Full Text:

THE WAY WE WERE

MARCH 15, 1974

A petition containing 200 signatures, as required by Town Charter, is expected

to be in the Town Clerk's office by Friday, calling for a referendum on the

Boyle site. Sponsoring the petition is the Voters' Action Committee, which

says that a new elementary school is needed, and that the 29-acre tract of

land on Boggs Hill Road "is the best location for that elementary school." VAC

wasted no time in circulating the document, following publication of the call

to a town meeting on the Boyle site in last week's Bee . According to William

Lavery of 10 Main Street, whose home is the collection point for the

petitions, 14 VAC members have been circulating the documents since last

Saturday. The first item on the call to the Town Meeting asks the voters to

revoke the results of the December 11, 1973, referendum on the Boyle site, in

which Newtown instructed the Board of Education to abandon its efforts to

obtain the land by condemnation, and to reaffirm the December 10, 1970,

referendum in which the school board was empowered to obtain the land. The

second item on the call would empower the Board of Selectmen to return title

to the Boyle property to its former landowners, contingent upon return to the

town of the $68,000 deposit which the town put down for the land.

With full honors, Newtown's new dog pound was opened on Friday morning, March

8, at its location at the town landfill. A complement of town and state

officials, including representatives of the Newtown Police Department and

Police Commission, the builders and interested citizens were on hand for the

event. John P. Futtner, deputy commissioner of the State Department of

Agriculture, cut the ribbon on the new facility as First Selectman Frank

DeLucia, Police Chief Louis Marchese, Sgt Michael Fekete, the police

department's canine officer and Dog Warden George Mattegat Sr took part. The

town's new facility, it turns out, is already the envy of several other

communities.

The wheels were officially set in motion on Monday night for Newtown to make

application to the Farmers Home Administration for a loan to finance a rental

housing project for the elderly. Newtown Housing for the Elderly Inc voted at

its meeting that night to apply for the loan and to take the responsibility

for running the complex once it is built.

While the Newtown Post Office enjoyed a brisk sale of two-cent stamps during

the first week of higher postal rates, the demand has slackened and there is

an ample supply of two-centers for people who want to use leftover eight-cent

stamps for first-class letters.

Road Superintendent Edward Napier hopes that townspeople will be patient with

the highway department's efforts to fill in potholes and make road repairs

this year. According to Mr Napier, there is a shortage of materials for

patching up the streets. He estimated that such things as oil, paving and hot

and cold patch are down 25 to 35 per cent from what was available last year.

Costs, too, have gone up, the Road Superintendent said, noting that cold patch

is controlled by allotment from Hartford and there's just not enough available

to meet all the needs.

A new effort to create a Main Street Historic District was undertaken at the

March 11 meeting of the Board of Burgesses. Benjamin Blanchard was named to

head the study committee which will revive the Historic District project. Mr

Blanchard told the Board of Burgesses he had received numerous inquiries about

reviving a Historic District effort and submitted the names of William Hare,

Mrs Lindell Hertberg and Atty William Lavery of Main Street and John Loudon of

Hattertown as committee members. Mr Loudon was active in the successful effort

to designate Hattertown Green an Historic District.

A Town Government study committee of the League of Women Voters will present a

public statement concerning a model code of ethics for Newtown to the Charter

Revision Commission at the Commission's next meeting Wednesday, March 20 at 8

pm in Edmond Town Hall.

Two alternates to the Planning and Zoning Commission were recommended to fill

vacancies on that commission at the Republican Town Committee's meeting on

Monday, March 11. Robert DiGiovanni and Richard Sturdevant, who have been

alternates since July 1, 1973, were endorsed to move up to fill seats on P&Z.

The recommendations will be sent to the Board of Selectmen.

MARCH 18, 1949

An informal joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and

Board of Assessors was held on Saturday morning, March 12, at the Edmond Town

Hall to consider the assessing problem in Newtown, especially in view of some

misunderstandings in regard to the bill presented in the Legislature by

Representative George M. Stuart. The following members of the three boards

were present: William W. Holcombe and James Brunot, selectmen; Mrs Alice

McCallister, Edward Bradley, Paul V. Cavanaugh, H.H. Cutler, Walter Glover and

Allen Northey Jones, members of the Board of Finance; George M. Tower and

William E. Cutler, assessors. The provisions of the Stuart bill, and possible

variations from the procedure indicated, were discussed at length, and it was

finally decided, by unanimous vote of those present, that the bill as it

stands offers a satisfactory solution of the problem, and the best that has

been presented. Discussion then turned to the qualifications desirable in a

single full-time assessor, and the method by which the best-fitted candidate

for the office could be selected.

On next Wednesday evening, March 23, the County Machinery Dealers Association

will hold a meeting in the Alexandria Room of the Edmond Town Hall, to which

all interested farmers are invited. The purpose of the meeting is to acquaint

the farmer with the latest developments in agriculture, and films will be

shown on "Soil Conservation" and "Spraying, Servicing and Caring for Farm

Equipment."

The birthday party arranged in honor of Judge Paul V. Cavanaugh at the Pine

Inn on Route 25 last Thursday evening, brought out 115 friends to join in the

celebration. Toastmaster was Alvin B. Coger who, on behalf of the assembled

guests, presented Judge Cavanaugh with a car radio. The committee in charge of

the testimonial dinner included besides Mr Coger, Willis F. Tomlinson, Anthony

Amaral, William Mannix, Henry L. McCarthy, Reginald Watkins, and Milton

Chernoff. First Selectman William W. Holcombe was among those present.

Robert McCarty, son of Mr and Mrs Warren F. McCarty, Old Bethel Road, was a

guest in Hal Brundage's Yankee Farmer program on WLAD, Danbury, Friday

morning, March 11, at 7:15 o'clock. Since this was National 4-H Week, he was

interviewed about the projects he carries through the year.

With Charlie Milot, Emmy Farrell and Mickey Keogh accounting for 60 points, a

rejuvenated St Rose basketball team trimmed the Mutual Five of Danbury 85 to

64, on Wednesday night at the Edmond gym to square accounts with the champions

of the Danbury Industrial League who had defeated the churchmen by four points

in an early season game.

More than 200 attended the 1949 Youth Club Jamboree held last Friday in the

Edmond Town Hall gymnasium. Beginning at 7:15, the youth clubs marched into

the gym behind their own color guards. Led by the Sandy Hook Fife, Drum and

Bugle Corps, the clubs circled the floor twice, dropping off at their

designated places in the bleachers, while the color bearers of each group

remained in formation during several numbers by the Corps. A great deal of

praise was given the Corps for their fine performance.

Projections of the plans for Regional High School No. 3 will be shown at a

short meeting of the District Education Association in the Alexandria Room of

the Edmond Town Hall at 8 o'clock on Monday evening, March 21. Superintendent

Carroll Johnson will explain details and answer questions concerning the

physical structure of the school in relation to the educational program it

will serve.

Announcement is made that the first of a series of studies of great books,

following the pattern laid down by the Great Books Foundation, will be held in

the Cyrenius H. Booth Library the second Monday in April, which is the 12th.

Robert Raynolds and Mortimer B. Smith are in charge.