Date: Fri 22-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

mountain-flag

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

In most places the unofficial start of summer is Memorial Day, but in Newtown,

the season's unofficial start comes on the day the big flag returns to the

flagpole on Main Street.

That happened Tuesday evening at about 6:30 as Kym Stendahl and Lisa Franze

helped the town's official keeper-of-the-flag police Lt David Lydem raise the

big one. On the first try, the flag rose to the top of the pole upside down --

a distress signal. The mistake was quickly rectified, however.

Kym and Lisa are the chairmen of Newtown's Labor Day Parade committee, and

recently they let Dave know that he will be the Grand Marshal of this year's

parade. That's the kind of news that would put anybody in a flag-waving mood.

Apparently no one found the four gold cans that were hidden by the Lions Club

as an incentive on Lose the Litter Day. At least, no one has called Gordon

Williams to redeem the certificates each held for four tickets to the Edmond

Town Hall Theater. The cans were hidden on Currituck, Toddy Hill, Riverside

and Brushy Hill roads. Gordon hopes that anyone who goes out looking for the

cans now also will take along a bag to pick up litter. It seems that the

amount of litter picked up this year was far less than previous years,

probably because it started to rain halfway through the day. So if you can go

out now, and you find one of the cans, call Gordon at 426-6443 or Paul Krueger

at 426-9225 for your tickets.

Jim Crouch, chief E-911 dispatcher, says his emergency medical technician

training came in handy this week when he found he couldn't paint his house on

Castle Hill Road because bees had made a hive under the eaves. Thinking about

how he uses a suction to clear patients' airways, he got out a vacuum cleaner,

hung the hose out a window and started suctioning bees.

"I've been getting about 60 a minute," he said. "That's about 600 in 10

minutes but an average hive has about 10,000 bees. Then a beekeeper can get

the queen bee."

Jim says he is thinking about patenting the idea.

Shirley Ferris stopped by this week and said she remembers very well Glen

Acres, the house on Glen Road that was in last week's Way We Were, because she

grew up around the corner on Pine Street. Shirley says she always was told

that the house was built for the president of the Fabric Fire Hose Company,

and that the homes on Pine Street originally were for company employees. When

Shirley was growing up in the 1940s, the big house was occupied by a family

named Selberg. Helen Selberg, who changed her name to Chris by the time she

was in high school, was Shirley's friend. The Selbergs operated a chicken farm

on the property. When Shirley and Helen were kids, they would set up a table

on the front lawn and sell eggs.

"Afterwards, Helen's parents would take us to the Lake Quassapaug amusement

park," Shirley recalled.

A four-year-old male cat named Omar who lives on Walnut Tree Hill Road has

been missing for more than a week and may have been seen as far afield as

Turkey Hill Road. Omar is a small, friendly cat, orange and white with dark

warts on the edge of his mouth. His owner has been frantically searching for

him. If you find Omar, call Melanie at 270-7291.

Sandy Hook School third graders received a tour of Hartford last week,

including a guided journey through the state capital by Rep Julia Wasserman.

The students received a special treat when Lt Gov Jodi Rell welcomed them into

her office, just across the hall from Gov John Rowland's suite.

Wendy Beres resigned from the Persons with Disabilities Committee Tuesday

night, saying she was unable to make any headway as the leader of a town

agency. She has plans to start a grass roots citizens group in the hopes of

having more success.

"I can take my gloves off on the outside," she said.

This surprised Tom Paternoster, the town's new building official who doubles

as the town's Americans With Disabilities coordinator. "I thought they were

already off," he joked to Wendy.

It was hard to get any work done on Wednesday this week. Nearly everyone in

the office was talking about what they were going to do with their $175

million. I came to work Thursday morning, expecting the place to be deserted.

I was happy to see, however, that all the millionaires showed up to put out

The Bee this week. They all said they'd be back next week too, so that

everyone can...

Read me again.