***

At the meeting of the Charter Revision Commission on December 8, First Selectman Jack Rosenthal suggested that town strengthen the first selectman’s position and eliminate the positions of the two other members of the Board of Selectmen. Mr Rosenthal pointed out that a first selectman’s “hands can be tied” if he must serve on a board in which he could be outnumbered by two selectmen from the other party.

***

A six-member jury has found that Bethel police officers acted properly in their high speed pursuit of the El Camino with six Newtown teenagers, which led to a fatal crash that killed four of them, on the night of September 10, 1982. The jury unanimously concluded that the police were not at fault for initiating the chase or continuing at a high rate of speed into Newtown and down Hattertown Road, where the crash occurred.

***

This Sunday at 11 am in Treadwell Park the Killer Bees and Warehouse Liquors will square off for the Newtown Adult Touch Football League championship. The Killer Bees waltzed over Curtiss & Crandon, 74-7, in their playoff semi-final last week. Warehouse Liquors held off Stan’s Boys, 40-31, in a tight contest. Sunday’s game has all the makings of a classic championship duel.

December 15, 1961

Newtown’s old fashioned community Christmas is rapidly approaching and gathering spirit and momentum. The youngsters are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa Claus on Saturday for his annual pre-holiday visit at Edmond Town Hall, the Town Players are polishing up for Scrooge’s visions and reformation, a Community Christmas Carol Sing is being planned, and entries are coming in on the decorations contest.

***

Judge Edward E. Knapp, accompanied by his son, James, Joseph Hanlon, Louis Gulacsy, and Bud Jacobsen, have been on a hunting trip in the vicinity of Otter Lake, N.H., this week. The party is “roughing” it in Judge Knapp’s big bus, which he has converted into living quarters. At last report, the party had not had much luck in getting any game, but it is certain that the fun and fellowship will more than compensate.

***

Newtown public school children are being exposed to the screening tests suggested by the newly reorganized President’s Council on Youth Fitness. The new booklet received from the State Education Department suggests that all pupils be screened by three elementary tests, namely situps, pull-ups, and a ten-second squat thrust activity.

***

The Newtown Inn and the Yankee Drover Inn have received national recognition in the new 1962 edition of the Duncan Hines Travel Books, “Adventures in Good Eating,” Roy H. Park, editor-in-chief of the Duncan Hines Institute of Ithaca, N.Y., announced this week. The Newtown establishments are among 4,500 eating places in North America recommended by Duncan Hines.

December 11, 1936

The farmhouse of Mrs Joseph Dran, located on Codfish Hill near Dodgingtown district, was completely destroyed by fire on Sunday evening. The fire was discovered by Harold Dunleavey, neighbor, who noticed the blaze after it had broken through the north side of the building. A call was sent to the Bethel and Dodgingtown firemen, but due to the heavy downpour of rain, considerable difficulty was encountered getting the fire engines through the mud to the fire.

 

***

The “guest of the week” at the Parker House was Sinclair Lewis. Mr Lewis was on his way to attend the opening of his play, “It Can’t Happen Here,” last week, in Hartford, where he was the guest of Governor Cross. Mr Lewis enjoyed the happy atmosphere of the “Old Fashioned Hotel” and was most insistent on taking with him several cards and information of the house and the town.

***

Last Saturday night saw the curtain rise on a full house, for the Town Players’ first public production, that hilarious comedy, “Captain Applejack.” The audience which crowded into the Edmond Town Hall’s Alexandria room was greeted by a performance, which in most cases, far exceeded its expectations. The performance of Charles Goodsell in his swashbuckling role of Captain Applejack will probably be the best bit of amateur acting done in Newtown for some time to come.

***

The Christmas banquet of the Newtown Chamber of Commerce will feature as its guest speaker, H.R. Ekins, former foreign correspondent for the United Press and winner of the recent Round-the-World race by air, contested by special correspondents of three New York City dailies. Mr Ekins, a former resident of Newtown, and the son of the late Rev G. Herbert Ekins who was pastor of the Newtown Congregational church for a number of years, is one of the top-notch reporters of his day, having covered the Ethiopian war and the Sino-Japanese conflict for the United Press.

 

December 15, 1911

Selectman Johnson is having a piece of fine permanent work done in Long Swamp, so called, on the Hopewell road, on the direct road between Newtown and Redding. For a half mile through the swamp, he has had rocks carted in from the neighboring walls, and covered with earth. In some places, the road has been raised two feet; in others, three feet or more. One feature of the work in the Hopewell roads that appealed to the Editor, as he rode over it the other day, was the good width of the work. It is being done in a manner to stand 50 or 100 years.

***

A.E. Brinton has installed a large sized Round Oak Stove in the lecture room of the Congregational church, which nicely heats the room and carries heat to the auditorium above. For 40 years, manufacturers have tried to make a stove that would beat the Round Oak, but they have never succeeded. It burns all kinds of fuels successfully, and lasts many times as long as its imitations. A.E. Brinton of Newtown Street has the agency for these stoves.

***

The bungalow of Benjamin C. Lines, situated on the west shore of Taunton lake, was burned to the ground about 9 o’clock, Tuesday night. Mr Lines was away. The people in Taunton rallied to the scene of the fire, but were not in time to save the building. The bungalow was nicely furnished and the loss is a severe one for Mr Lines. The loss will probably exceed $1,000.

***

Newtown has had a genuine burglary scare, an unpleasant occurrence for those affected. Some time during the night of Monday, the residence of Judge of Probate William J. Beecher was entered. Mr Beecher’s trousers were in the upper hallway and from them they extracted what loose money he had, $1.66. That they were not professionals may be judged by the fact that they thoughtfully (?) left behind the solid silver spoons. They also entered the house of Former Selectman William Homer Hubbell. They passed up to Mr Hubbell’s room, took his trousers from his room where he was sleeping and took three $1 bills. The same night, they were about the house of Cornelius B. Taylor, but his lively and energetic dog made such a racket they took their departure.