Date: Fri 05-Jun-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-tornado

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Newtown got to add tornadoes to its list of weather menu choices last weekend.

We seem to get weather of every type, from acid rain to zephyrs, but no one

can remember a tornado rattling around town lately.

So when does this weather rarity choose to threaten our borders? During the

Bulls-Pacers play-off game on Sunday night. The game is interrupted by a

serious-minded weather guy who tells everybody to go to the basement. People's

jaws drop. Popcorn drops from lips. People look at each other, look at the TV,

quickly gauge how many people it will take to carry the big-screen behemoth

down to the basement, and then decided to chance annihilation. It's not a

smart decision that most people made that Sunday night, but it was an

understandable one. Fortunately, there was no tornado.

As a reminder of the seriousness of tornadoes, The American Red Cross wants

people to know it is working to help victims of last weekend's tornadoes

including those in Spencer, South Dakota, where 158 homes -- 88 percent of the

town -- were completely destroyed and others were damaged. Anyone who wants to

help can call 1-800-HELP NOW, or contact the Danbury office at 792-8200.

It sure looks like Gary and Beth Ann Fetzer are swapping career paths. Beth

Ann, who has been with the United Way and the American Cancer Society,

recently took a position in business and community development at Savings Bank

of Danbury. Gary, on the other hand, started out in banking and for the past

six years or so has been with the nonprofit Datahr Rehabilitation Center.

"We're sort of going full circle," Beth Ann says.

When the Danbury Police Department presented its annual awards for bravery

recently, Newtown resident Andy Foote received the top honor for his actions

last September in the crash of a single-engine plane at Danbury Municipal

Airport. When the plane crashed immediately after takeoff into a wooded

hillside a half mile from the airport, Mr Foote pulled the pilot and the two

other passengers to safety before going to seek help. Another Newtown

resident, Michael Sturdevant, also was honored at the ceremony. A policeman in

Danbury, he received three awards including one from MADD for being one of the

top five arresting DWI officers. Michael is still living with his parents,

Dick and Marie Sturdevant, until June 13 when he is going to marry Amy Branon

in Fairfield, Vermont. After honeymooning in Hawaii, the couple plans to move

into the house they are building in New Fairfield.

Peggy Gross has moved to a new home. Her address? The Ram Pasture. She

recently purchased one of the two houses in the natural area between Main

Street and Elm Drive. Peggy says there's a little more traffic than at her old

address on Parmalee Hill Road, but she adds quickly that she's really enjoying

the new setting. "I feel like I'm living in Central Park!"

There's a new face in the first selectman's office these days. It's Mary

Kelley. Mary recently took over as secretary and will be working alongside Jan

Andras, Carole Ross and Elizabeth Stocker. Mary knows what it's like to work

for Mr Rosenthal, having worked for him previously at the MM Financial group

in Southbury. Mary and her husband, Michael, are longtime Newtown residents.

Their son Patrick is a junior at Newtown High School. Michael is the president

of the NHS Blue & Gold Club.

Sometimes the Head O'Meadow neighborhood seems more like a family than a

neighborhood. The residents on the road routinely get together for picnics,

parties, and any other occasion they can cook up. Now the neighbors have

signed up to play bocci together at the new bocci court in The Pleasance, the

little park at the corner of Main Street and Sugar Street created by The

Newtown Bee for the enjoyment of townspeople. If you want to watch the balls

roll, the group will be there on Sunday evenings from 6 to 8 pm, weather

permitting.

The boss tells me everyone is invited to use the bocci court at The Pleasance,

but if you want a regular time, call The Bee and we'll get you on the sign-up

sheet.

You don't need a sign-up sheet to read this column, fortunately. All you have

to do is show up at the same time next week to...

Read me again.