Date: Fri 01-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

mountain-Harris-Jackson

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Happy New Year everyone! I've been hoping 1999 will be a great year, at least

as good as 1998 turned out to be for many Newtowners. Rich Rauner, for

example.

Rich got a new heart on December 17 at Temple University Hospital's transplant

center, the same day that Newtown held a blood drive for him. December 17 also

was his godson's birthday, and the 17th has marked a few other happy events in

his 58 years. If he plays the lottery, he's going to be play number 17.

"I am one lucky guy," he said. He's already had the first tests and biopsies

to see if his body is rejecting the new heart and there was no sign of

rejection. "On a scale of four, with four being the worst, I am a zero," he

said.

Rich's friend Barbara Nelson wants to arrange for a limo to bring him home

when the doctors release him, maybe January 1 or soon thereafter. It will take

a limo, Barbara says, to bring back all the stuff Richie has accumulated in

the eight months that he has been at Temple. Friends from Newtown and all

around the country have sent him cards, letters, banners, teddy bears, and all

sorts of things.

Rich will have to make weekly trips back to Philadelphia for biopsies for six

weeks but he is hoping eventually to be able to have some of the follow-up

testing done at Yale.

Barbara is now trying to find someone to donate a computer to Rich so that he

can access the Internet and do the same type of volunteer work educating

people about organ transplants that he did when he was on the state's

Huntington Disease Task Force two years ago. If anyone has a computer, call

Barbara at 262-1092.

If you've been trying to reach Mary Ellen Harris, be aware that she got a new

computer for Christmas and it has been tying up her phone line. The computer

signals her that a call is coming in, but so far she hasn't been able to

figure out how to answer it.

Sue and Bob Cascella had a great time visiting Sue's family in St Augustine,

Florida, for Christmas but it took them 14 hours to get there by plane. The

Cascellas, who were traveling with their children, Kurt and Camille, knew they

were in trouble when the flight from Bradley was delayed on takeoff. Sure

enough, by the time they landed in Baltimore, they had missed the connecting

flight. Since it was the holidays, and almost all flights were completely

booked, the airlines were at a loss about how to help the Cascellas. Finally

they got a Delta flight to Atlanta, then a third plane to Jacksonville.

The Cascellas had been expected for dinner, so all along the way Sue kept

calling her brother and sister-in-law to keep them posted. "We finally told

them to go ahead and eat when we realized we weren't getting in until 2 am,"

she said. Bob called the car rental agent at Jacksonville to explain that they

would be arriving after midnight and was told that the car wouldn't be

available the next day. "The computer says it's already rented," the car

rental agent said.

"Of course it's rented -- I rented it," Bob said. No car, the agent continued

to insist. It took Bob's 1-800-call to customer service to finally get the

car.

The Cascellas' return flight this week wasn't much better than the trip down.

They got as far as Maryland where they learned that their connecting flight to

Hartford was canceled. When they eventually did get a plane, they thought they

had great seats -- Row 9.

"There were only nine rows on the plane," Sue said. "The ninth row had seats

straight across -- it was like sitting in the back of a bus."

When they landed at Bradley, their six pieces of luggage were nowhere to be

found.

"We had a real good time while we were in Florida, but I will NEVER fly the

holidays again," Sue said.

Two former Newtown realtors, Bob McCulloch and Dick Capozzi, are down in

Jupiter, Fla., where they teamed up to sell a house in Admirals Cove. Dick,

who is associated with Admirals Cove Realty, listed it, and Bob, associated

with Illustrated Properties Real Estate, sold it.

Legislative Council member Karen Blawie said she is so excited she can barely

sit still. She and her husband, John, will join a long list of other local

Republicans at Gov John Rowland's inaugural ball January 6 at the armory in

Hartford. The event marks the 208th anniversary of the first inaugural ball

for Connecticut's governor. Others planning to attending the ball are Dick and

Marie Sturdevant, Bill and Liz Meyer, Will and Moira Rodgers, John and Tara

Kortze, and Bill and Barbara Brimmer.

The Christmas lights on the tree in Ram Pasture have been lighting up the area

ever since they were first turned on December 4. For awhile, however, some of

them had either been pulled down or started to droop a bit. Either way, the

lights have been readjusted and still look marvelous.

Brian Leavitt didn't realize how generous he was being when he presented his

friend, Pat Somo, with one of those "win for life" scratch off tickets

Christmas morning. The scratched ticket revealed the lucky Pat had won $500.

Looks like the falling temperatures this week have put an end to one golfer's

fun. For several days last week the lone golfer was spotted on the links at

Rock Ridge Country Club.

Happy birthday to Darlene Jackson who will be celebrating on Saturday,

although she's not saying which one. Darlene says she doesn't plan a big

party. She and Shirley Ferris will be going out for breakfast.

Bill Lavery had a big party at his house on Main Street to introduce son

William's new bride, Jennifer, to everyone. All four of Bill's children were

home for the holidays including Christopher, who is a White House intern.

Christopher was much sought after by the guests who wanted to find out what

really went on during the Lewinsky saga.

If you want to know what really happens in Newtown, be sure to...

Read me again.