Full Text:

THE WAY WE WERE

NOVEMBER 23, 1973

A proposal to sell the Congregational Church House and adjacent buildings to

the town for use as municipal offices was tentatively advanced by Joseph T.

Chase, chairman of the church's board of trustees, at the Board of Selectman

meeting on Tuesday evening. The initial reaction of the selectmen was cautious

but approving. Mr Chase said the decision needs to be presented not only to

the town but also to the church council and the entire congregation for a

vote. The property consists of four buildings on 5.539 acres of land adjacent

to the Edmond Town Hall, with a 50-foot-wide access to Castle Hill Road. The

buildings include the three-story church house, the old parsonage, the old

general store on Main Street, and the cottage behind the church house where

the associate minister currently lives. The church house, built in 1957,

contains 15,180 square feet of floor space divided into 20 offices, a large

meeting room with small kitchen on the first floor, and another large meeting

room with stage on the second floor. Mr Chase gave a "ballpark" estimate of

$500,000 for the sale. First Selectman Frank DeLucia said it looked like a

good solution to the overcrowding at the town hall. If the transaction is

approved, a new church house would be built on the 10 acres of land recently

given to the church by Arthur T. Nettleton on the other side of Castle Hill

Road.

Another chapter was added to the town of Newtown's continuing headaches with

dogs and dog pounds this past week when the police department, acting as a

result of an ultimatum from the owner of the town's temporary pound on

Hattertown Road, moved its operation for the second time this year. Mrs David

Johnson of Hattertown Road, owner of the Copper Devil Kennel, which Newtown

has used as an interim kennel since September, told George McLachlan, chairman

of the Police Commission, that the town would either have to rehire former

assistant dog warden Leilani O'Neil or cease use of her facility. Mr McLachlan

decide to move the town's pond operation elsewhere. The Newtown Animal Clinic

on South Main Street will be used to house stray dogs until the town's new

pound, presently under construction at the landfill site, is completed. Ms

O'Neil had resigned because she said more needed to be done to set up methods

of adoption and return strays to their owners than the police were doing since

the department took over responsibility for the operations.

Because of the national energy crisis, First Selectman Frank DeLucia this week

asked Newtown residents to conserve fuel and Superintendent of Schools Albert

Brinkman sent memos to all teachers in the system asking them to find ways to

conserve energy. Industries in town have started energy conservation programs,

too. DuPont Sorvall, Lexington Gardens, Newtown Manufacturing and Allied

Container have cut outside light to a minimum. S. Curtis & Son in Sandy Hook

has turned all thermostats down from 70 to 65 degrees and installed locking

covers on thermostats. The energy crisis is causing a shortage of such raw

materials as plastics, which are petroleum derivatives. Steel also is becoming

difficult to obtain and the brass market is tightening up, too.

Criminal activity, instead of motor vehicle accidents, filled this week's

police reports. A local resident reported that his car was stolen from the

parking lot while he ate supper at the Blue Colony Diner. Someone stole tires

off two vehicles parked behind Amaral Motors on South main Street. A Poverty

Hollow Road resident surprised three men in the act of stealing two

motorcycles from his garage apartment. He caught one of the men, but another

had a revolver, so all three eventually escaped. Serious vandalism was done to

a home under construction on Valley View Road. And someone fired five shots

through a car parked in a driveway at a home on Swamp Road.

A town meeting has been set for November 28 to take up five different

questions. The third item on the agenda calls for elimination of the existing

divisions of the town into two voting districts and the establishment of three

districts for all elections. Items one and two on the agenda are to accept

Cedar Circle, Antler Pine Road and Acorn Drive as public roads. Item four is

to authorize the selectmen to convey 5.94 acres of land at the intersection of

Riverside Road and Dickinson Drive to the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire Company.

The fifth item is to consider a resolution rescinding the authority of the

Board of Education to acquire the Boyle property on Boggs Hill Road for a

school site and have the $68,000 deposited with the Clerk of Superior Court in

Bridgeport for the purchase of the land returned to the town.

The Charter Revision Commission has scheduled public hearings for December 5

and 8 to get public reaction to six subjects which the commission is

discussing. The first is whether there is a need for a fiscal officer for the

town and what the duties would be. Possible alternative forms of government

will be discussed, including town manager and a representative town meeting. A

proposal has been advanced that a referendum be required on all budget

increases which equal more than three mills, or $450,000. Commission Chairman

Robert Hall said the duties and responsibilities of the Board of Managers of

Edmond Town Hall should be discussed. The commission also will take up the

question as to whether the Planning and Zoning Commission should be divided

into two separate commissions.

First Selectman Frank DeLucia said he has received a letter from the State

Bureau of Highways informing him that a commuter parking lot will be built in

Hawleyville at Exit 9 of I-84. A 40- to 50-car lot will be constructed on

state land. The lot is part of Gov Meskill's "Three Point Program" to

encourage car pools to lessen the impact of the gasoline shortage on the

public.

Having met with Health Director Dr Thomas Draper and representatives of the

State Department of Environmental Protection, First Selectman Frank DeLucia

said the town must start planning for a sewage system. A crisis has arisen

because of a recent court decision which requires each town to provide a means

for disposing of its own septic wastes. Newtown has no such facilities within

its borders. Sewer construction was first ordered by the state in 1967;

preliminary surveys were done in 1968-69. Soon thereafter the state, which was

providing most of the funding, proposed postponing sewers as an economy move.

Now the push is to do the project, 90 percent of which will be paid by the

state.

NOVEMBER 26, 1948

For the second year in a row, Hawley School's six-man football team has won

the Housatonic Valley Schoolmen's League championship. This year's record

includes eight wins and one loss, in the season opener at Bethel. In the nine

games played this season, the Hawley high school team scored 214 points to

their opponent's 101 points. The Hawley team played well as a unit under the

capable training of Coach Harold S. DeGroat, with Johnny Lorenzo the season's

high scorer. Other team members included Robert Dean, center; Ronny Wagner,

quarterback; Kenneth Wiser, end; Robert Richmond, halfback; Kenneth Anderson,

end; Ralph Berkemann, end, center; William Wagner, halfback; Richard Knutson,

halfback; Howard Willmore, halfback; James Pelletier, center; Kenneth

Pelletier, end; Michael Keogh, quarterback; Rudolph Wrabel, end; Millard

Goodsell, manager; Dwight Johnson, assistant manger.

Word has been received from Mrs J.D. Lawrence, formerly of Walnut Tree Hill

district and now residing in Vermont, that the body of her son, Pfc Archie

Lawrence arrived last Wednesday from Europe. A full military funeral was held,

with a former Army sergeant who was overseas with Archie serving as an

honorary escort. Pfc Lawrence attended Hawley High and was well liked among

his many friends in Newtown. He enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1943 and

was sent overseas in February 1944. After serving in Africa and engaging in

various European battles, he was stationed with the 88th Infantry Division in

Northern Italy where he was killed.

Of particular interest to all those who attended the card party sponsored by

the members of St Rose Church last Friday evening in Edmond Town Hall was the

presence of the Rt Rev Monsignor William Collins, former pastor of St Rose

Church. Msgr Collins, who was popular not only with his parishioners but with

all the townspeople, was pastor of the Newtown church for 15 years before

being transferred to his present position as pastor of St Joseph's Cathedral

in Hartford.

The building committee of the Newtown Boy and Girl Scout troops is dissolving,

after having accomplished its purpose, and has issued a report. The

committee's fund-raising drive raised $6,561.41, according to H. Carleton

Hubbell, treasurer of the building fund. The entire amount was spent to secure

nine acres of land ($1,080), survey it, and construct two substantial cabins,

each 20 by 40 feet. Contractors and supply houses provided both material and

labor at cost. The scouts themselves cleared the site and undertook the

excavation. Fathers of scouts helped with the construction. The Rev William

Collins of St Rose Church, now Msgr Collins of St Joseph's Cathedral in

Hartford, was instrumental in getting townspeople to make pledges for the

project when it was envisioned more than three years ago. The building

committee, whose work is now finished, included Agnes R. Cullens, chairman;

Harold F. Smith, Harrie Wood and Paul A. Cullens. From the scout troops, were

Albert Boyson, Janet Leahy, Dorothy Baker, Barbara Wiser, Verne F. Knapp,

Betty Lou Osborne and Caroline Stokes.

Newtown Superintendent of Schools Carroll F. Johnson reported to the school

board this week that the Newtown schools will have a serious lack of space

next fall. The regional junior and high school has been delayed by litigation

and may not be ready for use in 1949, he pointed out. Present facilities in

Newtown, including the almost completed Hawley school addition, will be

inadequate by September 1949, he said. Projections indicate a need for at

least 17 classrooms for grades kindergarten through six. The alternatives are

returning to the Sandy Hook school or other outlying buildings; overcrowding

classes at Hawley, or planning now for whatever facilities the board might

feel necessary. After Superintendent Johnson's report, the housing problem

discussion was tabled by the board until the December 3 meeting.

Edith Parker of the Parker House reports that she had occasion to attend a

meeting of a group of young girls at Hawley High school this past week. She

said that under the careful guidance of Miss Toothaker, the girls are being

taught the way to become good homemakers. They are learning how to do the

things that really count, such as cooking, sewing, interior decorating and

other useful subjects which tend to improve living conditions in the home. The

group is called Future Home Makers of America.

Recently a Community Chorus was formed with both the towns of Newtown and

Southbury taking part. The first rehearsal, held November 17 in the Southbury

Consolidated school, drew out a large number of singers, many from Newtown. It

was decided then to hold rehearsals on Thursdays and the next one will take

place on December 2. All who want to get out and sing are cordially invited to

attend these sessions. William Jones, musical supervisor in the Newtown

schools, is directing.

Doc Crowe has confided in The Bee that he and Mrs Crowe have an extra large

turkey this year for Thanksgiving so he will close the Corbett and Crowe drug

store in Sandy Hook promptly at 12 o'clock on Thanksgiving and remain closed

for the rest of the day. Doc didn't say so, but The Bee would like to say it

for him, that even a druggist is entitled to an occasional day off.

Classified Ad: Gentleman would like to contact woman past 50 years of age with

some money to invest in good money making proposition in the way of

partnership or in mortgage on good valuable property. Christian and

unencumbered woman preferred. Please write to Box CH, c/o Newtown Bee.