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THE WAY WE WERE

JUNE 29, 1973

After three town meetings and two referendums, Newtown finally has a town

budget and a mill rate for 1973-74. The mill rate, set by the Board of Finance

at a special meeting June 26, is 36.7 or 0.1 mill less than last year. The

town meeting acted June 25 in the high school auditorium to approve without

further change the revised budget proposed by the finance board. The total

amounts to $7,825,175, of which $5,266,295 is for the schools, $799,652 for

debt service and $1,759,228 for government operations. Action was taken by a

voice vote of more than 400 townspeople after George Grosner, president of the

Taxpayers Group, walked out of the meeting with a small group of supporters.

Mr Grosner's walkout came a few minutes after he had been defeated in earlier

voice vote on his motion to reduce the selectmen's budget by $56,000, the cost

of two diesel trucks and two sanders for the Public Works Department to

replace aging equipment of the same kind. The budget as finally adopted is

$186,750 less than that originally proposed by the Board of Finance and

$336,601 less than the total originally requested by the school board and the

selectmen.

Graduation exercises for 246 seniors at Newtown High School took place in the

auditorium last Friday evening before a capacity audience. The commencement

address was given by Gloria Schaffer, secretary of state. Karen Coyne gave the

valedictory address; William Cavanaugh was the salutarian. Two awards were

presented by Alvah Cramer, principal of the high school. The first, the

Vitramon Senior Scientific Award, was presented to Christopher Holzner, and

the second, the Otto W. Heise Memorial Award, went to Stephen Burns, Robert

Leety, and William Cavanaugh. Robert Munger, president of the Newtown

Scholarship Association, awarded 18 scholarships. The students receiving the

awards will be attending four-year colleges, junior colleges, nursing and

technical schools.

The Board of Education met in closed session on Tuesday evening to decide how

and where it should cut $230,000 from its budget. The largest cut the board

made was to take $38,000 out of the budgeted monies for new equipment. The

board also cut $30,000 from the transportation account for the public schools

and St Rose. Also cut was a high school administrative assistant at a salary

of $14,900. Another $10,000 was cut from teacher aides, and the rest of the

cuts came in small amounts from many accounts. But the board decided to

restore $15,000 for a new position of plant manager. Retained in the budget

were a teacher for the gifted at $11,000 and a speech and hearing teacher,

$11,000. Also a part-time instrumental music teacher for the middle school

will be hired.

Outgoing third selectman Diane Schwerdtle issued a statement this week,

thanking the townspeople and stating that she believes there are three major

issues facing Newtown. The first, she said, is the planned Route 25 expressway

through Newtown and its possible affects on the town. The second is the form

of town government. A charter revision commission should be established to

look at changing the town meeting format to a representative form of

government, she said. And third, a citizens committee should be formed to do

long-range planning including an assessment of municipal land and building

needs, with priorities and courses of action recommended. "Only in this way

will we get what we need, when we need it, avoid undue strain on our tax rate,

and involve the citizens in these important decisions," she said.

The home of the G.B. Smith Family on Old Green Road in Sandy Hook was badly

damaged as the result of an early morning fire on June 22. Firefighters from

Sandy Hook and Hook & Ladder responded. There were no injuries.

First Selectman Frank DeLucia received a certificate and a citation from Gov

Thomas Meskill on behalf of the town of Newtown for its contribution to the

improvement of the environment through the film on inland wetlands produced by

the Newtown Conservation Commission. Commission Chairman Theodore Whippie and

Dan Lufkin, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection and a

Newtown resident, also attended the ceremony on June 22 in Hartford.

A five-hour seminar on the new Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972,

sponsored by the Housatonic Valley Association in cooperation with the Lake

Lillinonah and the Lake Zoar authorities, took place on June 26 at New Milford

High School. The meeting, attended by nearly 125 area conservationists,

educators, industrialists, municipal officials, civic leaders and members of

the press, was conducted by Thomas C. Jorling, former minority counsel of the

US Senate Committee on Public Works, and one of the chief drafters of the new

law which proposes to clean up the nation's water by 1985.

JULY 2, 1948

Residents of the Borough are being asked to hang up flags, bunting and other

decorations for the Fourth and fifth of July as it is felt by the organizers

of the big parade that this will add a note of festivity to the event. Nearly

every civic and patriotic organization in town is planning on having a float

in the parade. There will be four judges to determine which floats are the

best: Mrs Edith Parker, Gould Curtis, Mrs George Kyle, and Harold DeGroat.

There will be refreshments at the Sandy Hook Fire House for all who march.

This year the parade will have no formal marshal, but the three interested

organizers, Slim Dickinson, Bob Lockwood and Louis Carbonneau, have requested

all those who are going to participate in the parade to be on hand behind

Edmond Town Hall at 10 am on July 5 to be assigned a place in the parade.

For fine food, try the Flying Goose Inn, "Food A Man Likes," in Dodgingtown

district midway between Newtown and Bethel on Route 202. Lunch daily from

$1.25, dinner from $2.50 and country supper on Thursdays, $2.

Dr J. Benton Egee and his two sons, David and John, have just returned from a

week's fishing trip to Bear River, Nova Scotia, where, according to reports,

the fish will bite at anything you are careless enough to put in the water.

A public hearing will be held by the Zoning Board of Appeals on July 7 to

consider and act upon a request made by Ernest A. Wiehl of Bridgeport for the

reclassification of the piece of property between the Mayer house on North

Main Street and Liberty Garage, across from Curricuck Road, to permit

construction of a proposed business block and service station.

Maestro di Cecco, the conductor of the Newtown Symphony Orchestra, led its

members in a memorable concert Thursday evening, the first to be broadcast

live by WLAD. Miss Lillian Kallir was the soloist, playing the Mendelssohn

Concerto No 1 in G Minor and, as encores, Chopin Waltz in G-flat Major, and

then the longer and more exacting Chopin Waltz in A-flat Major. During the

intermission, Henry Simon, the famous musicologist and critic, interviewed

Paul Cullens about the history of the orchestra and its achievements.

The Newtown branch of the American Red Cross is making an urgent appeal for

knitters who will volunteer to knit socks and beanies. The wool is available

from Mrs P.H. McCarthy of Main Street. It is hoped there will be a large

response.

Kenneth Pelletier, son of Mr and Mrs L.E. Pelletier, was selected by the

Hawley High School faculty to be the Newtown representative at the Nutmeg

Boys' State Conference which is being held at Choate School in Wallingford.

Kenneth left Sunday for a week at the conference of boys from all over the

state. He is sponsored by the Raymond L. Pease Post 163 of the American

Legion.

On Tuesday, 15 Fresh Air Children from new York City arrived in town to be

guests of local families for two weeks. The Fresh Air Fund is a project of the

Herald Tribune of New York City and has been very favorably received by a

number of families in town. The families who will be hosts include Mr and Mrs

Edmond Foster, Mr and Mrs Edward Cordial, Mr and Mrs John Cleary, Mr and Mrs

Jerry Acquina, Mr and Mrs Richard McCallister, Mr and Mrs Harold Bassett, Mr

and Mrs Edmund Neary, Mr and Mrs W.H. Kiernan, Mr and Mrs Everett Saltmann,

and Mr and Mrs Paul Feli.

Approximately 100 members of Newtown's Camp Fire Family gathered at Judge Paul

V. Cavanaugh's picturesque Blarneystone Valley in Hanover district on Sunday.

The children enjoyed splashing in the rushing brook with brief interludes for

eating, drinking and participating in games. Twenty persons entered the pie

eating contest. Edmund Dinkler was the champion, with Lois Lane finishing a

split second later. There were mother-daughter and father-son teams in the

potato sack races, many running races, and a laughing contest.

Allen Northey Jones has arrived safely at Bones Brothers ranch in southern

Montana where he has taken the children, Stephen and Sally, for a month's

stay. They went by train as far as Chicago, from which point they took a plane

to their destination. The Bones ranch is a regular working ranch with cattle,

horses, wranglers and all the trappings of the West. Stephen and Sally will

have some tall tales to tell when they return, for although their father is an

old hand, it is their first trip.