October 20, 1995

Donald Ferris, who is approaching 70, has had 60 gallons of water delivered on a regular basis because the water at his Apple Blossom Lane home has been contaminated with tetrachloroethylene from an unidentified source. He is one of approximately 30 homes in the area that have been found to have detectable levels of the man-made contaminant.

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Newtown residents may be strolling the halls of the proposed high school addition before it is built, before the money is even approved for it. The architects are putting together a three-dimensional video using advanced technology equipment to show residents how the proposed high school renovation would look... Connecticut school districts have been going through a building boom as well as a period of budget rejection, so as the school boards get more experienced trying to pass building projects to testy voters, they have zeroed in on more effective ways of educating the public about their plans.

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Like the McCoys and Hatfields, the fight never seems to end between the Lermans of Main Street and the Board of Education of Queen Street. Trying to settle a year-long request-for-information feud, the Freedom of Information Commission ruled on October 12 that the school board has to give the Lermans certain portions of teacher observation reports... Herb Rosenthal, the school board chairman, said the board is appealing the decision in order to protect teacher evaluation privacy... Mrs Lerman said she asked for the documentation because of a discussion she had with a teacher who claimed to have gone six years without an observation. Mrs Lerman said many schools observe teachers a few times a year, so the teacher’s comment made her suspect observations were not occurring as routinely as they should at the high school.... Mr Rosenthal said he is tired of the Lermans’ mistrust and large information requests... “I’m sorry he feels he is being harassed. But part of what a public official does is answer questions from the public...” Mrs Lerman said.

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Legislative Council members have made it clear to Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) Chairman Peter Alagna that the council won’t support the WPCA’s plan to assess individual homeowners only $9,600 for access to municipal sewer lines. In recent months, WPCA members have been formulating a sewer assessment formula intended to equitably divide sewer assessment costs among residential property owners, property owners with access to sewers, nonresidential property owners with access to sewers, and taxpayers with holding outside the sewer district... Council member Melissa Pilchard said properties which receive more than $9,600 increase in value for access to sewers would be given an unfair economic advantage... But $9,600 is an “affordable” number for people receiving sewer service, Mr Alagna said.

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On Halloween weekend, October 27-29, the halls and auditoriums of Newtown High School will once again resound with the folk dances and music of many different countries and cultures. The source of this revelry and celebration is Northeast Music, Arts, and Dance Festival (NOMAD), which returns to Newtown for the eighth consecutive year.

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Newtown Boys’ and Girls’ Cross Country Teams Both Finish Season Undefeated. Newtown [Boys’ Cross Country] swept New Fairfield, Weston, and Bethel to finish the season at 17-0. The Lady Indians defeated New Fairfield, Weston, and Bethel to complete their first undefeated season in school history.

October 16, 1970

One of Newtown’s most cherished and most honored citizens, Henry Ernest Schnakenberg, died Tuesday night, October 13, at his home on Taunton Hill Road... A painter of distinction... He is represented in many museums, as well as numerous private collections here and abroad. Among the more important museums that own his paintings are the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the Pennsylvania Museum of Fine Arts, the Nebraska Museum of Fine Arts, the Chicago Arts Institute, the Yale University collection, and the Wood Art Gallery in Montpelier, Vt... In 1926, the Whitney Club requested that he make a search for American Primitives. What he found became the nucleus for the genre and started the vogue for American folk art.

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Motorists are urgently asked to turn their headlights on during the dark and often foggy hours in early morning. The recent heavy fogs have made driving difficult and dangerous, especially for school buses and their passengers. This is a request from the school administration... Flashlights for the school crossing guards have also been requested.

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The feasibility of again organizing a Newtown Swim Team was proposed Tuesday night, October 13, to the Parks and Recreation Commission... It will be recalled that Newtown had a Swim Team that won many honors for itself but which was discontinued in 1966. Now with the high school pool available, such a group might again be a source of real enjoyment to the total community.

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The Newtown Historical Society announced at its meeting on Tuesday evening, October 13, that it is in the process of acquiring the 1766 Harrower house on Main Street. This fine old salt box is a landmark in the town’s history. Not only is it beautifully proportioned, it has a good deal of the original paneling, wide floor boards, and five working fireplaces, two of these have very fine mantles. There is also a sixth fireplace, at present boarded up. The monstrous old chimney houses extra flues and a smoke house, two beehive ovens and is sound as the proverbial bell.

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Two more suits have been filed against Newtown in the Court of Common Pleas, Bridgeport. Mr and Mrs George Tricarico are protesting the appeals board decision upholding the revocation of a permit to build a second house on a lot in a one acre zone... The second case has been brought by Mrs Doris Dickinson. She had asked the Zoning Board of Appeals, in conjunction with the Shell Oil Company, for a special exception, variance, and certificate of approval to operate a filling station on Church Hill Road. The site had been used previously as a gas station but was nonconforming.

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Newtown — Grand Place — OPEN HOUSE, 2-5 SUNDAY; Only one left — finish. Features: 8-room Colonial with 2 car garage attached; Two fireplaces; Two and half Baths, Tiled; Paneling in Family Room with Bookcases; Built in oven range — dishwasher; Built in vacuum cleaner; Anderson Perma Shield Windows, no storms needed; Spacious one-acre estate gives you room for living — clean country fresh air in suburban Community within easy reach of Modern Schools, Shopping Centers, Churches, Country Clubs. Price $62,500. Aragaon Builders Co, Inc, Tel 268-9544, Newtown.

October 12, 1945

News of the resignation of Dr Clifford D. Moore as superintendent of Fairfield State Hospital, effective December 31, will be received with regret by residents of Newtown, where Dr and Mrs Moore and their three children have won a host of friends and the doctor has entered actively into the civic life of the community. Announcement was made this week by Paul W. McFadden, president of Stamford Hall in Stamford, Conn., that Dr Moore will become medical director there effective January 10, 1946.

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Town Players, who were forced to suspend production during the war, announce the long-awaited resumption of activities... The present plans for the December production call for Tryouts on Monday, October 22, at Taunton School House, 7:30 pm. Town Players invite anyone who is interested to attend, join the group, and work with it. A membership is $3.25 yearly, which entitles a member to four tickets for the year, advance sales, and reserved seats.

***

A survey of Newtown’s industrial plants reveals no diminution in employment or output as a result of changeover from war to peace-time production, with prospects for expansion from today’s production level general. Problems of reconversion are at a minimum, backlogs of civilian orders are common, and temporary handicaps are lack of materials and scarcity of workers with special skills.

***

Smarting under a real defeat handed them by Bethel last Monday afternoon, a full squad of Hawley School players appeared after school at practice on Wednesday and went through a real workout. It clearly indicated that the players are determined to learn to play six-man football, even though they are handicapped by inexperience.

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The Bee staff suspended operations for a short while on Wednesday afternoon to celebrate, with a cake, ice cream and soft drinks, the birthdays of two of its members, Miss Beatrice Leaver and Raymond Jandreau. After blowing out the candles, Beatrice carved the cake into fourteen equal pieces and as soon as “Charlie” Cavanaugh, chief epicurean, had tasted the culinary efforts of Miss Shirley Nichols and pronounce it excellent, everyone started wondering how soon the next birthday anniversary would arrive, giving cause for another “party”!

***

Mr and Mrs William B. Harris will close the Maryland Grill on Sunday evening, October 14th, after a most successful season and shortly afterwards will leave for Florida where they will spend the winter. They take with them the good wishes of their many Newtown friends and the hope that when the birds fly north again next spring the Harris’ will come with them.

October 1, 1920

The microfilm containing 1920 Newtown Bee editions is kept at the C.H. Booth Library, and not accessible until the library fully lifts coronavirus health precautions.

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