June 24, 1994

You can set your watch by Bob Reiner. A school bus driver, he leaves his home on Great Quarter Road at 6:30 am, takes students to Newtown High School, arrives at My Place for breakfast at 7:20 am, leaves to make his Middle Gate School run at 7:50, and completes his Newtown Middle School run by 9:20 am. At 12:30 pm it is back to My Place for lunch. Since his bus is always the first one leaving the high school in the afternoon, he gets there at 1:30 pm. Mr Reiner is so predictable, that when parents decide to keep their children home from school, they call at My Place between 7:20 and 7:50 am. But after 30 years of predictability, Mr Reiner’s habits will be changing. His 123-mile daily runs are coming to an end on June 24, his final day before retiring.

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Police have charged a man who escaped from Garner Correctional Institution last August with first-degree larceny in connection with his alleged theft of a Ford Escort from a home in Main Street after his escape. Police said they charged George Galberth, 36, on a warrant at Danbury Superior Court. Mr Galberth is an inmate at the state prison in Somers. A Danbury Superior Court judge recently added three years to the 27-year prison term Mr Galberth was serving after he was convicted of first-degree escape. Police found him in New Haven two weeks after his escape on the night of August 30.

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Charlotte Mullins Blomberg, mother of Dick Blomberg of Newtown, celebrated her 100th birthday recently with a sit-down dinner of 200 guests at historical Ye Old Tavern in West Brookfield, Mass. “Gramma” Blomberg, who was born in Bridgeport on June 5, 1894, had ten children — five sons and five daughters — 52 grandchildren, 84 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She is the widow of Henry Blomberg. Three weeks before the party Ms Blomberg fell and broke her hip. Surgery didn’t deter her from enjoying the party, however... She told everyone that she received a birthday card form President Bill Clinton.

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AUDITIONS FOR "THE NERD": Town Players will be holding auditions for the mid-summer production of The Nerd, by Larry Shue. Needed are three males, ages 30–40; one male, age forty or over; and two females, ages 30–50. Actors should be prepared to tell their funniest joke at the audition.

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The last time Meat Loaf played a show in Connecticut — when he launched the 1993-95, Everything Louder Than Everything Else tour from the New Haven Palace last September — he started off with a bang and just kept rolling. Nine months into the tour, and Meat Loaf is still going strong. At this point in the tour he is starting out with a different sort of bang: a literal one. He played to a crowded house in Hartford on June 20, beginning the show with sounds of “Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire),” an as-yet unreleased single, and the bang of some pyrotechnics both behind and at the front of the stage.

June 13, 1969

This week’s issue of The Bee marks a distinct milestone. Never before have so many pages been included in a single issue, nor has the quality of the Special Antiques supplement been so excellent. Many hours of preparation have gone into the 108 pages — particularly the Antiques Supplement. A well-deserved “thank you” goes to the staff, and especially to Associate Editor Scudder Smith, who has been both the guiding spirit and the workhorse of the entire project.

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The Newtown Lions Pop Warner Football Team is planning its second clinic at the Hawley field on Saturday, June 21, at 1 pm. All applicants should plan to attend. Any interested boys aged ten through 13 who have not registered are urged to be there. Head coach Charles Chamberlin will preside.

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Paul A. Cullens, president of the Newtown Forest Association, has announced that the association has acquired a tract of land comprising approximately 11 acres on the westerly side of Key Rock Road from George Ferris of Danbury. The tract is wooded and largely swampy. It is surrounded by property of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company. Water drains from the tract onto the Cullens Wildlife Preserve, a wildlife sanctuary of 110 acres. Funds for the Ferris tract originated with the Kerry Foundation. The land has been owned by the Ferris family for a great many years. It is felt by the association that the Ferris tract is important in preserving much of the wildlife preserve watershed and is an important addition to the association’s holdings.

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Newtown service agencies became the recipients of Perkin-Elmer Corporation’s Good Neighbor Fund on Wednesday afternoon, when checks were presented by Sal Testa, Good Neighbor chairman. Accepting checks for Community Action Newtown and the Red Cross were Ed Knapp, for the Visiting Nurse Association, Mrs Robert E. Schmidle, and Carl Schultz with the Newtown Fund.

June 16, 1944

Word of the safe arrival of Mrs Peter R. Lawson in Hawaii has been received with relief by her many friends in Newtown. Some little time ago she left for an unknown destination overseas. She is supporting the war effort by serving with the American Red Cross. The widow of Captain Peter R. Lawson, who was Newtown’s first war casualty, gave his life in service in the Pacific area, it is a mark of American fidelity to the cause of right that Mrs Lawson, in a Red Cross uniform, should now be in that very part of the world where her husband made the supreme sacrifice. Her friends know that “Tony” will more than do her part in the great humanitarian work which those in Red Cross uniforms so magnificently carry on, bringing aid and comfort to our men and to all others who most need it, all over the world.

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Spending time away from his desk at The Bee office, resting up from a case of overtiredness, is a new and unpleasant experience for the editor. Compensation for the disappointment of not being on the job, however, lies in the sense of gratitude to a loyal staff, who have not spared themselves in putting out the usual, if I may say so, acceptable issue of The Bee. Readers, not seeing this paragraph, will, I am sure, not guess my absence. Many thanks to the staff, and I hope to be back with them soon. — Paul S. Smith

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The annual Summer Round-up for all children eligible to enter the first grade next fall, will be held at Hawley School on Wednesday, June 28, from 9:30 to 11:30. Anyone desiring transportation or further information is asked to get in touch with Miss Helen Rutishauser. A further notice will be in next week’s issue.

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Mrs Anna S. Miles of Sandy Hook recently received word of the serious injury of her son Pfc John F. Miles Jr., who has been serving with the infantry unit on the Italian front. His injury occurred when a shell burst, necessitating the removal of several fingers on his right hand.

June 13, 1919

At the suggestion of Coroner John T. Monzani, State’s Atty. Terrence F. Carmody issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of Herman Block, formerly of Bridgeport, but now of Waterbury. Block will be held responsible for the automobile accident on May 18 on the Middlebury Road, in which Edward Keane of Newtown was instantly killed and Benjamin Robertson of Bridgeport fatally injured. Block, who was the driver of the ill-fated machine, is now in the Waterbury hospital with a badly injured ankle. According to the warrant, Block was driving the car while under the influence of liquor. It further states that he was negligent and drove the machine at a reckless rate. “Heiney” Block’s previous record will not help him in his present dreadful situation in which he appears the star actor. It is not more than five years ago he was arrested as responsible for the death of Levi Gilbert Jr of Newtown, who was tossed out of Block’s auto, while Block was driving at a furious rate on the state road in Newtown. At the time he received a sentence of nine months in the jail at Bridgeport.

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Robert Tiemann, son of Mr and Mrs H. N. Tiemann, arrived in town from France on Friday and received a fine welcome. With the 79th Division he sailed to France on May 14, reaching Philadelphia on May 29. He was mustered out at Camp Dix on June 5.

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HELP THE LADIES! GOD BLESS 'EM, YES! This week the good women of the Connecticut Woman Suffrage association are making a state-wide campaign for $100,000 to help boost their cause. The cash is coming in rather slow, so dip down and help ‘em.

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Said a prominent businessman from New Milford Monday to the writer: “I am glad there is one editor in the state who isn’t afraid to hand it out to Commissioner Bennett, when he deserves it.” In this connection read what George Bryan of Brookfield says on this same subject on page three of this issue of The Bee’s position in getting after the commissioner and Mr Bennett’s poor old, worn out state roads. Again we say, get busy on these roads, Mr Bennett.

Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with The Newtown Bee readers. Images can be e-mailed to kendra@thebee.com or brought to the office at 5 Church Hill Road to be scanned. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.