Did my ears ever perk up on Tuesday morning! I was taking my post-breakfast catnap and half-listening to National Public Radio’s Morning Edition when suddenly I realized that Sandy Hook’s own hometown strongman Derek Poundstone was being interviewed. Derek was one of the finalists who spent a week in Charleston, W.Va., last month competing in the World’s Strongest Man competition. Derek put in his two-cents worth with NPR interviewer Mike Pesca about the value of showmanship in a competition featuring things like a truck pull, a log lift, and a stint pulling a small airplane. One of Naugatuck’s finest, Derek is frequently billed as the “World’s Strongest Cop,” and may be America’s Strongest Man. Go to npr.org to catch the whole story.

Soldiers’ Angels’ volunteer Joanne Brunetti will be happy to know that the intermediate school in town is jumping on the bandwagon with its own drive to collect socks for service people overseas. Ms Brunetti and her grandson are part of the nationwide drive to collect 180,000 pair of socks by November 1 to be mailed as part of Christmas packages put together by the nonprofit agency Soldiers’ Angels. Donors have been asked to drop off men’s white crew socks to Ms Brunetti at 77 Butterfield Road. Now, Reed Intermediate Interact Club is taking part in “Operation: White Socks.” Through October 24 the club is collecting new, men’s white socks (sizes 9–15) to support our soldiers, sailors, airmen/women and Marines overseas. Reed’s goal is to collect 1,000 socks to help the Soldiers’ Angels organization. The socks can be dropped off in the boxes located in the main lobby of the school on Trades Lane. Let’s support both of these efforts, and those who serve our country.

If you haven’t had the chance to witness the Newtown High School Marching Band, set aside some time this coming Saturday afternoon. The band will host the Grasso Festival at 2 pm at the high school and perform an exhibition at the end of the competition. The band members work very hard and spend many hours preparing for exhibitions and competitions, and are always pleased to show off in the hometown. I’ll be there, waving my tail on high.

The other place I’ll be showing up is at The Bee-sponsored political debate Monday evening, October 20, at 7:30 pm. The 90-minute format will give residents a chance to hear the viewpoints of the contenders for the 106th and 112th District statehouse races. DebraLee Hovey of the 112th District and her challenger Michelle Mount, and 106th District contenders Will Rodgers and Christopher Lyddy will participate. The doors at Edmond Town Hall open at 7 pm, so don’t be late.

If an actual debate is just too much for you, how about sampling politics painlessly at the C.H. Booth Library showing of Primary Colors? This 1998 film starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Kathy Bates, and Billy Bob Thornton taps into the struggles of a group of young campaign workers trying get their flawed candidate elected in spite of himself, raising questions of ethics in politics (isn’t that an oxymoron?), and whether the end justifies the moral compromises needed to win. The movie and discussion are Wednesday evening, October 22, at 7:30 pm.

I hope you’ve had the stamina to stay with the column this far, because I want to tell you about “The Good Eggs” I hope to recognize. “Good Eggs” are people who spread cheer, do good deeds, make others happy through their actions, or generally lives an ethical life, but who is often not recognized for what they do to make this world a better place. What they do may not be headline news — except to the people to whom their helping hand is extended — but sometime each month I will be recognizing a “Good Egg” in this column. If you know someone whom you think deserves to be the “Good Egg” let me know who it is and what he or she has done by emailing me at nancy@thebee.com, with “Good Egg” in the subject line. Make sure you include a daytime contact number, too.

That’s it from the Top of the Mountain. Make sure next week to… Read me again.