown Ambulance Driver’s Corps successfully completing the course are Larry Coleman, Michelle Emmons, Bud Giles, Russ Stauffer, and Ed Weber. Dodgingtown volunteer firemen Greg Wencek and Gene Rekos graduated as did Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company members John Payne and Richard Seman.

***

Democratic Selectman Gerald J. Frawley filed his petition Wednesday for a challenge to the party-caucus-endorsed candidate for first selectman Jack H. Rosenthal.

AUGUST 18, 1950

The first meeting of Newtown’s Civilian Defense Council was held Wednesday night in Edmond Town Hall with the general attendance of those who have been asked to act as leaders in the new organization. Commander Warner W. Bayley, council coordinator, occupied the chair and Mrs Norman Fedde was appointed by the meeting as secretary. Comd’r Bayley led the discussion with a talk in which he outlined the imminent need for the council activities and gave a general outline of the work to be done. There was an extensive discussion of the general plan, including the amount of money needed, the functions of the Civilian Defense Council, and the duties of the various units and their chiefs. Early this week, First Selectman A. Fenn Dickinson had sent letters to individuals naming them to assume various duties in the community-wide project. To serve on the Civilian Defense Council, letters were sent to John J. Keane, Herman R. Geiger, Mrs Bradley Randall, Walter H.M. Bamford, Col. C. Sidney Haight, who is deputy coordinator, and Paul S. Smith, who has since resigned.

***

Four generations of the family of Mrs William H. Kiernan of Sandy Hook have recently visited together in Newtown, as various members of the family have taken auto trips during their annual vacations.

***

The Newtown Visiting Nurse Association is beginning its annual drive for funds this Friday, August 18. The drive will continue until September 11. Mrs Ellis Gladwin, chairman of the board, says, “This is an important year in the history of our Visiting Nurse Service. For the first time we will have a full-time nurse to help the families of Newtown meet their health needs. I hope that the citizens of the town will not only contribute to the success of this venture by generous donations, but that they will also make full use of the services which the nurse and the association stand ready to provide.”

***

Disregard of traffic signs on certain town roads indicating no through truck traffic has brought about the issue of warnings to a number of truck drivers during the past week. First Selectman A. Fenn Dickinson states that the situation is being watched carefully and that because of the damage to town roads and the danger to residents continued neglect to heed the warnings will bring more drastic action.

***

Dr Frank Turchik of Long Hill and Oxford, president of the Housatonic Valley Clean Waters League, was speaker at the second annual meeting of the league held in the Edmond Town Hall on Thursday evening, August 10. About 200 members and guests attended the meeting at which time Dr Turchik and all the other officers of the group were reelected.

***

There is every indication that the first annual dog show of the Newtown Kennel Club, Inc., will be one of the largest out-of-doors events of the kind ever witnessed in Newtown, according to Brian Mainwaring, club president.

***

Final report of the state Easter Seal Sale for the Connecticut Society for Crippled Children and Adults and details of the year’s 1950 budget have just been released by Ralph H. Love, state president of the society. The Connecticut total is $192,598.67, an increase of eight per cent over 1949.

 

AUGUST 14, 1925

The Sandy Hook band, which rendered a delightful concert before the Parker House, Sunday night, was forced to beat a hasty retreat to cover as an avalanche of water suddenly descended from the heavens.

***

Bids are being asked for carrying the mail between the Sandy Hook Station and the Stevenson Post Office. Bids close on the 25th.

***

To Miss Adeline Hurd the editor is indebted for the gift of a magnificent bouquet of gladioli.

***

There was quite a spectacular auto accident Monday, shortly after noon, when a Ford delivery car owned by John Duda of  Zoar and driven by John Stefanko suddenly left the road and plowed into the front of the store of Louis Richards, breaking two glass windows and pushing the partition back. Andrew Duda, who was riding in the car, suffered a sprained ankle and later was treated by Dr W.H. Kiernan.

AUGUST 17, 1900

A horse belonging to E.C. Platt of Hawleyville was kicked by another horse one day last week, resulting in a bad abscess forming on the shoulder near the injury. Dr Todd of New Milford was called and performed an operation, bringing relief to the suffering animal.

***

Thomas O. Murphy’s son, Robert, who is among the soldiers who are now in the Philippines, writes his father he is in good health and thinks the country there is very fine.

***

Charles L. Briscoe of Taunton presented ex-Senator Houlihan with a bass from Taunton Lake, yesterday, that tipped the scales at 5 ¼ pounds.

***

J. Botsford Fairchild, F.A. Young, Ferris Mead, Chester Northrop, and Fred Andrews went on a clamming expedition to the sea shore on Monday, returning Wednesday.

***

H.B. Coger, the Huntingtown miller, says he has never seen the Pootatuck brook as low as it is now in a period of 40 years.