May 19, 1995

The Borough Board of Burgesses is exploring several ways to preserve and protect Newtown’s Main Street area including the creation of a smaller historic district which would consist of only those properties whose owners want to be in the district... Several burgesses said that many residents were upset when the historic district proposal narrowly failed to be approved last month. “A lot of people were very disappointed,” Burgess Jim Gaston said. “We can take a look at a smaller historic district for those who want it. If w get favorable feedback, we may want to pursue it, and maybe not.”

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Newtown’s long awaited transfer station will be built this year at the former landfill on Ethan Allen Road. The Legislative Council Wednesday night approved a lease agreement between the town and the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority (HRRA) which will permit Wheelabrator of Bridgeport to build and operate the transfer station. Once the transfer station is completed, commercial haulers from Brookfield also will use the facility... Public Works Director Fred Hurley said construction of the transfer station won’t have a noticable impact on Newtown residents who currently bring their trash to the temporary transfer station, except that the long waiting lines will probably be reduced.

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The request for $78,883 in transfers from the town’s contingency account to pay Public Works Department bills drew a sharp rebuke from Legislative Council members Wednesday night. Although not refuting the legitimacy of most of the expenses, council members said it is a violation of the charter for any town official to spend public money without prior authorization by the council, which is the town’s finance board. Complaining that the action of Public Works Director Fred Hurley in effect committed the town to $45,314 in unauthorized spending, Council Vice Chairman Melissa Pilchard said she intended to ask the council at a future meeting to consider a civil suit against Mr Hurley... “I’m not accusing you of doing things that are not in the best interest of the town. But we specifically wrote this into the charter to prevent the very thing that you have done.”

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Efforts to revitalize Sandy Hook Center moved ahead this week when a group of its merchants got town approval to apply for participation in the Connecticut Main Street Program... Under the terms of the program, the Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP) will have to raise about $15,000 to help cover the cost of a part-time coordinator who will help with the marketing, promotions and determining the types of uses that might draw people to the area.

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The Newtown Soccer Club’s annual Memorial Day Kick-Off Tournament is back — bigger and better than ever. One hundred fourteen teams will converge on Newtown next weekend for the annual tournament, where ten divisional championships will be up for grabs... The Kick-Off has become a popular tournament in the region, attracting teams from New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

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Police plan to beef up their radar speed patrols with the acquisition of three additional radar units. Police Chief Michael DeJoseph said May 15 obtaining the three new radar units will bring the police department’s complement of radar devices up to eight. Each radar unit costs about $1,500.

May 15, 1970

The Newtown Board of Education has sent a letter to the Board of Finance requesting the Board’s approval of an appropriation of $100,000 to purchase 50 acres of land on Great Hill Road for the construction of a new elementary school. The property owned by Frederick Luf Jr has frontage on Head-Of-Meadow Road as well as Great Hill Road and has been under careful evaluation and consideration for the past year. In the letter, the Board has also asked for funds to hire an architect ($115,000) and conduct a search for two future school sites ($20,000).

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Well over 3,000 letters in opposition to the rest area proposed by the state for I-84 have already been mailed. They have been sent to officials from President Nixon on down the line, to state as well as to federal officers. Signatures on petitions now number more than 1,600. There is little doubt that the town’s opposition to the 29-acre rest area paralleling Currituck Road near Tunnel Road will be well documented at the hearing called by the state on May 20.

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The Newtown Combined Fire Company received the gift of a foam nozzle from the Newtown Woman’s Club. A demonstration of this piece of equipment will be held in the lower parking lot behind Edmond Town Hall on Monday evening at 7:30 pm for anyone to see.

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Children’s Adventure Center is planning a summer program with an emphasis on outdoor recreation. Wesley Hall of the United Methodist Church in Sandy Hook, the site of the Children’s Adventure Center, presently has no playground equipment. The board of directors of the Center is making an appeal to the public for donations to help defray the cost of this equipment.

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The Newtown Toy Caboose, a new store specializing in unique toys from around the world, will open Thursday, May 21, in the Queen Street Shopping Center. The store will carry Madame Alexander dolls, Steiff animals from Germany, wooden doll houses and furniture, sporting goods and other hobbies... The owners, Mr and Mrs James Freeman of Ridgefield have over 18 years experience in retail.

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The Royal Guardsmen, all-girl color guard from Newtown, is celebrating its third anniversary this month and can look back upon three years of unbelievable accomplishments... However, the crowning event of their three years of competition came last Saturday, May 2, in Stamford, when the Royal Guardsmen became the Grand National Champions in Class “A” with a score of 93.5, which is the highest score ever attained by any guard in a national competition.

May 11, 1945

On Monday, Miss Frances Hopkins Smith, daughter of Mr and Mrs Horace A. Smith, Sr, of Dodgingtown district, was sworn into the Women’s Reserve, US Naval Reserve in New York City, and is now waiting orders to enter boot training at the US Naval Training School, Hunter College, The Bronx, New York City. A graduate of Newtown High School, Class of 1938, Miss Smith attended Booth and Bayliss Commercial School in Bridgeport, and for more than three years has been a valued member of the staff of The Newtown Bee.

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Little remained but charred embers and ruined machinery after last Friday morning’s fire which burned Watkins Machine Shop in Sandy Hook to the ground. Much valuable equipment in the building was being used largely for war work. Beside the financial loss, the ruin of so much machinery at this particular time is a serious handicap to Mr Watkins, who plans, however, to rebuild the shop and continue his business.

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Great Ring Farm in Sandy Hook will welcome members and friends at the farm on Saturday to attend the thirty-sixth Annual Field Day and Sheep Shearing Contest. The all-day program will get underway at 10 am, with the sheep shearing contest. It is anticipated that competition will run high, as in past years, and much interest is being aroused in the shearing contests.

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A serious accident occurred on the grounds of the Fairfield State Hospital, Wednesday afternoon, when a truck loaded with cattle overturned near the hospital storehouse. Donald Rhynhart, of Watertown, driver, was unhurt, although Louis Paonessa of Southbury was taken to the Danbury hospital in the Newtown ambulance suffering injury to his left leg and back. John Wilms, also of Watertown, was slightly injured. The truck contained five heifers and a bull, purchased that day at the Bernstein auction. It was necessary to dispose of the bull, which was severely injured.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: Around May 1st We Are Moving Into the “Cottage of Flowers” NEWTOWN CENTER to conduct a real estate office together with our building activities. Whenever you are looking for a rent, a plot of land or a farm, or if you intend to build or buy a home, come to see us. We will do our best to fill your needs. Martin Sealander, Real Estate-Builder, WEST ST TEL 357-2 or 563 NEWTOWN

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The long-awaited proclamation of Victory Day in Europe came to Newtown, as to most of the rest of the world, on Tuesday, May 8th, but the thought of some 132,000 Americans already dead and more than half a million other American casualties, not to mention the staggering losses of our Allies and untold suffering throughout the world, with still more to come, sobered most right thinking people as they listened to President Truman’s impressive words at 9 am, and to Churchill’s proclamation which followed. Church services held Tuesday evening; school program presented.

May 7, 1920

The microfilm containing 1920 Newtown Bee editions is kept at the C.H. Booth Library, which is temporarily closed due to coronavirus health precautions.

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