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THE WAY WE WERE FOR JULY 16, 1999

JULY 19, 1974

About 60 people turned out to discuss the proposals of the Charter Revision

Commission Wednesday, July 17, and were rewarded by a display of partisan

fireworks, trenchant opinion and a look at a divided commission. Democratic

Town Committee Chairman Jack Rosenthal became aggressively specific in his

defense of the concept of a board of ethics. He questioned the propriety of

the first selectman awarding a $3,000 contract to the Republican chairman of

the Public Building Committee who is also a member of the Republican Town

Committee without either discussing the matter with other selectmen, putting

the job out for bids, or asking for an appropriation to cover the work. Before

Mr Rosenthal had finished his remarks, Chairman Robert Hall had called into

question Mr Rosenthal's having town insurance accounts while a member of the

Board of Finance. "I don't have a nickel of insurance for the town," Mr

Rosenthal snapped as he left the microphone in the Town Hall gymnasium.

A Dignitary Day, sponsored by the Newtown Recreation Department, is planned

for Wednesday, July 24. A tour of all the recreational programs now in

progress will conclude with a cookout at the Town Park. The tour will begin at

10:30 at the Recreation Office and end at noon.

Fourteen smiling New York City children arrived in Newtown on Tuesday

afternoon, July 16, eager to begin a two week stay as part of the Fresh Air

program. Eleven of the youngsters are here for a repeat visit. The families

from Newtown who have invited the children into their homes are Mr and Mrs

Gordon Williams, Mr and Mrs G.B. Whan, Mr and Mrs John Carlson, Mr and Mrs

Tenaglia, Mrs Carol Hughes, Mr and Mrs Brian Gibney, Mr and Mrs Lee Mann, Mr

and Mrs John King, and Dr and Mrs Raymond Craven. As part of their stay, a

tour of Poverty Hollow Dairy Farm has been arranged for 10 am July 19.

First Selectman Frank DeLucia informed the other members of the Board of

Selectmen on Tuesday that he will attend a meeting with officials of the State

Department of Environmental Protection next week to discuss the possible lease

of 610 acres of land owned by the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company to the state

for hunting purposes. When the news of the lease got out in April of this

year, a considerable amount of opposition to the proposal by persons living in

the area was expressed. The Department of Environmental Protection said then

that it would study the matter and, if a decision was reached in favor of the

lease, that a public hearing would take place in this part of the state. The

largest portion of the land in question is in Newtown, in the vicinity of Town

End and North Park Roads.

The Route 25 Impact Study Committee has called for the state Department of

Transportation to use some of the $1.4 million it has set aside for

feasibility studies of a new Route 25 expressway and hire a top level

consultant, on the order of MIT, to study the economic side effects of new

highways in suburbia.

The project to buy the Rams Pasture for a town green is on-going, reported Mrs

Rita Lapati to the Conservation Commission on Monday, July 16. Now that

$62,900.12 in federal matching funds have been made officially available, the

application requires an appraisal, and an A2 survey. Together these projects

could cost up to $2,000 and take about a month to complete. They can be

carried on simultaneously. The 12-acre meadow at the corner of Routes 302 and

25 is owned by the Newtown Cemetery Association with an estimated asking price

of about $120,000. The full amount will have to be paid by the Town or private

donors before half of it is refunded by the grant from the federal Bureau of

Outdoor Recreation.

Atty Sutherland Denlinger, speaking for Newtown Housing for the Elderly Inc,

told the Planning and Zoning Commission that he was not "trying to fight

anyone else's battle," when he presented an informal suggestion to the

commission to amend the town's zoning regulation and allow an elderly housing

project to be built in town. He was referring to multiple family dwelling

complexes as the other "battle." Mr Denlinger presented two alternate forms of

amendments to the zoning regulations which would allow the project to be

constructed.

Elections of the officers of Medical Explorer Post 400 of Danbury Hospital

were conducted during the meeting of July 16. The results of the elections are

as follows: president, Kenneth Berry; vice president, Joseph Borst; secretary,

Barbara Smith; and treasurer, Patricia Sullivan. All of these elected officers

live in Newtown.

JULY 22, 1949

Always one of the high points of a Newtown summer, the Orchestral Society's

opening concert will be given next Thursday in Edmond Town Hall. Mario

DiCecco, the popular maestro of the organization since its inception, has

arranged a program of wide diversity, certain to appeal to all shades of

musical taste.

Some good golf is being played at the Newtown Country Club these days, with

Emmy Farrell, who got his start by following a ball around the course and

taking a few pointers from Danny Lawler, golf pro, being awarded top honors.

In stiff competition with George Smart, who has been club champ for five or

six years, Farrell was able to make a birdie on the 20th hole for a score of

69 while Smart played a 70.

The Sandy Hook Fife and Drum Corps, with the Sandy Hook fire truck and firemen

from the volunteer companies of Hawleyville, Newtown and Sandy Hook, took part

in the firemen's carnival parade at Harrison, N.Y. Wednesday evening. With 14

companies and many musical units present, the local boys brought back the

trophy for arriving from the longest distance.

In line with the motion passed at the special town meeting on June 24th,

instructing the Board of Selectmen to take action to prevent the Board of

Regional School District No. 3 from signing a contract or making other

financial commitments for the construction of the regional high school after

June 30, a summons was served on William K. Daniells, chairman of the Regional

Board, last Friday afternoon. The summons was prepared by Pierce Gerety of the

firm of Curtis, Trevethan and Gerety of Bridgeport, counsel retained by the

Board of Selectmen for that purpose. The summons would have the members of the

Regional Board appear before the Superior Court in Bridgeport on Tuesday,

September 6, in a civil action brought by the town of Newtown against the

Board of Regional School District No. 3, in which an injunction will be

sought, claiming $10,000 damages and enjoining the Regional Board from signing

any contract or contracts, issuing bonds, or committing the district to any

capital expenditure.

Forces motivating organization of a volunteer fire company for the

Botsford-Huntingtown-Hattertown districts met for additional work at The Pines

on Route 25 Tuesday evening. Alvin B. Coger acted as chairman. The group

present discussed various types of organization presented by Carroll and

Douglas Eaton, who composed a committee to obtain and present the information,

and went on record as to the type considered most effective. It also elected a

nominating committee to bring in nominations for officers to be elected at the

next meeting. Named to the committee are: Albert W. Rasmussen, Thomas Goosman,

James Cavanaugh, Sr, and Henry C. Thompson.

The pastures of H.L. Green and Horace A. Smith, both of Newtown, were among

the five chosen by the Fairfield County Extension Service in the annual

Greener Pastures contest for entry in the state contest. This was made known

earlier this week by LeRoy M. Chapman and Raymond J. Platt, Fairfield County

agricultural agents.

JULY 18, 1924

During the thunder shower last Thursday afternoon lightning entered the home

of Mr and Mrs Eugene Peck of Gray's Plain, Newtown, and took the sole from the

shoe of their little daughter, Eleanor, 2 years old, and slightly burned the

bottom of her foot and broke the stove, without doing any further damage. The

child suffered no ill effects from it.

On Monday night a young man giving the name of Harold Kilmer offered a truck

for sale to Frank Sandusky of Hawleyville. Sandusky finally agreed to buy the

truck and paid $25 down. Becoming suspicious that all was not right, Sandusky

telephoned to Albany, N.Y. and found the truck was stolen. He then turned the

man over to Constable Thomas Carlson, who brought him before Justice P.H.

McCarthy, who held him for the New York state officers.

The poultrymen of Fairfield County who held their annual field day at

Homestead Farm Thursday showed their interest in the co-operative egg

marketing organization by pledging 12,000 birds.