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GENNEWS, READY, BWEB

THE WAY WE WERE FOR FEBRUARY 12, 1999

FEBRUARY 15, 1974

In January immediately after the arbitration award regarding Newtown teachers'

salaries was received in the office of the Town Clerk and released to the

press, Lou Mahmood, president of the Newtown Federation of Teachers, sent a

telegram to William T. O'Hara, chairman of the Newtown Arbitration Board. That

telegram was printed in full in The Bee at the time and expressed Mr Mahmood's

anger over the fact that neither the NFT nor the Board of Education had

received copies of the award before it was delivered to the Town Clerk. Also,

Mr Mahmood had a mimeographed sheet called Update delivered to all of the

teachers in the system, and this sheet blamed Mr O'Hara for the mixup in the

delivery of the awards.

The Newtown Federation of Teachers and the Board of Education have ratified a

new teachers salary contract for 1973-74. The agreement is for a 5.5 percent

salary increase plus increments and is retroactive as of September 1, 1973.

This new contract for the salaries is one which was negotiated through a

reopener clause in the present two-year contract under which the teachers are

presently working. Obtaining a satisfactory agreement was difficult for both

sides, with negotiations going to mediation and then arbitration. Prior to

arbitration the Board of Education was offering an across-the-board increase

of 4.28 percent and the NFT was asking 7.5 percent increase plus increments.

The NFT was also seeking longevity for teachers, and stipends for special

education teachers and Middle School curriculum personnel. These three items,

the Board of Education maintained, were not negotiable under the reopener

clause, and their stand was backed up in the arbitration award.

There has never been a town social worker in Newtown before Mary Brey was

hired six months ago. Her first reaction to the responsibility was "Where do I

start?" Now, she muses, "It would be nice if there were three of me." Her

summary of an average day might include speaking to the Jaycees about hiring a

special part-time teacher, counseling on a marital problem, arranging with

Danbury Hospital to have a large medical bill paid in installments, thus

restoring hope to a financially strapped couple who had despaired of ever

paying it in lump sum, and persuading a mentally disturbed girl to leave her

very inadequate room in a town hotel and go home to her mother without calling

the police.

Theodore Whippie, chairman of the Conservation Commission, dropped a bombshell

into the Route 25 Impact Study Committee meeting on February 12 by

unexpectedly offering for consideration a third possible corridor for the

proposed expanded Route 25. The new route, actually a modification of the "B"

corridor which has been drawn running up the east wall of the Pootatuck River

Valley, avoids most of the objections which critics have had about the "B" and

"C" corridors.

Early reports indicate the "Oregon" plan is working. Drivers in cars with odd

numbered license plates are pulling into gas stations on odd numbered days,

and even numbered cars are buying gas on even numbered days. Gas station

attendants have remarked that the public seems to be well informed about the

plan and willing to cooperate. Seven of the eleven Newtown service stations

surveyed are following the plan, which began on February 11 in eight area

towns on a voluntary basis.

Two members of the Lake Lillinonah Authority, Mary Gaudet of Newtown and

Patricia Lorenze of Southbury, returned February 9 from a three-day water

quality seminar conducted in Boston. The seminar was sponsored by the New

England Natural Resources Council and funded by the Environmental Protection

Agency. The purpose of the seminar was to acquaint participants with

provisions of the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, including such items

as water resource planning, citizens' participation, municipal wastewater

treatment and the permit program as provided for under the National Pollution

Discharge Elimination System.

State Representative William R. Ratchford (D-Danbury), House Minority

Leader-at-Large, has requested the drafting of legislation to provide funds

for the renovation of buildings at Fairfield Hills State Hospital in Newtown.

Rep Ratchford said he is proposing this legislation because Governor Meskill's

1974-75 budget provides no funds for renovations to the hospital. "The

governor talks about his commitment to mental health," Mr Ratchford said, "but

he did not recommend one cent for much needed renovations of buildings at

Fairfield Hills."

Several hundred people turned out on February 13 to hear a discussion of the

possible impeachment of President Nixon as argued by attorneys Seth Brody and

David Chipman at the invitation of the Newtown Area Forum for Action, NAFA.

Not technically a debate, the two participants under the moderation of Edward

Eliscu presented the various grounds of impeachment advocated by different

learned authorities.

FEBRUARY 18, 1949

Edmund M. Foster of Grays Plain district, Sandy Hook, has been appointed by

the Board of Selectmen to fill the vacancy on the board created by the

resignation of Hiram M. Perry. Mr Perry recently moved to Springfield, Mass.,

to take a position with the Eastern States Farmers Exchange and submitted his

resignation to become effective on February 1.

Mr and Mrs Samuel Scott of Botsford district have announced the engagement of

their daughter, Nancy Ann, to William L. Slocum, son of Mr and Mrs Lewis R.

Slocum, Palestine district. Miss Scott is a member of this year's graduating

class at Hawley High School and is assistant lecturer of Pohtatuck Grange. Mr

Slocum served in the Navy during World War II and is employed by the State

Highway Department. The wedding will take place June 26 in Trinity Episcopal

Church, with the Rev John W. Mutton, rector, officiating.

There will be an organization meeting at St Rose Hall on Tuesday evening,

February 22, at 8 o'clock, for the purpose of forming a post of the Catholic

War Veterans. It is planned to include the members of St Mary's, Bethel and

Sacred Heart, Georgetown, along with the veterans of St Rose Parish in a

three-in-one Post.

The St Rose and Easton teams continue to top the Newtown Recreation Basketball

League. Easton started off on Monday night by defeating the DiSesa Green Acre

team, 65-40, while St Rose came up next and took the Stepney A.C. team by

61-33. The Fairfield Hospital team failed to take the third game of the

evening, even though they were leading by eight points at halftime. The

Trumbull Rangers came through to win by ten points, 47-37.

The Taunton Road (now Sawmill Road) is now finished except for cleaning up,

which will have to wait until dry weather. We believe that it is much improved

and will provide better access to the Taunton District and remove a source of

considerable irritation to the people who use the road. We probably will not

oil the road before June, 1949, in order that the subgrade may drain properly.

Evidence of the vagaries of New England weather was brought to The Bee office

on Wednesday morning, when Mrs Matthew Winkle reported for work with two

dandelions picked on her lawn on South Main Street. Who knows - it may soon be

necessary to get out the lawn mowers.

Dresses with that "hand made expensive look" will result from the spring

dressmaking classes planned by Miss Evelyn V. Hartley, assistant home

demonstration agent for the Fairfield County Extension Service. This course is

open to any woman in Fairfield County who will agree to pass the information

she gains to at least four friends and neighbors. Miss Hartley states that

although the cost of living is said to be dropping, many homemakers are still

finding it necessary to watch their budgets carefully. Making dresses, she

adds, results in a substantial saving for the family budget and often makes it

possible for a person to have a better quality dress.

If patrons of The Village Coffee Shop have wondered at the absence of the

proprietors, Virginia and Mack Lathrop, it is a temporary arrangement induced

by the couple's brief return to the stage. Mr and Mrs Lathrop of the dance

team of Lathrop and Lee are filling a two-weeks engagement at the Capitol

Theatre in Washington, D.C., where they are appearing on the bill which

headlines the world premiere of Clark Gable in Command Decision . They plan to

return to Newtown about March 3rd. Meanwhile, Tom Ramsdell, stretching a point

or two in his A to C Service, is officiating behind the counter at the Coffee

Shop.