Families, supporters, onlookers, and reporters crowded into Edmond Town Hall’s Alexandria Room on Sunday afternoon, January 4, at two o’clock, to witness the swearing in ceremony for town officials scheduled to start their new terms the next day, January 5. The first order of business was for Judge of Probate Benjamin Blanchard to swear in reelected Town Clerk Mae Schmidle to her second term. Thereafter Mrs Schmidle, with Mr Blanchard supporting the Bible that each of the town officials laid his left hand upon, administered the oath of office first to reelected Selectman Thomas Goosman, then to members of various boards and commissions, to the new Legislative Council members, and finally to newly elected First Selectman Jack Rosenthal. Mrs Schmidle noted that she had the honor to swear in the first Legislative Council in the history of the town.

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 The walls of the first selectman’s office are a little bare these days as Jack Rosenthal will have to come up with some pictures to replace those left by his predecessor. But that won’t come until after the rooms are repainted in Rosenthal hues, and it won’t be long until the office itself reflects the man who occupied it as of Monday. Jack Rosenthal spent his first day in office talking to and visiting the various town officials and employees, heard at least one complaint from a resident, and began getting used to a lot of use of that essential tool of his trade, the telephone. There is a new secretary in the office, Mrs Jill Tabor, replacing Frank DeLucia’s secrtary of three years, Mrs Barbara Trosan. And while his move to replace Mrs Trosan received some coverage in the local press, the new first selectman was looking ahead to the major issues that will be facing him in the coming months.

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Dr Harvey Wachsman blasted his way into his very first Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Monday evening, like the proverbial March lion, full of suggestions on how he felt the department should be improved by presenting a four-part program of his for the other commissioners to consider. The proposals took hours to discuss, and at times the flaring tempers of the commissioners offered some warmth to an otherwise frigid library at the Middle School.

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Capitalizing on a unanimous Democratic vote and Republicans divided about whether Robert H. Hall could serve as a non-partisan, objective leader, Newtown’s new Legislative Council chose 30-year-old Republican James Severnak in one ballot as its chairman at its organizational meeting Tuesday night.

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Nancy Miller, daughter of Mr and Mrs Montague C. Miller of Newtown, was a participant in an archaeological dig in Cranford, N.J., this fall under the auspices of the anthropology department of Drew University. A graduate of Newtown High school, she is a freshman at Drew.

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Jim Fahrenholz, son of Mr and Mrs Robert Fahrenholz of Sycamore Drive, student in the Middle School, set some sort of record for himself during the four years he was there by not missing one day of school. As a special recognition of his achievement, he was recently rewarded with a handsome plaque by Alton Cashman, assistant principal of the Middle School.

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With many mutual congratulations, Conservation Commission secretary Howard Kemmerer was named chairman of the commission during the organizational portion of the January 7 meeting. Commissioner Julia Wasserman was appointed secretary, and Chairman Theodore Whippie, after four years at the head of the commission, returned to being an ordinary member. Mr Whippie was given a vote of thanks for his many years of service as chairman of the commission.

JANUARY 12, 1951

The ROMP, long popular with Hawley School students and the young people of Newtown, is being revived with its first meeting taking place this Saturday night in Edmond Town Hall gymnasium. There will be games of badminton, ping pong, handball, and other sports events at 7:30, to be followed by dancing. Planned as the first in a series of like entertainments, the program will follow the pattern of ROMPs of former years and is sponsored by the PTA and the Student Council, with Patricia McMahon as president, and Charles Allen Reed, Jr, acting in a supervisory capacity.

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Local friends of H.C. Honegger of Walnut Tree Hill, Sandy Hook, will be much interested in the following article, written by Mary Cherry Allen and published in the December 14, 1950 issue of the Queens Post, Queens, N.Y. Everyone who knows Mr Honegger is familiar with his outstanding work as founder and present honorary president of the Pestalozzi Foundation. It is to be hoped that he will receive the Nobel Peace Prize for which his name has been proposed in recognition of his accomplishments towards peace and the relief of misery and suffering among destitute children in Europe and other countries of the world who have been recipients of contributions through the Pestalozzi Foundation.

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The Board of Trustees of the Newtown Ambulance Association will hold its regular monthly meeting in Edmond Town Hall this Friday night at 8 o’clock. The board is composed of Harry F. Greenman, president; Mrs Ralph L. Knibloe, vice president; Mrs Harold S. DeGroat, secretary; Mrs Edward Wight, treasurer; Paul V. Cavanaugh, A. Fenn Dickinson, Anthony Amaral, Raymond J. Trimpert and Henry L. McCarthy.

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Miss Isabel Bartram and Mrs Faye Turpening were honored at a tea held at the Fairfield State Hospital on Wednesday afternoon. Both Miss Bartram and Mrs Turpening have completed 15 years of hospital service. They were presented with cash gifts from Miss Alice Cochran, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

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So much appreciation has been shown the Newtown Toy Clinic that it has decided to continue the work throughout the year. The children receiving Christmas toys expressed great happiness in them. Many of the children would have practically no toys were it not for the work of the clinic.

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No one has to be reminded of the disastrous storm that struck much of the country and did extensive damage to this area late in November. Signs of the big blow are still in evidence, with collapsed barns and other buildings still on the ground, with many overturned trees scattered where they fell. There may be many private repairs still undone, but the hardest hit of all, the utility companies, kept their crewmen on the job throughout the storm and for days – in some instances weeks – thereafter, for it was urgent to restore power facilities in the shortest possible time.

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The 1951 campaign to raise funds for victims of Infantile Paralysis will start throughout the nation on January 15 and terminate on January 31. Judge Paul V. Cavanaugh, Fairfield County Chapter chairman, has announced that the need for funds this year is the greatest in the history of the country. For the past two years Fairfield County has been most severely affected by polio epidemics, and in view of this the chapter treasury shows a deficit close to $25,000.

JANUARY 8, 1926

Patrick Finnell, a highly respected resident of Middle district, who fell from a hay loft at his barn on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 29, suffering what was believed to be a fractured hip, is reported as improved at St Vincent’s Hospital, Bridgeport, where the injured man was taken immediately following the injury.

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Frank A. Blackman, popular local RFD man, has been appointed a member of the executive board of the Rural Carriers of Fairfield County.

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John Haugh is installing additional radiators in St Rose’s Church to make it more comfortable in severe weather.

JANUARY 11, 1901

Your correspondent called at the mill of H.B. Coger at Botsford one day last week, and was kindly shown about the mill. Mr Coger has one of the most convenient and up-to-date mills that it has ever been your correspondent’s pleasure to see. It is all fitted up with the latest improved machinery and is so arranged that the machinery does all the handling of the grain. Mr Coger is able to grind between 30 and 40 bushels per hour.

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The Hawleyville whist club was pleasantly entertained on Tuesday night by Mr and Mrs J.A. James.

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Martin Talty, a young man employed by Sheriff Sanford, is ill with diphtheria at the home of his parents in Sandy Hook.