Date: Fri 30-Jul-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

Mountain-weather-dry

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

It's been so dry lately that the fire hydrants are chasing the dogs.

The current drought has caused all sorts of problems for people around town,

from dry wells to parched lawns. The lack of rain has affected Dave Harris,

not because the lakes have dried up and he can't go fishing (that hasn't

happed -- yet), but because there are no mud puddles around.

Dave recently bought himself some new white sneakers, and he says he's been

having a heck of a time trying to get them to "dull down." Mud puddles usually

will do the trick in short order, but all the mud long ago turned to dust and

blew away.

One of the great things about getting up to go to work every day is that you

never know what's going to happen. Just when you think you've seen it all,

something comes along to surprise you.

Lynn Johnson was starting her Wednesday morning in routine fashion, but as she

drove down her driveway on Currituck Road on her way to work here at The Bee ,

she spotted a large cat, a bobcat she thinks. She said it was more the size of

a dog than a cat, it had the long graceful tail of a cat, and powerful legs.

You don't see a bobcat everyday, but I told Lynn that if she does start seeing

it every day she should take a picture of it. If she ever does get a picture,

I'll be sure to share it with you.

Wally Wood was in the office this week sporting his 120th Anniversary Newtown

Bee t-shirt. The T-shirt had recently been modified by Wally's wife Marian to

include a screened image of The Newtown Bee banner from our May 7 issue, when

The Bee declared itself "The Hometown Newspaper of Wally Wood" at the top of

the page.

It seems just when you start to get lonely here in Newtown, something happens

on I-84 that forces vacationers from Sarasota to Saskatoon off Exit 10, up

Church Hill Road, up Main Street, across Mount Pleasant to Exit 9 on a

not-so-quick tour of Newtown. On Tuesday afternoon, a chain reaction truck

accident on the interstate filled the center of town with visitors. It was

nice to see so many new, smiling faces in town. At one point, the slowly

moving unbroken line of cars was passing The Bee offices at a rate of 12 per

minute. Maybe we should set up a souvenir stand.

Newtown resident Burt Marshall has had close ties to the Kennedy family over

the years, but was one of few people on the planet who was not interviewed

following the tragedy involving John F. Kennedy, Jr, his wife, Carolyn

Bessett, and her sister, Lauren Bessett. Mr Marshall talked with The Bee this

week from his summer home in Penobscot Bay, Maine. The former Yale law

professor has been entrusted with many of the JFK materials which have been

under lock and key since the President's assassination in November, 1963.

The pairings for the annual Bertram Strook Tournament are out, and they

include a handful of "legends of the court." You know, those guys that never

seem to lose their grip. Most notably are the doubles teams of Leon

Barkman/Ray Craven and Fritz Freeman and Don Jackson. Notably absent from this

year's draw is the dynamic duo Don Leavitt and Russ Strasburger.

Hard hats are in order for anyone traveling on Elm Drive these days. I was

standing on the corner of Elm Drive and Brushy Hill Road last Wednesday, and I

had to take cover from a barrage of bouncing golf balls ricocheting off trees

and curbs. Some cars weren't so lucky, however. In the course of 15 minutes,

golf balls careened into the sides of three different cars with large metallic

thuds. In one case, a driver screeched to a halt, prompting an elderly man on

the tee, the source of the errant tee shot, to yell "Fore!" Perhaps "After!"

would have been a more appropriate call.

That's it for this week, which means it's time for my after words:

Read me again.