A gift which was made to the town in 1922 has been publicly acknowledged through the efforts of one of Newtown’s historic-minded citizens. A new sign now stands in front of Hawley School on Church Hill Road reminding those who pass that the field now being used by that school is on land formerly owned by Cornelius Byron Taylor who donated it to the town in 1922 for use as a school playground and town recreation.

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Newtown’s Planning & Zoning Commission will go to a public hearing next Thursday, December 13, with a set of  regulations which have been a goal of the commission for years: site development plan approval. The site development regulations would require approval by the Planning & Zoning Commission of site plans prior to obtaining a building permit.

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Wednesday night the members of the Newtown Ambulance Corps voted to have a member of the Newtown Police Department come to their next meeting to discuss emergency vehicle driver training programs. The vote of the corps followed newspaper accounts of concerns about emergency vehicle training procedures in Newtown which were expressed at the Board of Police Commissioners by Mr and Mrs Edward Schwerdtle of Longview Heights Road.

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William Meyer of Mt Pleasant Road is concerned about the speeding which he has noticed on Mt Pleasant and Main Street, and came to the Board of Police Commissioners on Monday night with suggestions, which he was assured by Chief Louis Marchese would be followed. There are signs posting the speed along Mt Pleasant at 30 mph, and Mr Meyer suggested these be moved to make for a longer 30 mph zone. He also asked that the police department “let it be known that no one speeds in that area, like Sport Hill Road in Easton.” And finally, he urged the police be more visible in the area, possibly parking along the side of the road with their red lights flashing.

***

If you’re thinking about getting your annual batch of Christmas cards in the mail, as John and Millie Anderson of Rock Ridge Road were recently, maybe the thought would occur to you that somebody else could use the money you’d normally spend for the holiday greetings. For Mr Anderson, Newtown’s state representative, and wife Millie, that somebody is the Newtown Ambulance Association, which is now in the process of replacing its ambulance, which was totaled in a tragic accident last month.

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Proposed additions to the two shopping centers off Queen Street will be the subjects of public hearings by the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Borough of Newtown, set for Tuesday, December 11, in Edmond Town Hall.

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The new law concerning facilities for the handicapped states that a parking space for the handicapped must be provided for every 20 parking spaces at public buildings and that private areas, such as businesses and shopping centers, may have handicapped parking spaces if they wish. Chief Louis Marchese informed the Board of Police Commissioners on Monday night that he knows of no facilities in Newtown which have such spaces. He particularly pointed to Edmond Town Hall where there are 250 parking slots, yet not a one for the handicapped. “The law clearly states there must be handicapped parking spaces,” the chief  told the commissioners, under PA 791-144.

DECEMBER 10, 1954

Acting on an offer by Bertram A. Stroock of Buckeye Farms, Dodgingtown, of the sum of $50,000 to establish a fund for a town park, the Board of Selectmen has called a special town meeting on Friday, December 17, at 8 pm in the Edmond Town Hall to act on the offer. The agenda of the special town meeting, given in a warning elsewhere in this issue of The Bee, includes the consideration of and action upon resolutions creating a park commission, accepting Mr Stroock’s gift for the use of the park commission, and authorizing the selectmen to accept future gifts of funds for park use.

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Since the beginning of the week when sub-freezing temperatures set in, one of the most popular spots in town has been Hawley Pond at the entrance of the Newtown Village Cemetery. Here the youngsters have gathered for their first ice skating of the year and with the assistance of the teenagers, a huge bonfire has helped to dispel some of the cold as they skated.

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 Returns amounting to $503 have been received so far from the sale of Christmas TB seals mailed to townspeople under the sponsorship of the Visiting Nurse Association of Newtown.

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 Bids will be opened January 5 on an addition to the south wing of the employees’ dining room at Fairfield State Hospital to increase its present capacity of 216 to 288. The bids will be opened by the State Public Works Department at 2:30 pm in Room 418 in the Capitol Building, Hartford.

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A committee of 40 educational specialists, headed by Dr Paul Collier, chief of the Bureau of Youth Services, State Department of Education, will conduct an evaluation of Newtown High School on Tuesday and Wednesday, December 14 and 15. The committee will spend the two days going over the school’s plant and program in detail as a preliminary to preparing an evaluation.

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The Berkshire Garden Club, this year’s sponsor of the Christmas Decorations Contest in Newtown, has announced that materials on the conservation list of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut must not be used. The materials, use of any which will result in automatic disqualification of an entry, are black alder, laurel, ground pine, princess pine, and bittersweet.

***

The Newtown Auxiliary of Children’s Services of Connecticut held its Christmas meeting, the last one of the year, last Friday afternoon at the home of Mrs Donald R. McCain, Jr, Sugar Street. Mrs Norman Fedde, chairman, announced that a final accounting of the benefit concert of the Trapp Family Singers given under the sponsorship of the auxiliary last month showed a profit of $2,166.82 after expenses.

DECEMBER 6, 1929

  Newtown, along with the other towns of the state, and all New England, were in the grip, Monday afternoon, of the first big snow of the winter. It began snowing about noon and continued all the afternoon and through the early evening. Motorists without chains and truck drivers had hard experiences as night came on.

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 In both St John’s and Trinity churches, the new prayer book was officially introduced by reading of the late presiding Bishop.

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In the past few days there has been apparently quite a little improvement in the condition of Edward S. Lovell, who was so severely injured in a fall in his barn on December 2.

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Mr and Mrs George Geckle and family of Walnut Tree Hill and Miss Hazel H. Smith were Thanksgiving Day guests of Mr and Mrs Nicholas Madorno of Oxford.

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The ladies of the Sandy Hook M.E. Church will hold a food, apron, and fancy work sale on Saturday afternoon, December 7, from 2 to 5 in Troy’s store, Sandy Hook.

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Fire broke out at 8 am Saturday morning in the kitchen of the Fatool restaurant in the Atchison block. Matthew Cabral had lighted a gasoline stove which burst into flames. Mr Cabral called for assistance, and John Burr threw a bucket of water upon it. Fred J. Crouch, who lives over the A & P store, ran across the street and seized an extinguisher belonging to the Congregational Church and soon had the fire under control.

DECEMBER 9, 1904

Attorney Charles G. Morris has just had a new five-horse power gasoline engine placed in his barn for power. He has also a new saw table, both purchased of Hartford parties.

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Edward Egan of Walnut Tree Hill had the misfortune to lose his horse last Friday. It got cast in its stall and had to be killed.

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Shall we in any way celebrate next July, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Newtown? That is the question. An Old Home Week, or rather, an Old Home Day, occurs to us as a very fitting mode of celebrating so important an event. We have no further plan at present than to moot the idea enough to see whether citizens of all classes will help in carrying out such a celebration, and the only way to find this out is to get them together and talk it over. We, therefore, ask that men and women of all classes, from all parts of the town, come together at the high school building, next Monday evening, December 12, at 8 o’clock, to air ideas as to how to go to work at it all at this meeting. A permanent commission would be appointed, and steps taken that may bring the project down from the air upon firm ground. Talk the matter over with your friends before next Monday evening, and let us arouse the impetus of getting the ideas upon lips and tongues. Otis W. Barker, E.L. Johnson, A.P. Smith, Milo A. Todd, Committee of the Men’s Club.

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The selectmen of Newtown have received from the county commissioners a check for $945, the town’s share of liquor license money taken in by the commissioners during November.

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F.J. Naramore has a valuable young colt, bought at the “Old Glory” sale in New York.

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Miss Helen Blakeman of Botsford has been shut in at her home with the pink eye.

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L.C. Nicholson has purchased several cows the past week, and has started a milk route through Newtown Street.

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P.L. Ronald and George D. Emerson spent a few days at Castle Ronald last week. Mr Ronald does not expect to sail for France before the middle of January.