Date: Fri 23-Apr-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-spring

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Spring is really bursting forth all over town. The magnolia tree by the

sidewalk in front of the O'Neill house on Main Street was in its full glory

this week, affording a wonderful view through the blossoms to the Christmas

wreath high on the peak of the house. This sight puts passersby into a kind of

time warp that they don't snap out of until they hit cloud of garlic and onion

fragrance wafting from the Mary Hawley Inn. Then it becomes clear that it is

unmistakably time to eat.

If you are predisposed to hiking something more challenging than Main Street,

the local chapter of the Audubon Society is sponsoring a six-mile hike that

will leave from Exit 11 of I-84 on Saturday at 9 am. It will be a moderately

strenuous hike with great views of Lake Lillinonah, and the hikers will be

accompanied by a botanist and a birder to give running commentary. Bring water

and a snack.

Gordon Williams is already lining up groups to take part in the annual Lose

the Litter Day which has been sponsored by the Newtown Lions Club during the

past few years. The event will be held on Sunday, May 2, from 9 am to 1 pm. To

volunteer to clean a particular road, call any Lion or Gordon at 426-6443.

The United Fire Company of Botsford's third annual carnival began Wednesday

evening at the high school parking lot. Thursday and Friday are bracelet

nights, $10, from 5 to 10 pm (Friday til 11 pm). The carnival also will be

held on Saturday, with all rides $1 from noon to 5 pm, $1.75 from 5 to 11 pm.

Normally a new, black Audi station wagon would be on the top of Charles and

Joanne Nanavaty's list of things to brag about if it weren't for their new

daughter, Alexis, born on March 11. In the bragging department, however, the

car takes a back seat to Alexis - even when Alexis is in the back seat of the

car. Charles is also very proud of his 3 am feeding sessions.

Masons George Mattegat and Rich Miller of Hiram Lodge 18, AF&AM, are inviting

everyone to buy tickets for a Saturday, May 8, performance of Sylvia at the

Little Theater on Orchard Hill Road. Tickets are $10 and include a wine and

cheese reception and the performance. Proceeds will be used for seed money for

a fund-raiser for the Newtown Ambulance and the Sandy Hook fire company's

thermal camera fund. Call George at 426-3228 or Rich at 426-3866 for tickets.

Shirley Ferris, a Newtown resident and the commissioner of the Connecticut

Department of Agriculture, recently was awarded the 1999 distinguished service

to agriculture award by the Connecticut chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta, the

honor society of agriculture. The award is given to an individual in the state

whose work during the past five years has benefited agriculture.

Steve and Helen Kellogg were spotted at the Philadelphia Antiques Show on

April 9 in the company of one of their more famous friends, Helen Hunt.

Irene and Harold Schwartz passed through town on their way from their home in

Florida to Boston, where their son, Danny, was married last weekend. The

Schwartzes made several stops around town to catch up with all their Newtown

friends before hitting the highway to Beantown.

Town Public Works Director Fred Hurley peered down into the big hole in the

ground on Appleblossom Lane Wednesday morning. Inside the concrete-lined

chamber is a series of switches, pumps and water lines for the new public

water supply system that will serve the Appleblossom Lane neighborhood. When

the big trap door on the water pumping station is closed tight, no one would

know there's a large room beneath the street where water is routed to

neighborhood homes.

Joan Crick says plans are in the works for an October 7-8, 2000, reunion of

the high school classes of 1949, 1950, and 1951. She says the alumni plan to

start a campaign to have the high school stadium renamed in honor of the late

athletic director Harold DeGroat and the gymnasium for Ann M. Anderson,

longtime coach of the girls' basketball teams.

Ron Benson is delighted because he has been offered, and accepted, a position

as dean of the business school at Aurora College in Illinois. But that means

his wife, Judy, will be leaving Newtown, too. Judy has been the director of

the Family Counseling Center for nearly a decade and everyone will be

disappointed to see her go.

Bob and Mae Schmidle spent last week in northern Arizona, visiting the red

rocks of Sedona with its magical vortex powers. They also visited the Grand

Canyon and stopped in to Flagstaff on their way. According to Mae, Flagstaff

is a real western town with plenty of cowboys. The Schmidles went into a

McDonalds and almost mistook it for a movie set.

"They were wearing holsters with guns and knives. It was really something,"

she said. "Bob with his Gucci loafers really looked out of place."

Barbara O'Connor sat through Monday night's Board of Selectmen meeting for no

other reason but to simply observe. It seems the Republican Town Committee is

making an effort to have a representative at every town meeting. Barbara said

this new policy had nothing to do with the fact that this is an election year.

John Whitten, the inspector for the town's consulting engineer, looks like a

new man. Long a wearer of a white beard, Mr Whitten recently shaved it off,

looking quite different than his former self. When Mr Whitten was asked who he

was this week, he replied that he was John Whitten's evil twin, and that the

true Mr Whitten was relaxing at a horse show in Vermont.

The true Top of the Mountain, of course, will be right here again next week,

so...

Read me again.