Date: Fri 04-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-warm-weather

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Just as we're all getting ready for our long winter's nap, along comes spring.

The temperatures soared into the 60s on Wednesday, and lots of the people out

and about in town doing errands were in their shirtsleeves.

One of those who was out was Stretch Forbell, who just picked up a new

snowblower. Stretch said the last time he bought a new attachment for his old

Graveley snowblower, it hardly snowed at all that winter. So he's predicting a

very mild winter this year. The weather experts seem to agree. They are

predicting less snowfall than the norm this year.

The Thanksgiving story I told last week about Frank Durfey Chalon's

Thanksgiving turkey and his cats intrigued Joseph Jurewicz, who made the

following observation in a e-mail this week: "The story about the turkey and

the cat referred to the [calico] cat as "him". Its my understanding that

calico cats are inevitably female. Can you check your source?"

Well, Joseph, according to Ed Fuller, a vet who handles questions for the

American Pet Association, calico cats are indeed female 99 percent of the time

because the color gene for calicoes is almost always attached to the female

chromosome. There are, however, rare instances of male calicoes. For the

purposes of the cat tale I told last week, let's just pretend the calico I

referred to was one of those rare cats. (Say hi to Whiskers for me.)

Darlene and Donald Jackson are just back from a trip to Hawaii where they

celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. On the way back hone they stopped

in California to see their children and grandchildren. For their anniversary,

the kids gave them a balloon ride, an adventure which will be a new experience

for Darlene. But she says she and Don plan to wait for weather that's even

warmer than what we have been having to try it out.

This warm weather should make the Salvation Army bell ringers happy. Sylvia

Poulin and Marie Sturdevant are busy lining up volunteers to stand in front of

local supermarkets to do the organization's annual charity appeal.

Marie says she and Dick have been able to do a lot of fun activities since he

sold the camera shop and retired, but she confided that she's starting to get

a little nervous because he has been so busy at home. "He's throwing

everything out," she said. "I've had to tell him to stay away from my stuff."

A photo of their son, Michael, who is a police officer in Danbury, made the

daily newspaper on Wednesday when he was part of the team investigating a bomb

scare at the Village Bank branch on National Place in Danbury. Someone left a

briefcase in the foyer of the bank, causing a bomb scare that led to the

evacuation of two downtown buildings and tied up traffic on White Street for

more than an hour. Danbury and state police eventually determined that the

briefcase contained only personal items. The owner reportedly is still being

sought.

Santa is coming Saturday to the Rotary Club's 38th annual Pancake Day in the

Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall. Tickets are $5 for adults -- for all you

can eat -- and $3 for children. Pancake Day will be happening from 8 am to 2

pm for those who want breakfast, brunch or lunch.

This Sunday is an important day in Newtown. Sure, it's the day of the annual

Holiday Festival and House Tour to benefit the Family Counseling Center, but

it is also the birthday of Sallie Meffert and Daniel Cruson. Sallie will be 57

according to John Rohmer, who keeps track of such things. Lest anyone think

John is mean spirited for revealing Sallie's age, it should be pointed out

that last July 3, when John marked his 56th birthday, Sallie was spotted

putting 56 pink plastic flamingos on the lawn in front of his house. John

didn't mind, at least until he spotted a passerby actually counting the

flamingos.

John says he doesn't know how old Dan Cruson is, but figures that "such a

knowledgeable historian must be old." He says there undoubtedly will be a

birthday celebration for Sallie and Dan at the Newtown Historical Society's

holiday party after the house tour on Sunday.

There are so many new customers, not to mention new lines for fax machines and

computers, that Southern New England Telephone has created a new exchange for

Newtown. Now, in addition to 426-and 270-, customers in Newtown and Sandy Hook

are getting telephone numbers that begin 364-.

The students at Newtown Youth Services are offering a babysitting service on

Saturday, December 12, for parents who want their kids to have some safe, fun

activities while they go do some holiday shopping. Parents can make

arrangements to drop their kids off at the NYS office on Main Street at 10 am

and pick them up at 2 pm. The cost is $5 for the first child, $2 for each

additional child in the same family. Call 426-4335 to sign up or for more

information.

Newtown High School Principal Bill Manfredonia was a busy guy one night

recently. Three different fall sports teams were holding their season-ending

banquets in different rooms at the Fireside Inn and he had been invited to

speak at each of them. He did it, though. He made an appearance at the girls'

swimming, cross country and boys' soccer banquets.

Harold and Irene Schwartz have moved to Florida. Both retired from their real

estate business and off they went before the first snow. Irene was owner of

Flagpole Realty. Harold, a retired attorney, had been in the real estate

business in Southbury.

Mae Schmidle was telling everyone she was headed to Hartford this week to buy

her New England Patriot season tickets. She was only joking, though. Mae

doesn't like football.

Happy birthday to Jack Shpunt. Newtown's beloved coach of youth sports turned

50 on Thursday.

Carol Recht also celebrated her 60th, and her husband, Richard, put on a

birthday celebration in her honor this past weekend.

The Town Hall Board of Managers had planned to redo the Edmond Town Hall

sidewalk this fall, but opted to wait until the spring. The board decided it

was getting too cold out to take a chance with laying new flagstone. The frost

might cause a problem, according to board chairman Edgar Beers.

"Another six months isn't going to make a difference after 67 years," he said.

Congratulations to longtime Legislative Council member and local realtor

Melissa Pilchard. She was recently listed among the Who's Who Among American

Women.

Don't forget to tune in to "Candid Camera" on CBS after you get home from the

tree-lighting ceremony in the Ram Pasture on Friday night. This is the week

"Candid Camera" will feature the segment filmed at The Bee last month. The

tree-lighting festivities start at 6 pm and "Candid Camera" starts at 8:30 pm.

If you want to "Smile , " you don't have to be on Candid Camera, you can

always just...

Read me again.