Full Text:

THE WAY WE WERE

MAY 17, 1974

Almost surprisingly, Newtown's annual battle of the budget Á and bomb scare Á

came to a swift end Wednesday night as resident voters and taxpayers approved

both parts of the town's $9,200,571.70 budget for fiscal 1974-75. The total

numbers of votes cast at Edmond Town Hall was 2,509, including 39 non-resident

taxpayers, out of a resident electorate of 8,211, which means 30 per cent of

Newtown's voters participated in the referendum, petitioned for last week by

the Newtown Taxpayers Group.

A group of angry residents of "the stepchild of Newtown" have registered a

volley of complaints that the Town's government is not interested in helping

them make their area a decent place to live. The people, residents of a

section of Pootatuck Park, a private development in Sandy Hook, say they have

been complaining of a host of problems for years, but have been met with a

run-around from those they have seen at the Town Hall. "We're not looking for

a handout," said one of the people, Mrs Norma Mendola of Tomahawk Trail.

"We're taxpayers who work for our living and we're looking for help in getting

rid of the problems in making our area a decent place to live." Another, Mrs

Gertrude Willenberg, also of Tomahawk Trail, seconded this. "When other people

in Newtown hear the name Pootatuck Park, they think it's a plague," she said.

"They don't realize what a beautiful and peaceful place it is. We have pride

in our homes and have tried to make this a nice area to live in." The problem

is, though, that not everyone living in Pootatuck Park has that concern, and

this is where they demand the Town step in and help.

Chief White Cloud (Charlie Godfrey of Newtown), Chief of the Newtown Nation

Indian Guides, held a pow-wow with Chiefs Shooting Star (Ken Wittmer of

Newtown) and Broad Axe (Ed Osterman of Newtown) to discuss final plans for the

Newtown Nation Games to be held Sunday, May 19, in Dickinson Town Park. There

will be six Newtown Indian Guide tribes competing in such events as the Indian

Marathon, relay race and relay spear throwing, following the opening

ceremonies which will begin at 1 pm. A colorful, authentic Sioux Indian

program will be featured at 3 pm by Chip Hendrickson. Indian customs, sayings,

life styles, attitudes and humor are part of the program with the aim of

portraying the Indian as a real-life human being of yesterday and today.

The Board of Education will be going to the Board of Finance to ask that it

approve a special appropriation in the amount of $198,400 for the purchase and

installation of 15 portable classrooms to be located at the elementary schools

beginning the coming school year. Included in the total amount would be funds

to relocate two portables now at Sandy Hook School, the installation of three

lavatory facilities, and the cost of renting a van to move 5th grade furniture

and equipment from the Middle School.

Seventeen-year-old Scott Rogers, a junior at Newtown High School, will go to

Washington, D.C. this summer for a week to take part in the Summer Intern

Program. In the program, Scott will spend the week viewing the workings of the

executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government.

A delegation of Greenbriar Lane residents, worried about the curve on Route 25

to the south end of their road where a fatal accident occurred recently, met

with James Hargraves of the State Traffic Commission on May 14. In the

process, the Route 25 Impact Study Committee learned some of the principals of

highway traffic safety analysis. Mr Hargraves advised that the residents ask

the town engineer to make an assessment of the adequacy of that portion of the

road and submit his opinion to the Department of Transportation, asking for

its appraisal. The town engineer need not make any recommendation, he said,

but act simply as a "supplier of local information."

The Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection has

informed First Selectman Frank DeLucia that a hearing will be held in the area

if the state decides to proceed with the lease of 610 acres of Bridgeport

Hydraulic Company land. The letter came in response to questions asked by the

First Selectman about dangers to residents because of the hunting plan. A

volley of protest was raised last month by people living near the Hydraulic

land and hundreds of letters were sent to the state department. The residents

have also received letters assuring a hearing.

Clifford Green, Jerome Jackson and Paul Smith were re-elected as trustees of

the Newtown Historical Society at the annual meeting on Monday, May 13, in the

conference room of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library. The names were presented by

Mrs Hermon Parker, chairman of the nominating committee. It was unanimously

voted to admit persons under 18 years of age. Those interested may become

members of the Society by signing an application and paying annual dues of $5

per person. Membership dues for students are $2.

MAY 20, 1949

The League meeting with James Nevins Hyde and Louis Kepler Hyde, Jr, on Monday

evening in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall proved to be a very

informative and interesting discussion. James Hyde described the view of our

own State Department toward the North Atlantic Pact and what our government

feels can be accomplished by the Pact. He also described the position the

Soviet Union has taken in the United Nations. Mr Hyde stressed the fact that

the United Nations needs the support of each individual citizen in order to

work successfully. Louis Hyde described the very interesting work of the

International Civil Aviation Organization, and pointed out the large field yet

unexplored by such a specialized agency as the I.C.A.O., for the betterment of

safety on the seas and rescue work all over the world.

A weekend of fun has been promised for townspeople and neighbors who again

bring a pocketful of change to this year's Mardi Gras in the gymnasium of

Edmond Town Hall. Sponsored by the Sunday School of the Newtown Congregational

church, the affair, which will be held Friday and Saturday nights, May 27 and

28, from 7 o'clock till midnight, is packed with surprises, aimed at providing

a good time for the customers regardless of age. Proceeds all go into the new

Church House coffers. Door prizes are to be awarded, so it is important that

ticket-holders hang onto their stubs. Such prizes will be announced at

intervals both evenings, with Bob and Caroline Stokes in charge of this

department.

Townspeople will remember with pleasure the performance given by Miss Dolores

Suarez at the last Hawley Chorus concert. Miss Suarez, a member of the junior

class at Hawley High school and a serious vocal student, is a pupil of June

Burgess of New York. Dolores possesses an exceptionally fine singing voice,

and with her charming personality is an immediate favorite with her listeners.

For her portion of the program next Thursday evening, May 26, in the Edmond

Town Hall theater, she will sing a group of varied songs, including two of

Victor Herbert's most popular compositions, "A Kiss In The Dark" and "The

Italian Street Song."

Mrs Dorathea Thompson of the Taunton district, Newtown, well known throughout

the state for her work in silver and enamel and particularly for her

hand-wrought jewelry, is one of several craftsmen who will serve on the

faculty of the fourth annual summer arts and Crafts Workshop to be held at the

Willimantic State Teachers College, Willimantic.

Students and faculty members danced to the music of Freddy Bredice's orchestra

at the Junior-Senior Prom of Hawley school, which was held Friday evening, May

13, in the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium from 9 to 12 o'clock. There was an

attendance of 90 students and 17 faculty members. Joan Weeks was the senior

girl voted Prom Queen and with her escort led the grand march to the receiving

line.

"The fame of Newtown has reached the Big City," said Attorney Charles E. Betts

of Newtown and New York in a recent note to The Bee. He was referring to

Newtown's well known garage owner and farm equipment firm operator, Louis

Lovell. Louie, as he is called by most everyone, was recently interviewed by

Robert Dwyer, reporter for the New York Daily News, and an article resulting

from that interview appeared in the May 8th issue of The News. Featured as the

boss who finds his best workers are men in their 60s, Louie was also mentioned

in Ed Sullivan's column, "Little Old New York," and in the Sunday Bridgeport

Herald. As operator of the garage located on lower Main street at the

intersection of Routes 25 and 202, Louie's unique employment policy has

impressed many. According to relief department records, jobs are becoming

scarcer for men over 45 and they are the first to be let go when times are

difficult. But this is not the routine practiced by the 52-year-old native of

Newtown. He hires them old, he keeps them, and he likes them. "I'm a little

business man," Louie told reporter Dwyer. "I'm not trying to tell big business

how they should operate or who they should hire. All I know is that I've had

nothing but success with the older guys."

MAY 16, 1924

As Herman N. Tiemann, Sr, came out of the front door of his residence, Sunday

am, about 8:30 o'clock, he saw his dog playing with an object on the lawn.

Going up to it he made the gruesome discovery that it was the upper portion of

the body of an infant child. He immediately notified Dr W.H. Kiernan, medical

examiner, who telephoned to the Coroner and the state police barracks at

Ridgefield, and a few hours later Officer Kelly in command of Ridgefield

arrived in Newtown. After the discovery on the lawn, Robert W. Tiemann, son of

Herman N. Tiemann, Sr, took a walk up over the hill and came across the place

in the stone wall where the body of the babe had evidently been secreted. The

body was wrapped in a part of a copy of the New York Times of some date in

September. Medical Examiner W.H. Kierman was of the opinion that the body had

been in the wall about ten days or thereabouts and was evidently of a new-born

babe. There appears to be no clue as to who the individual was who placed the

body in the wall on the hill, but it is generally thought it must have been

someone within the town and more or less familiar with local landmarks.

The appeal recently published in The Bee for funds to pay for flags to be

placed on the graves of soldiers in the various cemeteries in town has been

generously answered. Among those who have contributed are: Mary Hawley, Mrs

Herbert Coger, Mrs C.W. Bounty of Stamford, Mrs H.J. McCarthy of South

Britain, L.C. Morris, A.J. Smith, A.T. Nettleton, C.F. Cavanaugh, W.F. Pulver,

H.W. Wheeler, H.C. Hubbell, Frank Wright, C.T. Conger, Henry Ripf and A.P.

Smith.