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THE WAY WE WERE

NOVEMBER 16, 1973

The Route 25 impact study committee this week heard Lembit Vahur of the

Department of Transporation give the traffic planner's view of the

controversial Route 25 expressway proposal. Mr Vahur said that in a 1963

report Route 25 was visualized as an expressway. In 1969, $1.4 million was

appropriated for engineering studies of a route through Newtown and Monroe.

Public Act 157, passed by the Legislature this year, requires feasibility

studies for Route 25 through Newtown to be completed by 1975. The DOT

predicted that if nothing was done to Route 25 in Newtown, the traffic on it

would more than double, to about 20,000 vehicles a day, within 10 years and

traffic on side roads like Toddy Hill Road would increase from the present

3,000 to 4,000 a day to more than 9,000 as drivers tried to avoid congestion

on Route 25.

Members of the Newtown Indians football team won their game with Immaculate

High School, 47-8, to end their season with an unbeaten record and clinch the

Western Connecticut Conference title. The score was the team's highest

offensive output of the season, and once again fullback Tom Saint and

quarterback Mike Newman provided the drive.

A contingent of Middle School teachers attended the Board of Education meeting

this week to express their feelings about the immediate need for a Middle

School principal since the former principal, Richard Teller, resigned last

summer, leaving the school with an assistant principal and an administrative

assistant. BUt Superintendent of Schools Albert Brinkman recommended that the

school be divided into two houses, consisting of grades 5-6 and 7-8, with a

principal and an administrative assistant for each. The proposal passed on a

5-1 vote, with Board member Lester Burroughs casting the negative vote. Mr

Borroughs said he did not believe there could be two leaders for one plant

structure and the idea probably would be unworkable.

The Board of Police Commissioners meeting was packed this week as members of

the Board of Selectmen, a representative of the Borough Board of Burgesses and

others attended to discuss the need for more police officers. Police Chief

Louis Marchese has asked for six more men, explaining that overtime costs for

the first fiscal months of this year has been $15,000. The commissioners are

asking for $29,000, the sum of which would cover the salary of six men.

Commission Chairman George McLachlan said the total would be about the same

amount which will have to be paid in overtime if no additional men are hired

this year. No decision was made at the meeting, but if the selectmen approve

the request, it would have to go to the Legislative Council and then to a town

meeting for a vote.

A new petition for town meeting action on the Boyle site controvery was

delivered to the town clerk Thursday morning and there was every indication

the matter would be placed on the call of the meeting for November 28. The

resolution would direct the Board of Selectmen to return the disputed land to

the owners from whom title was taken by condemnation proceedings, provided the

$68,000 desposited with the Superior Court as compensation is returned to the

town. An earlier petition with the same purpose was turned down by the Board

of Selectmen on November 6 when Town ATtorney Robert Hall said its wording did

not ensure that the town would recover the $68,000. The property involved is a

tract of 29 acres on Boggs Hill Road which is sought by the Board of Education

as the site for a new elementary school. Condemnation proceedings to acquire

theland were authorized by referendum in 1970, and the matter has been the

subject of litigation ever since.

The Board of Manager of Edmond Town Hall decided Wednesday night to make

another effort to get the floor of the gymnasium repaired so it could be

safely used for roller skating, teen dances and other such activities. Ken

Hathaway, building manager, told the board the floor had been repaired twice

in the last half dozen years but the boards persist in separating and bucklin

in a hump down both sides of the room. He said he had cancelled the Recreation

Department's roller skating program after two sessions and denied permission

for a planned TAN (Teen Action Newtown) dance in the gym because he was

advised that the building's insurance carrier would not accept the risk of

accidents.

A proposal to build state-financed housing for low-income elderly residents of

Newtown by the Committee on Aging and the board of directors of Newtown

Housing for the Elderly was discussed at separate meetings during the past

week, and Asenath Johnson announced that a survey was under way to determine

how many people would want such housing. Current state standards set income

limits of $3,958 for a single person or $5,936 for a couple living in

state-financed housing. Ms Johnson said she thought there might be 60 elderly

people in Newtown who would qualify. David Deakin of the Housing Division of

the State Department of Community Affairs, said the first requirement is for

the town to establish a housing authority to apply for state financing and an

make the initial investment of "front money" which would be refunded by the

state when the project is approved. The front money would be used for buying

land and preparing architectural drawings and specifications to put the

project out for bid.

Borough Tax Collector Hilda Walsh told the Board of Burgesses at its meeting

this week that she had been receiving complaints from taxpayers whose bills

for motor vehicle tax came to only a few cents, but who were required to pay a

$2 fine for late payment. The deadline for paying borough tax bills was

October 15. Mrs Walsh said there were literally hundreds of such tax bills

because the borough rate is only 0.8 cents, or 80 cents on an automobile

assessed at $1,000. Some of her tax bills are for as little as four cents, she

said, and it costs the borough a great deal more than that to prepare them for

mailing, not to mention the eight cents postage. However, under state law

there doesn't seem to be any way around the problem.

NOVEMBER 19, 1948

The Housatonic Valley Planning Association this week proposed a five-point

program to insure the growth of the area, the prevention of spoilation by real

estate developers and the maintenance of its natural beauty. Charles Downing

Lay, HVPA acting president, said the program, if followed, will insure the

desired results within 25 or 50 years. The points which he outlined include

prevention and elimination of pollution, construction of a toll parkway along

the Housatonic river, zoning and planning by towns and regional authorities,

procurement of additonal state parks, ski runs and recreational facilities,

and restoration of the fish in the river. Because access to the banks of the

river are extremely difficult, especially on the east side above Stevenson

Dam, Mr Lay proposed a toll parkway on that side which will, in time, pay for

the cost and maintenance. In order not to risk the chance of destroying the

natural beauty of the valley, he suggested that it be located back from the

river, thus ensuring the scenic beauty and giving access by old or new

highways to the banks of the river and to new park lands and building sites.

This would permit fuller development of the area and stimulate travel and

transportation of farm products.

State Highway Commissioner G. Albert Hill was the principal speaker at Monday

night's Newtown Rotary Club meeting where he disclosed the department's plans

for the coming year, including the relocation of Route 6 and reconstruction of

a new bridge over Lake Zoar. Mr Hill said that starting just south of South

Britain Road in Southbury, the new Route 6 would follow the exting highway as

far as John Ferguson's. Then it will go directly across the water to the

Riverside section on Lake Zoar. From there, the proposed highway will go

generally in a straight line to Route 34 south of the pond on Frank Tilson's

property. Plans have not yet been made whether the road will swing right or

left from that point. THe road will be two lanes, but with a right-of-way that

would enable it to become four lanes. Cost of the bridge, which will be

designed for four lanes, is estimated at $1 million.

The Connecticut Farm Bureau Federation held its annual meeting in Edmond Town

Hall on Wednesday. More than 325 people attended the first session of the

dinner which was held in the town hall gymnasium at 6 o'clock. Following the

dinner, a capacity crowd filled the auditorium to hear Allan B. Kline,

president of the American Farm Bureau, and Connecticut State Senators Raymond

Baldwin and Brien McMahon, who addressed the group. David A. Clarke, executive

secretary of the farm bureau, said the organization's 1948 membership totalled

9,696 families.

Many Newtowners made the trip to 57th Street in New York City for the opening

of the gallery exhibit of Madeline Hewes of Newtown, who with her husband,

Eberhard von Jarochowski, has lived on Platts Hill Road in the Palestine

district since 1940. The exhibit, which includes 21 paintings, will continue

through December 4. One of the artist's oils was accepted for inclusion in the

1948 Carnegie International Show in Pittsburgh.

Paul Frame of Wendover Road had the bad fortune to accidentally cut a tendon

in his right hand Tuesday night but thanks to some quick surgery on the part

of the emergency staff at Danbury Hospital, the tendon was restored to its

proper place. Mr Frame, who is a commercial artist, will be seriously

handicapped at his trade for the time being, but the injury fortunately will

not incapacitate his drawing hand for long.

Robert Hall found a Radiosonde instrument in a field her his home in South

Center District recently. It is a radio broadcaster released by the US Weather

Bureau Service, which by means of a balloon is carried some 12 miles into the

air, where the balloon bursts and the instrument is carried to the ground by

means of a parachute, recording temperature, pressure and moisture of the

atmosphere as it descends. Robert's father, Raymond L. Hall, has shown the

instrument to his classes at Harding High School in Bridgeport and the science

classes at Hawley School have also had the opportunity of inspecting it.

Unfortunately, this instrument, in its trip back to earth, lost the entire

return address to which it should be returned, so that Robert wonders what

should be done with it. Meanwhile, he has an unusual souvenier to show to his

friends.

Newtown High School six-man footballers clinched the Housatonic Valley

Schoolmen's League football champinship for the second time in a row by

defeating the New Milford six Friday afternoon on Taylor Field in a ding-dong

game, 36-28. Mickey Keogh started the game off with a 63-yard touchdown jaunt

on the opening kickoff. Newtown has now won seven stragith games since their

opener that was lost to Bethel. They have yet to play Washington and

Washington next Friday.

More than 85 parents came to Hawley School for visiting day this week and

attended the tea. Many parents followed their children through the entire

afternoon schedule. After the tea, a filmstrip was shown depicting the need

for new school facilities as the population increases.

A friend of The Bee in Brookfield, who has long been enrolled in the

Republican party, has written the following comment on the national

presidential election, to the editor of The Bee: "Friend Paul -- Too bad about

the result of the recent national election. Dewey was too highbrow. He should

have read The Bee."

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