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THE WAY WE WERE

FEBRUARY 1, 1974

The Conservation Commission's request for a $9,100 special appropriation to

develop an open space plan was turned down by the Board of Finance on Monday,

January 28, on the grounds that the need for such a plan was not immediate

enough to justify a special appropriation. The Planning and Zoning request for

an emergency $1,500 from the contingency fund to contract for engineering

studies of the proposed shopping center site was granted, though the

supplementary $3,500 special appropriation that P&Z had asked for in order to

finish the fiscal year was tabled until the next scheduled BofF meeting on

February 25. P&Z chairman Philip Kopp, was asked to provide BofF with detailed

figures on where its year's budget had disappeared to. Both requests were

referred by the Board of Selectmen.

Every fisherman has his tale of the "big one that got away," but Bob Conger, a

student at Newtown High School and the son of Mr and Mrs John Conger of Cedar

Hill Road, has a different tale -- about the one that didn't get away. During

Christmas vacation Bob took off for Florida and competed in a shark fishing

tournament off Miami Beach shores. Well, Bob ended up winning the tournament

without any question since he caught himself a 635-pound, nearly 13-foot

hammerhead shark. As far as anyone knows, the shark is a record for any caught

in the United States and right now officials are checking into the possibility

that it may be a record for any caught in the world.

The move towards establishing a housing authority in Newtown to provide

low-moderate rentals for elderly persons is moving on apace as steps are being

taken to substantiate the need and determine the number of persons who would

be eligible for such housing. Town Counsel Robert Hall is currently drawing up

a resolution for the Board of Selectmen on establishing an authority.

The Jaycee search, over the past few weeks, for young people who have made

exceptional contributions to Newtown culminated at the banquet at the K of C

hall on Saturday, January 26, when First Selectman Frank R. DeLucia announced

and presented the 17th annual Outstanding Young Man and the Outstanding Young

Woman awards to Sutherland "Bill" Denlinger and Mrs Walter (Sandra) Motyka. Mr

Denlinger was picked by a panel of three judges out of a slate of four

candidates. Stanley Main, Lee Davenson, and Raymond Fulton, Jr, were the other

nominees. Winner of the Outstanding Young Woman award, Mrs Sandra Motyka, was

chosen from a field of six nominees: Mrs Bonnie Raynor, Mrs Joanne Kemmerer,

Mrs Marie Kertesz, Mrs Nancy Larin, and Mrs Carol Neubert.

Five members of the Newtown Ambulance Drivers Corps completed Emergency

Medical Technician training on January 17. Robert G. Helsel, William E.

Bausch, John D. Buttrick, Jr, Stephen Brown and Thomas Goosman have attended

classes at Danbury Hospital every Thursday since August 14 to earn the patches

they wear on their arms.

Three Eagle Scouts from Newtown are among those who will be honored at a

Recognition Eagle dinner for new Eagle Scouts in the Scatacook District

Thursday, February 7, at 6:30 pm in the American Legion Hall, Elm Street,

Danbury. They are Richard Camejo of Hundred Acres Road and Mathew Karpacz of

Hyvue Drive, whose Scoutmaster is Raul Camejo, Sr, and William Downing of Saw

Mill Ridge Road, whose Scoutmaster is William Downing, Sr.

During the year 1976 this country will be having its 200th birthday, and towns

and cities all over the nation will be planning celebrations to commemorate

the event. Newtown will join in the fun, too, and on Tuesday evening, January

29, town residents met in the Alexandria Room of the Edmond Town Hall to start

making plans for the Bicentennial celebration here. Explaining about the

Bicentennial were David Larson, Edward Sullivan and Christopher Spiro, all

members of the Newtown Summer Festival Committee, the organization which has

been designated as the one to get the ball rolling for the celebration.

Ending 18 years of service to Newtown as the head switchboard operator Myrtle

Von Bank resigned effective as of January 1. After years of constant

communication with the fire department, the police and all the town offices,

Mrs Von Bank remembers she felt forgotten and ignored once she stopped

working. She wondered where all her friends were, and why they didn't return

her calls. This is the thanks you get for 18 years of dedication, she thought.

So, without enthusiasm, Mrs Von Bank responded to a call from the First

Selectman's office on January 25, asking her to come to a brief meeting with

the new head operator. She recalls that she was a bit resentful when she was

directed upstairs to the Alexandria Room. When she got to the door and looked

inside, 80 people, the entire town hall staff, and many town employees, who

had gathered to give her a surprise party, stood up and started clapping.

Myrtle Von Bank just leaned against the door and cried.

FEBRUARY 4, 1949

The speaker at the Newtown Parent-Teacher Association meeting on February 1

was Dr. W. H. Pillsbury, formerly superintendent of schools in Schenectady,

N.Y., and now consultant to the Connecticut State Board of Education. Dr

Pillsbury and a committee have recently completed a survey of education in our

state under four headings: (1) What is the ideal program now carried out in

schools? (2) How much of this program do we have in Connecticut? (3) Why do

some of our towns lack the complete program or parts of it? (4) What should be

done about this lack? Dr Pillsbury said that the complete school program

includes not only the basic studies and preparation for college and further

education, but classes in art, music, business, stenography, industrial arts,

agriculture, and home-making.

The nation's 2,200,000 members of the Boy Scouts of America will mark the 39th

anniversary of the organization during Boy Scout Week which opens Sunday,

February 6, and closes February 12.

The local committee for the National Heart Campaign to be held from February 7

through February 28, announces through its chairman, Col C. Sidney Haight, a

busy program on behalf of the drive. On February 7 an appeal will be made by

letter to all townspeople and it is hoped the response will be generous. It

should be remembered that 70 per cent of the money received will be used for

the development and expansion of cardiac services in our own area.

Of particular interest to members of the Newtown Fish and Game Club is a

special meeting to be held in the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium, Thursday,

February 10th. The program scheduled for that evening is a most important one

for it will include a general discussion to draw up plans for this year in

regard to hunting, fishing and stocking. Several movie shorts on big and small

game hunting, fishing, and dog training will be shown.

Plans are now under way for the Pre-Lenten Card and Bingo party which will be

held at the Edmond Town Hall gym on Thursday evening, February 24, for the

benefit of St. Rose Church. The various card games and Bingo will be enjoyed,

with prizes awarded at each table.

Mid-year examinations were held in the Newtown schools last week; consequently

activities were at a minimum. The examinations were held on Tuesday, Wednesday

and Thursday mornings. A new tape recording machine was demonstrated at the

school on Thursday. The Hawley Chorus made several recordings, which were

played back, enabling Mr Jones to point out mistakes to the chorus. This

machine, when purchased, will be a valuable aid to the music and language

departments.

The Bethel High School basketball team knocked Newtown's hopes of staying on

top of the Housatonic Valley Schoolmen's League into a cocked hat last Friday

night on the Edmond Town Hall court, when they turned a one-point lead at

half-time into a thirteen point victory. Newtown did not seem to get away on

the right foot, but did lead by three points at automatic time-out three

minutes before the end of the first half.

The Newtown girls are still undefeated and have run up seven straight wins.

Last Friday they won 38-23 from their Bethel sisters. Bethel girls played

their best game in the second half but could not overcome the 28-13 lead that

Newtown piled up in the first half. Catherine Quinn topped the Newtowners with

fourteen points, while Joan Glover came up with thirteen and Audrey Wood with

11 points.