Date: Fri 25-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-dogs-cats

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

If ever you had any doubts that cats make far better pets than dogs, consider

this: why are there all kinds of regulations governing the conduct of those

canine scofflaws designed to keep them on a short leash, when there are no

such restrictions on cats. Could it be that dogs have baser instincts that

need curbing through the full weight of the law?

Beginning on October 1 town and state animal control officers will be making a

street by street survey to ensure that all dogs in Newtown are licensed. The

fine for having an unlicensed dog is $60 and the fine for allowing a dog to

roam is $77. (There is no fine for having an unlicensed cat, other than being

subjected daily to feline indifference.) Dogs over the age of six months were

supposed to be licensed by July 1. The town clerk's office in Edmond Town Hall

sells dog licenses every weekday between 8 am and 4:30 pm.

Cathy and Toad Buxton have slowed their peddling, taking a break from touring

the US by bicycle while they spend some time with friends in Arizona. The

Newtown couple was pleased to find mail from some Bee readers; but they were

quite surprised (and quite grateful) to find a total of $150 sent from people

they had never met.

One person who read the article in the August 3 issue of The Bee sent $100.

Living on such a small budget, that amount will keep the couple on the road

for more than a week. Cathy and Toad have a soft spot for children and one of

their goals in their cross-country bicycling trips is to educate youngsters

about the outdoors and pursuing dreams. So when they went to speak to a class

of 3 and 4-year-olds at a Montessori school in Arizona, they answered all

questions -- including: Have you ever lived in a house? Where do you go to the

bathroom? And, do you shower at the camps with your clothes on?

If you are planning to get a haircut next month, Ricci's Salon and the

Hairworks will be having a cut-a-thon from 5 to 8 pm on October 27 and 28 to

benefit Thomas Ward, the 12-year-old Newtown youth who is battling cancer.

Haircuts will be $20 with all proceeds going to Tom's family.

On Monday, a group of 10 to 12-year-olds were walking through the library and

came upon the mannequins in period costumes in the upstairs quiet reading

rooms. Two girls walked over and one commented, "It's just like Titanic , but

it's not the same girl."

Hawley School fifth grader Jackson Blawie, 10, ran in the Trinity 5K Run in

Danbury this past Saturday, finishing third in the boys' 14 & Under category.

Jackson was the youngest boy to place in his group.

The Newtown Congregational Church's co-op nursery school has a rare situation

this year with two sets of triplets in its four-year-old class. The nursery

school has reportedly never had one set of triplets and now it has two. The

brothers are Matthew, Christopher and Andrew Bowden and Alex, Will and Kaki

Newell.

Parks & Recreation Director Barbara Kasbarian was down in Miami at a parks &

rec conference this week. Barbara went down to learn the latest on such things

as field maintenance and program scheduling. With Hurricane Georges headed in

Miami's direction, she may have picked up a few tips on hurricane safety, too.

Treadwell Park, which had been a hotbed of activity throughout July and August

with the presence of its swimming pool and day camp program, was rather

deserted this week now that school is in session. Maybe our local police

officers could use the pool to cool off. With a construction crew putting a

new roof on the police department at Town Hall South, the air conditioning

system has had to be shut down, leaving them sweltering during this

uncharacteristically hot and humid stretch of weather early in the week.

Lest we make the mistake of declaring last Friday night's high school football

game the first-ever played under the lights in Newtown, Chuck Botsford stopped

by the office this week to let us know that a night football game was played

under portable lights way back in 1948 on Taylor Field behind Hawley School.

Coach DeGroat and a night football committee set up the six-man football

contest with Bethel as an exhibition game 50 years ago. Bethel won, and the

experiment was never repeated.

At last Friday night's game in Jenner Stadium, Jack Quinlan and Kevin

O'Sullivan were chatting it up in the press box unaware that hundreds were in

on their conversation. It seems the new sound system is more sensitive than

they thought and it picked up everything.

Mary Kelly, who was sitting in the stands, finally turned around to inform

them how well they were being heard.

Jack is the team's play-by-play man and Kevin runs the scoreboard. For the

record, they didn't say anything that Ken Starr would be interested in.

As usual, I will be giving frank, bold, and sometimes outrageous testimony

here next week, so be sure to...

Read me again.