***

A slowdown in spending and a request to the Board of Education to be prepared not to spend part of its 1980-81 budget were recommended by the Legislative Council Wednesday night to begin combating a projected $250,000 deficit in the town’s $14.5 million budget. However, the council’s recommendations to the Board of Education are not binding.

***

The Newtown Ambulance Association received a boost from the Board of Selectmen this week in its effort to have the Town of Newtown assist in the purchase of a modular type ambulance to become a second primary response vehicle for medical emergencies. Under the selectmen’s approval the town would own the ambulance and turn it over to the Ambulance Corps to operate and maintain.

***

A sparse group of town residents gathered on Thursday, March 26 in the Middle School auditorium to design educational goals for the town to follow in the future years. The crowd of nearly 80 people was a little disheartening to meeting organizers considering over 6,700 letters were sent to residents by the Board of Education, appealing them to become involved in the process.

***

Environmentalists are predicting total defoliation this season as we reach the peak of the cycle of the gypsy moth caterpillar. Girl Scout Cadette Troop 599, in conjunction with the Newtown Conservation Commission, is organizing a townwide effort to help salvage some of our greenery by scraping the egg masses off our trees. It is an easy and safe method that can be employed by even the smallest helper.

***

Susan Craven of Newtown captured the 1981 Connecticut USGF Class II Gymnastics Championship at the state meet held in Simsbury last weekend. Miss Craven’s all-around score of 70.20 was one of the highest totals ever earned by a Class II gymnast.

***

Fashions for women are soft and feminine this Spring with lots of emphasis on pastel colors, coordinating handbags and shoes. The Western look is popular in both men’s and women’s fashions. These and other Spring fashion trends were presented at a fashion show sponsored by the Hawley School PTA.

***

It was a very special day for the International Club of Newtown who gathered at the Hawley Manor Inn on March 29 to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the club’s founding. Christine Hamer-Hodges made the anniversary cake for the party — chocolate, whipped cream covered, filled with cream and cherries dipped in kirsch — which topped off a lovely buffet and cocktails.

April 6, 1956

The different types of folding paper boxes made by S. Curtis and Son, Sandy Hook, will be on display Wednesday through Saturday next week at the 25th National Packaging Exposition in Atlantic City, N.J. Innovations to be presented by the firm are a new type of cushion box for packaging fragile articles and a point-of-sale display in which a plastic “bubble” replaces a glass case.

***

A 50-foot drag line of A. Sega and Sons, New Milford contractors, last week began the excavation of the swimming pond in the Dickinson Memorial Park. Located on the Deep Brook Road side of the park, the pond will be approximately 200 feet long and 175 feet wide. The diving end will have an approximate depth of ten feet and the pond will taper to a sandy beach.

***

Changes in zoning specifications, increased building permit fees, modification in the requirements for replacing a non-conforming building which may be destroyed by fire or other natural disaster, are among many changes in the zoning ordinance and regulations of the Borough of Newtown which are proposed by the Zoning Commission of the borough.

***

A primary contest for seats on the Republican Town Committee became an assured fact this Thursday, when two petitions were filed with the Registrars of Voters on behalf of five opposition candidacies. As a result, Newtown will hold its first primary on Thursday, April 19, using voting machines, with registered Republicans voting at their respective polling places as at a regular election.

***

The installation of two-way radio in the town’s fire trucks got under way this week with technicians setting up the General Electric equipment which will give the town’s fire companies the last word in fire communication. The system is expected to be in operation by this week end.

***

Connecticut’s deer herd is facing its most critical period in many years, according to the State Board of Fisheries and Game. Deep snow, with a crust through which deer break, but over which dogs can run, has resulted in high mortality among our herd. Hundreds of deer will die in this short period of several weeks of high snow because of dogs that aren’t kept under control.

***

“Executive Suite,” a design for an office for a man, is the entry of Tom A. Carey of Berkshire House of Interiors, Church Hill Road, Newtown, in a show of interiors  sponsored by the Silvermine Guild of Artists and its newly-formed affiliate, The Interior Designers Associates, at the Silvermine Galleries in Norwalk. Featured in Mr Carey’s design are a painting by Jimmy Ernst and bronzes by Behl.

April 3, 1931

THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF YE APRON SHOPPE Mrs Burr Has Made a Notable Success Three years ago this week a busy woman conceived an idea. Nothing unusual or exciting in itself, but an idea born of experience. Realizing a woman’s weakness for pretty aprons and being at all times ready and willing to offer helpful suggestions to the public, has meant much to make this venture such a success. This little venture has grown until now there are from 12 to 16 operators at work constantly turning out the latest fashions in aprons.

***

The Roads, Bridges and Rivers Committee on Wednesday submitted a favorable report on the bill proposed by the Fairfield State Hospital commission for a road to connect the hospital property with the Bridgeport-Newtown road. The road will be about three-quarters of a mile in length.

***

A general invitation has been issued by the Girls Friendly Society of St John’s church, Sandy Hook, to everybody in the town of Newtown and nearby cities and town to attend “The Zander-Gump Wedding,” which will take place at the Edmond Town hall, Friday night, April 10, at 8:15 o’clock. The characters of the comic strips published daily in the newspapers of the country will be portrayed by an all star cast, and should provide one of the funniest entertainments ever presented in town.

***

Newtown democrats as well as many from neighboring towns, are expected to attend the testimonial dinner to Representatives Thomas M. Holian and William A. Honan which will be given in the Alexandria ballroom of the Edmond Town hall on the evening of April 16. It is expected that 200 will be present.

***

Judge Hampton had a busy night, Monday, in the Newtown town court. Louis Brown, who has a road side stand near the New England station, was fined $10 on the charge of keeping an establishment where gambling was alleged to be carried on. Paul Stevens was fine $10 on the charge of speeding. Stanley Northop, charged with having improper markers on his truck was fined $5.

***

Mr Case and Miss Shaw, of the Fairfield County Farm Bureau, held a public meeting at the Taunton schoolhouse, Thursday night, in the interest of having a Four-H Club. Miss Murphy, the teacher of the Taunton school, conducted a little cake sale and sale of fancy articles.

April 6, 1906

The writer is not a stickler for forms, ceremonies, nor literal observances of days and seasons; but when the Church people, Catholic and Protestant, of this good old town, in which for nearly two centuries the inhabitants have been taught to reverence the great religious seasons of the Christian Year, deliberately plan a theatre party in Lent, and canvass the community to sell tickets, and charter a special train to bring them home, it seems like a challenge to one’s sense of duty, and to one’s feeling of honor toward our Lord and Master: at least to express surprise, disappointment and grief, that such a thing should happen.

***

Manager Robert H. Beers, of the local telephone exchange, has arranged for the building at once of a new circuit over Botsford hill. This extension of the local telephone business makes the service more valuable to all patrons of the local exchange.

***

Louis Sayette, who purchased the place of John H. Chautems in Botsford, is now excavating for the cellar for the new hotel, which he is to erect on the lot opposite his house.  Mr Sayette is also to erect a large pavilion near the hotel. They plan to accommodate a large number of city boarders there this coming season.

***

Mrs Minott Augur was the victim of an unfortunate accident, last week Thursday afternoon. Slipping on a stone she fell, dislocating a shoulder. It was an interesting fact that a custard pie Mrs Augur was carrying in her hand fell to the ground at the time she went down but was uninjured.

***

NEWTOWN FAIR! If you want the great local event of the year to be a grand success, make it so! One way to do that is to first plan what you will raise on the farm, this year, to show at the fair, and then get the best seed possible and when planted give it the very best care and cultivation, and exhibit the choicest specimens. To delay means defeat.

***

A tragic taking off was that of Mrs John Bailey, who was killed by the cars near the Newtown railroad station, Sunday morning, shortly after 10 o’clock. Mrs Bailey, with her husband, was returning from service at St Rose’s church. Mr Bailey stopped a moment to speak to some one at the Newtown station, while his wife proceeded up the track on the way to her home. She was struck in the hip by the engine of a special train and thrown to one side, striking a switch bar in the fall.