***

Newtown’s Board of Selectmen voted April 13 to “agree in principle” with the need to establish a youth resources agency, following a presentation by clergymen and residents from YSIN, the voluntary Youth Services In Newtown group. First Selectman Jack Rosenthal cited a “dire need” and was prepared to go the next step and actually recommend funding to hire a youth coordinator.

***

The barren and gouged moonscape of the former Cappy’s Sand and Gravel operation on the west side of South Main Street could be restored and converted into an industrial development, if Newtown developer William H. Laws has his way. But his plans would be contingent upon the dropping of a longstanding lawsuit the Town of Newtown has against the current owners, and approval of a rock crusher to be used on the property.

***

Newtown’s Edward Eliscu amused the enthusiastic audience who moved out onto the Booth Library lawn on Sunday afternoon, April 12, to hear him reminisce about his 50 years as a writer of songs, of screen and stage plays, and as a critic of the American system. Mr Eliscu, who was accompanied Sunday by guitarist Ken Blinko, joined his enthusiastic audience for refreshments and conversation after the program.

***

Mention a fishing derby and you are certain to have lots of kids turn out. That was the case last Saturday as the Newtown Jaycees and the Fish and Game Club sponsored such an event at Hawley Pond. About 300 brook trout were put into the pond during the week and a large percentage of them were on the hook before Saturday was over.

***

Officer Fred Kasbarian was assaulted with a metal pipe by a man who was walking on Hundred Acres Road and Phyllis Lane on Wednesday afternoon, April 15. After receiving a citizen’s complaint that a suspicious man was walking in that location, Officer Kasbarian found Edwin Hill of Stamford. On investigation, police determined Mr Hill had walked away from Fairfield Hills Hospital, where he had been a voluntary patient since 1979.

April 20, 1956

Some may dub the Newtown High School baseball varsity of 1956 the Duckfoots. Not from any misuse of their pedal extremities, but from the necessity of holding practice sessions on a sodden field. With but few workouts to get kinks out of muscles and to shake individual players into a working unit, the NHS boys tackle Ridgefield this Friday afternoon.

***

Student Town Government Day is to be observed for the first time in Newtown on Thursday, May 3 at which time high school juniors and senior students will take over town positions. The purpose of this project is to acquaint young people with the function of town government, to encourage pride in the local community and assist in their preparation for well-informed citizenship.

***

At the open meeting of the Newtown Board of Education lasting until 11:40 Tuesday evening, the board clarified the position of the vocational agriculture department in the local high school by voting to retain it without change for the 1956-57 school year. Despite an admitted decrease in farming in Newtown, there has been no appreciable drop in vocational agriculture interest in the area.

***

The fire companies of town are well pleased with the new General Electric short wave intercommunication system which has been put into service here. The system keeps all of the town’s fire trucks in touch with the base transmitter at the Edmond Town Hall Switchboard and enables them to speak to each other wherever they may be located in town, to call for additional help, to send back unwanted trucks, and otherwise expedite the fighting of fires.

***

The excavating of the swimming pond in Dickinson Memorial Park was completed last week and the final grading of the beach and parking lot will now be undertaken, according to the Newtown Parks Commission. Grass seed will be planted on the sloping sides of the pond and tile pipe lines and filter traps will be installed at the sides and end of the pond.

***

Following the theory that there’s little sport for hunters if there is no game to be found, members of the Newtown Fish and Game Club turned out last Sunday morning to stock suitable cover with breeding pheasants. The birds, nearly a year old, were hatched and raised by J. Frederick Seman at his home on Old Hawleyville Road.

***

Tuesday night’s dinner-dance arranged by the Democratic Town Committee at the Yankee Drover Inn was a successful affair until the sudden death of John J. Donahue, a member of the committee, brought the festivities to an end. Mr Donahue was stricken with a heart attack at about 11 o’clock and had gone to the men’s room when his death occurred. Out of respect for Mr Donahue, the dance ended shortly after he was stricken, and the band dismissed.

April 17, 1931

The teachers of Trinity church Sunday school gave the pupils of the kindergarten and primary departments a lawn party on the church grounds Thursday afternoon. The 24 pupils were given a happy afternoon, in hunting jellybeans, playing games, enjoying ice cream and cake. Everyone had a happy time.

***

The official record for trout catching at 11:05 am, Wednesday, was held by William Conger, who caught 16 nice trout. Willis Lockwood caught five, Richard Carmody caught five, Leonard Shepard and Charles McGinley five. Two fishermen from Waterbury caught a nice string of 15 trout and went home happy. It was a great day for trout fishermen.

***

A fire in the Elmwood section of Bethel burned over 40 acres of pasture land, Sunday, and also burned a barn on the farm of George Fiddner, containing several tons of hay. The Newtown Hook and Ladder Company answered the alarm when William Gower, chief of the Dodgingtown fire company, notified them that the Dodgingtown chemical truck was out of order and they lacked equipment with which to fight the blaze. The barn had been almost totally destroyed by the time firemen arrived, and no attempt could be made to save the valuable Irish setter owned by the Fiddners, and which was tied in the barn.

***

The much-heralded epic of the film world, “Rango,” opens at the Edmond Theater Saturday. “Rango” is a picture without parallel. There has never been anything quite like it — either silent or talkie. It is modern, yes, but it is also aboriginal.

***

George Wendall Waldo, Editor of the Post-Telegram papers of Bridgeport, has bought 112 acres of land of Arthur C. Cole of Waterbury. He now holds properties to the extent of 359 acres in the Half Way River District, Newtown.

***

Fully 200 people will attend the testimonial dinner being given at the Alexandria room of the Edmond Town hall, tonight, to Representatives Thomas M. Holian and William A. Honan. The Hon Charles G. Morris of New Haven and Newtown will act as toastmaster during the evening.

April 20, 1906

A.P. Smith is having his barn newly silled, new floors put down and stables built. Frederick Northrop is doing the work.

***

John M. Ferris, the veteran cattle dealer of Stamford, died at his home, Friday, April 6, aged 68 years. Mr Ferris had a wide acquaintance all through Connecticut, especially with the cattle men and is a man who will be greatly missed. He visited Newtown many times each year.

***

T.E. PLATT & SON, DEALERS IN Agricultural Implements and Farm Machinery, NEWTOWN, CONN We carry a complete line of Plows, Sulky Plows, Harrows, Disc and Cutaway Harrows. $18 buys the best Cutaway Harrow made.

***

St John’s Church Easter: Notwithstanding the storm, about 40 persons, nearly all communicants, attended the morning service. The plants and flowers were fine, and arranged with excellent taste. The choir service was well rendered. A large congregation came out to the children’s festival service at 4 o’clock, at which the Lenten collections of the Sunday school were presented, and Easter cards were given.

***

Miss Agnes E. Platt, Newtown’s talented elocutionist, appears in an entertainment this (Thursday) evening, in the first Baptist church, Waterbury, and next week Thursday recites in an entertainment in the Calvary Baptist church in New Haven. Her success as a reader is phenomenal.

***

On Sunday in the Convent of Mt St Vincent in New York, Sister Mary Roquetta took her final vows as a professed sister. Sister Roquetta is Miss Margaret J. Honan, daughter of Mr and Mrs Michael Honan of this town.