Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection Douglas Costle and his associates ventured into Newtown Tuesday night for a well-attended public hearing on the proposed lease by DEP of 610 acres of land located in three towns for the purpose of hunting. A large number of people jammed the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall to give the state officials their views on the lease of the land, which is owned by the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company. The at-times emotional testimony given indicated overwhelming opposition to the plan based on fears for the safety of area residents.

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Besieged by requests for more space by town departments and agencies as well as organizations wanting to rent temporary space for special events, the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers finalized plans at the October 9 meeting for an Open House family night for Newtown residents on Thursday, November 7. With inflation crowding their $16,000 budget and programs already established in the building “snowballing,” the managers are anxious to acquaint Newtown people with the facilities of the hall, given to the town by Miss Mary Hawley for recreation and community activities.

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When the Newtown Police settled on their last contract with the town, the document contained a clause which stated that any part of the contract could be reopened for negotiation. Local Union 337 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers has taken that option and has asked that the clause on manpower be reopened in order for the force to obtain more men.

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In September, a resident of Newtown came to the Board of Education meeting to enquire about how many students were enrolled in the school system this year and asked for a breakdown of the figures, grade for grade. In all, there are 674 pupils at Hawley, 733 at Sandy Hook and 645 at Middle Gate. There are 2,052 students in all of the elementary schools. Total enrollment for the Middle School this year is 1,120. Total high school enrollment as of October 1 is 1,402. Total school enrollment for the system is 4,574. Also 16 students are sent out of the district for special education and two to vo-ag schools.

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The Planning & Zoning Commission of Newtown is shooting for an October 18 decision date on the application of William H. Johnson of Albert’s Hill Road, Sandy Hook, for a special exception to allow location of Eagle Hill, a treatment center for alcoholics, on his approximately 11 acres of land.

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The Sandy Hook Bowling League had another great night on October 8. April Brown walked away with the high single game with 139 and high three game with 376. The high no-mark game went to Joan Schroder with an 88.

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The Park and Recreation Commission will seek a $1,300 appropriation for a feasibility study of the Stefanko property on Philo Curtis Road to learn how and at what cost the town-owned land could be adapted for use as a second town park.

OCTOBER 14, 1949

It was Ferris day at Danbury Fair last Wednesday when three Ferrises of Newtown took first, second and third prizes in a trained-steer contest. William Ferris, Jr, son of Mr and Mrs William Ferris of Sugar Street and a 10th grade student at Hawley High School, with his pair of trained Durham Oxen, brought down four prizes; first for Durhams in the oxen show, best pair of three-year-old Durhams; grand champion of all breeds, three-year-olds; first prize, trained Durham steers, and fourth prize, ox pulling contest, drawing 5,200 pounds. William’s brother, Percy, also won a blue ribbon first prize for exhibiting the best pair of Devon calves in the cattle show, first prize for the best pair of trained Devon steers and a first prize for Devons for show. The boys’ cousin, Charles Ferris, III, also of Sugar Street, took a third place for trained steers.

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There was a larger than usual attendance at the Sandy Hook Fife and Drum Corps dance held in Edmond Town Hall gymnasium last Saturday night, following the announcement that the dance would be a benefit affair to increase Newtown’s contribution to the present Emergency Polio Fund. During an intermission, Judge Paul V. Cavanaugh, as county chairman for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, was presented with a purse of $50, proceeds from the dance.

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Mr and Mrs Robert E. Fulton of the Huntington district, with their Airphibian, combination airplane and auto, are featured in this October 17 issue of Life magazine taking an evening’s theater trip from their home in Newtown to the door of the theater in New York City. The pictures in the article show the Fultons taking off from an ordinary field in the rear of their home, circling lower Manhattan, Robert removing the propeller at LaGuardia Field, the trip of the couple through New York traffic, and their arrival at the theater. Statistics of the trip show that, after bidding their children goodbye at Newtown, flying time to LaGuardia Field was 32 minutes. Wings and propeller are removed in five minutes - auto drive to Broadway, 25 minutes. The Airphibian, Life magazine states, is powered with a 150-hp engine, cruises at 110 mph, and uses nine gallons of gasoline per hour. Fulton has tested his present craft for more than a year and plans to build six more by January 1, to be placed on sale from $7,000 to $9,000.

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Newtown firemen were called to the dairy farm of Charles D. Ferris, Sr, Sugar Street, last Friday morning when a short circuit occurred in a milking machine. No damage resulted.

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John M. Wyatt, well known to Newtowners, with his son and daughter-in-law, Bill and Helen, as former heads of the Flying Goose Inn, Dodgingtown, is currently being featured over Station WOR in a series of broadcasts on the air every Sunday from 12:45 to 1 pm in which he stresses the factor of human relations in the fields of business and current events.

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Following a whirlwind 10-day campaign of preparation, the Newtown Parent Teacher Association conducted a home surplus sale at the Edmond Town Hall last Saturday that surpassed the hopes of many of the most optimistic. A total of $328.75 was realized at the time, according to Mrs William H. Knox, sale chairman, and articles left over were donated to the Thrift Shop for the benefit of the Visiting Nurse Association and to the VFW Auxiliary for its sale, which will take place in Bridgeport next month.

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OCTOBER 10, 1924

The annual town meeting was held on Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock and was very well attended. Evidently, the $15,000 that the town had to borrow in order to get the $60,000 the state highway commissioner promised to put into the roadways of Newtown, brought out a record attendance and there was not a single vote against the proposition.