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THE WAY WE WERE FOR NOVEMBER 27, 1998

NOVEMBER 30, 1973

A press conference was called by Lyman D. Rogers last Saturday to announce an

option agreement on the Allen Site at Routes 6 and 25 and Whippoorwill Hill

Road as an alternative to the Boggs Hill Road site for the new elementary

school. It was announced that through the efforts of dozens of town people,

one business, and with the funds of three members of the Boggs Hill Group, the

option on the Allen site of 22 plus acres had been obtained. The price of the

land is $63,000 plus the cost of a three-month option at $1,000 per month.

Paul S. Smith was named trustee for the funds. Mr Smith, former editor of The

Bee , said it had long been his position that the Boyle site was not the

proper place for an elementary school to serve the Taunton area children as it

was five miles away and located in a three-acre zone where there is a large

wildlife preserve and no concentration of school children, now or in the

future. Transpiration will be costly, ongoing, and a hardship for the

children, he said.

Fewer than 200 residents of Newtown went to the high school Wednesday evening

to vote at a special town meeting which had been called with five items on the

agenda. The first four items on the agenda were voted on affirmatively with

little discussion. The fifth, the rescinding of the 1970 referendum which

called for the school board to acquire the Boyle property on Boggs Hill Road

for a school site, was sent to an all-day referendum on December 11. Approved

during the meeting were acceptance of several roads as town roads, realignment

of the town's two voting districts into three districts, and conveyance of

land at Riverside Road and Dickinson Drive to the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire

Company.

Pauline W. Knibloe, a Democratic member of the Board of Finance for 22 years

and its only woman member, this week tendered her resignation, effective

December 1. Mrs Knibloe said she felt she had discharged her duties of service

to the town and looked forward to a "long, healthy and happy retirement." The

board accepted the resignation with regret. Vice Chairman Jack Rosenthal, who

also is chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, invited all Democrats

interested in taking Mrs Knibloe's place on the Board of Finance to call him

or Earl Smith, chairman of the candidates committee.

The town's ongoing dog pound problems continued this week as the well that is

being drilled at the landfill site has proven to be deeper and more costly

than expected. A professional geologist has advised that the well should be

abandoned altogether and another well be drilled. First Selectman Frank

DeLucia said the contractor is willing to pay the cost of lowering the pump to

410 feet, which would require a larger pump as well as more expensive steel

tubing, and guarantee satisfactory results. If the solution proved to be

insufficient, the contractor would reimburse the town $470, the price of the

pump originally specified in the contracts, he said.

The Board of Selectmen plans to send a survey questionnaire to get public

opinion on the major issues facing Newtown. The questionnaire will be

distributed to householders by Boy Scouts earning their merit service badges

and copies will also be available through service organizations and at the

town clerk's office in Edmond Town Hall. The questionnaire covers such

subjects as the use of revenue sharing; the need for a town planner, town

engineer, or town financial director; the desirability of more shopping

centers; future housing needs including housing for the elderly; open space;

encouraging industry; the proposed Route 25 expressway; and the use of schools

for recreation. Residents are asked to rate the town services, to identify

what they consider Newtown's greatest problem, and to offer any comments of

their own.

Superintendent of Schools Albert Brinkman said Franklin Y. Smith, present

assistant principal at the Middle School, has been named principal of the

"Upper House," grades 7-8, and Alton Cashman, administrative assistant, has

been named principal of the "Lower House," grades 5-6. Both men will start

with elementary school principal salaries beginning November 28; the salaries

will be retroactive to September 1. Teachers who attended the meeting were not

enthusiastic about the reorganization of the school. The proposal was approved

by five affirmative votes but Lester Burroughs, board vice chairman, abstained

because he has taken the position that one school cannot be effectively

operated by two principals of equal standing.

Some 20 Newtown residents, all of whom had volunteered to work on technical

research for Newtown's newest citizen action group, Environmental Study and

Protection (ESP), Inc., met Saturday at the home of Mr and Mrs Geoffrey Whan

on Deerfield Drive. According to Chairman Seth O.L. Brody, these were citizens

who had attended the group's public meeting on November 8 and filled out a

questionnaire distributed there. Mr Brody said ESP is still seeking

volunteers. ESP, an ecology-oriented organization, was formed last summer and

has undertaken the proposed Route 25 expressway through Newtown as its first

study project.

Olga L. Paproski was chosen as the Fairfield County Farm Bureau's Mother of

the Year and presented with a plaque at the organization's November 26

meeting. Mrs Paproski has held many positions in the Farm Bureau organization,

has been a leader with the Extension Service 4-H groups, has been on the VNA

board, assists at the Red Cross Bloodmobile, is in the Dodgingtown Women's

Fire Auxiliary, and has served in many other volunteer positions with many

organizations. She and her husband, Sam, operate a dairy farm.

DECEMBER 3, 1948

Tragedy climaxed the wedding of Mr and Mrs John A. Hooper early Sunday morning

when Mrs Russell Williamson, 25, of Dayton, Ohio, who had served that

afternoon as matron of honor, was killed in an automobile accident. The

accident also took the life of I. Ray Sipperly, 26, of Danbury, the brother of

the bride, who had been an usher at the wedding, and who died of his injuries

on Wednesday morning. A third passenger, Mr Sipperly's wife, Joan, 25, was

seriously injured. The accident occurred when the car in which they were

riding left the Danbury-Newtown Highway (Route 6), hit a utility pole and a

large maple tree. The cause of the accident is unknown; it is believed that a

blowout might have caused the accident or that Mr Sipperly was stricken ill at

the wheel. Mr Sipperly, a decorated Army Air Force veteran of World War II,

had been married less than a year. He was associated with his father in a well

drilling business in Danbury. Mrs Williamson, a former college roommate of the

bride, is survived by her husband and a six-month-old son. The Hoopers

canceled their wedding trip when they learned of the accident.

It was announced this week that a Christmas Doorway Decoration Contest will be

held in Newtown this year, sponsored by the Town Development Committee. This

resumes an activity conducted in Newtown during the Christmas seasons of 1939,

1940 and 1941 under the sponsorship of the now inactive Chamber of Commerce

and interrupted in 1942 because of the ban on all outside Christmas lighting

that year due to the war. There will be three categories: decorated doorways

to be judged in daylight; decorated doorways to be judged at night; and

general effect of house and grounds, to be judged at night. The purpose of the

contest is to revive a widespread interest in decorating doors and homes in

Newtown for the Christmas season. Cash prizes of $5 and $3 are being offered

to the first and second prize winners in each category.

Virginia and Mack Lathrop, who live at the head of Main Street, have in six

week's time accomplished a complete transformation of The Kegs into the

Village Coffee Shop. The Kegs has for years been a kind of landmark at the

corner of Church Hill Road and Queen Street. The Lathrops, professional

dancers for more years than they care to recall, have performed as a team for

the past 12 years. About eight years ago, they bought property in Newtown and

have been here since, except for their wage-earning tours across the country,

the last of which took place as recently as September. At that time, they

played a three-week engagement at the Capitol in New York. When The Kegs was

put up for sale, Mack Lathrop put a down payment on it. He had painters paint

the building, the gasoline pumps were removed and made a separate part of the

facility, the former lunchroom, begin to look like a country coffee shop and

dining room. Eventually the project is to include modern, heated cabins for

the travelling public. These buildings will follow the same design and

characteristics as the coffee shop, so that instead of being an eyesore in a

most conspicuous spot in town, the "Village" will be something the community

can take pride in.

A switch is the culprit that has caused the street lights on Main Street to

burn day and night for the past few weeks. The electricity is paid by the

Borough at a fixed cost per year so the continual burning is not at additional

cost to the town. Besides fixing the switch, the town needs better lighting at

the flagpole. It has been suggested that Newtown's Main street would be much

improved by the entire elimination of wires and poles, by buying the telephone

and electric lines underground and erecting attractive Colonial lamp posts in

place of the unsightly utility poles.

Superintendent of Schools and Mrs Carroll Johnson, who have sold their home on

Church Road to Miss Kathryn Lillis of Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, will move on

Saturday to the house of H.C. Honegger at the top of Sandy Hook hill, the

former home of the late Louis Briscoe.

Stephen E. Budd Jr, the son of Mr and Mrs Stephen E. Budd of Main Street,

Newtown, was married to Kate Gilbert Holt, the daughter of Mr and Mrs John

Caldwell Holt Jr, on Saturday, November 27, at Christ Church in Rye, N.Y. The

groom, a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, served in the US Naval Reserve

for three years, and graduated from Yale University in 1948. The Budds will

live in Minneapolis, Minn.

The town's annual Town Report was released this week. In a forward to the

report, Finance Committee Chairman H.H. Cutler said 1948 was a milestone

because it was the first year the townspeople have authorized a complete

reappraisal of taxable property. The annual report is also filled with

interesting information such as the fact the first selectman is paid only

$1,600, a sum not much larger than that of his secretary. The town receives

only $620 a year for the space it rents to the federal government for a post

office at Edmond Town Hall, a space many see as needed by the town for its own

functioning. The theater earned an income of $51,254 this year, which puts the

town in the movie business in a big way -- too often at the expense of local

organizations and the town itself which would like to use the theater for

local activities if it was not already scheduled for movies, The Bee reported.

Several Newtown organizations and individuals, under the leadership of the

local chapter of the Eastern Star, will holding a town fair on Saturday at

Edmond Town Hall. Items from Star chapters across the country will be sold at

the fair. An interesting highlight of the day will be the handwriting analysis

done by William Leonard. Lunch will be served by the Auxiliary of the VFW.