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THE WAY WE WERE

AUGUST 23, 1974

A public hearing August 21 on six charter change proposals conducted by the

Board of Selectmen produced "some valuable input," according to First

Selectman Frank DeLucia, although Selectman Thomas Goosman considered the

attendance of some three dozen residents "very poor." It was the final public

hearing before the charter changes are scheduled to be put in final form and

presented to the Secretary of the State for inclusion on the November ballot.

Some people still wanted to discuss proposals the Charter Revision Commission

had decided not to deal with but only one major change in the proposals

offered was seriously entertained. On the proposal to substitute an 18-member

council for the Town Meeting in day-to-day legislative decision making, First

Selectman Frank DeLucia asked for a show of hands after it became apparent a

number of those attending would prefer a much smaller council. Nineteen hands

were raised for a small council and eight for a council of eighteen or more

members. No opposition was voiced to having a council take over the function

of the Town Meeting for day-to-day decision making, leaving to Town Meeting

action the annual budget, bonding, disposal of property and major

appropriations. Institution of a council, if accepted by the voters, will mark

a change for Newtown from participatory to representative government.

Vandalism has struck the Town park twice so far this week. On Monday night,

August 19, a lead casting of a lion's head, appropriately donated by the Lions

Club, was unbolted from its mooring in the children's pool and taken away. A

screen window on the men's room window was snipped as the vandals tried to

open the window and enter. Most senseless of all, the brass plaque at the

entrance to the park reading "A. Fenn Dickinson Memorial Park" was taken away.

On Tuesday, Stop and Do Not Enter signs were uprooted and flung aside. These

incidents follow a mid-night assault on the park the week before on Wednesday,

August 14, when six youthful vandals overturned a picnic table, tore shingles

off a storage shed and tried to overturn that, too.

On August 3 Officer George Stowe of the Newtown Police Department was attacked

by four men, handcuffed and left in a field on the grounds of the Middle Gate

School while he was on patrol. For some reason, Officer Stowe's statement

about the incident was questioned and an interdepartmental investigation was

made with the end result being that Officer Stowe was ordered by Chief Louis

Marchese to take a polygraph test. This is something which has never happened

to an officer on the Newtown force, and on Thursday, August 15, Officer Stowe

took the test, the results of which showed his statement to be a true one.

Chip and Elaine Hendrickson of Rock Ridge Road and their five children

returned home last weekend from a teaching and camping vacation. Mr

Hendrickson was on the staff of the Country Dance and Song Society for their

first Dance Week at Pinewoods Camp, located between Buzzards Bay and Plymouth,

Mass. The Country Dance and Song Society, with headquarters in New York City,

is concerned with English folk dancing, music and songs. This includes Morris

Dancing, Sword Dancing, Country and Traditional Dancing and the descendant of

these dances, the American Square Dance.

After noticing the dying maple across from the Smith-Scudder house on Main

street, The Bee started to remember other brown-leaved maples seen around town

recently. Is there a maple blight affecting our trees? we asked. After some

calls around, we came up with some reasons why our trees might be having a

hard time now. According to Howard Kemmerer of the University of Connecticut

extension service in Bethel, all trees, not just maples, have been under

stress recently. The long, cool, wet spring followed by the hot, dry summer

have subjected trees to strain. Cool, moist spring weather ordinarily extends

the period that a tree is susceptible to various disease organisms. Drought

and a lowered water table mean that a tree has to dig deeper for the water it

needs to survive.

The Board of Education met with members of the Park and Recreation and

Conservation Commission on Tuesday evening to discuss the feasibility of

having the town purchase the 153-acre ICC property on Route 34 for a multi-use

piece of land for the town; incorporating recreation facilities, open space

and a school site.

The Griscom Music Studio, established in 1926 in Sandy Hook, is scheduled to

begin its 48th year of preparing students for important positions,

scholarships and appearances with symphony orchestras.

Disappointment was the key word in the reactions of Town officials to the

Planning & Zoning Commission's disapproval of the Stefanko property for

location of a new town garage. But, after casting one last, longing glance at

the town-owned land off Philo Curtis Road, the first selectman and the Public

Building Committee began taking steps this week to locate another tract to

place the garage on. Mr DeLucia told The Bee Tuesday, when he returned from

several days of vacation, that there would be no challenge in the courts to

attempt a reverse of the unanimous P&Z vote. He said the town has to move

ahead now to find another piece of land, and to expedite the process so the

effect of ever-increasing construction costs can be minimized.

AUGUST 19, 1949

It was more than two years ago that the local post, Veterans of Foreign Wars,

began its campaign for a Newtown Veterans Memorial building to be erected and

dedicated in honor of Newtown soldiers who died in World War II. Members of

the Charles Howard Peck, Sr and Jr Post 308 had purchased a site opposite the

Newtown Country Club and on the road leading to Fairfield State Hospital.

Plans call for a main floor kitchen, cloak room, ticket room and hall, with

utilities and a game room in the basement. When completed, the building will

also be available for meetings of other organizations.

Excitement ran high at Taylor Field on Monday evening when the SAC baseball

team played a team composed of fathers of the boys, with a few friends (and

ringers, so the boys claim) added to the lineup to bolster the defensive play

and scoring ability of the older players. Possibly Joe Cavanaugh, captain of

the Newtown Bees, aided the cause of the fathers. At any rate, it was a close

battle, which ended 9-8 in favor of the boys after seven grueling innings of

play and a modest amount of friendly argument.

The Board of Managers of the Edmond Town Hall, at their monthly meeting on

August 3, accepted with regret the resignation of A.C. Griscom as a member of

the board. George Jackson was named to fill the vacancy, until the annual town

election in October. Mr Griscom has served as a member of the Board of

Managers since the board was first organized in 1931, following completion and

dedication of the Edmond Town Hall, which took place on August 22, 1930.

One of the largest local audiences ever to attend an event at Fredericka House

in Sandy Hook witnessed on Wednesday evening of last week the presentation of

the operetta "Behind Castle Walls," with an old Mexico theme. Some 25 of the

vacationing girls at the house took part in the production. In Newtown,

townspeople were invited to witness the operetta without charge, and

refreshments were served at the close.

A decisive vote, 266 to 82, defeated the resolution presented at last Thursday

evening's special town meeting, held in the gymnasium of the Edmond Town Hall.

The purpose of the resolution was to increase the present 6-man membership of

the Board of Education to seven members, four of the major political party in

power and three minority members. The meeting had been called by the Board of

Selectmen, in compliance with a petition presented to them.

Among those represented in the 21st annual exhibit of the Kent Art Association

at the Town Hall in Kent is Mrs M.I. Mulford of Sandy Hook. Mrs Mulford has

three canvasses in the current exhibit, which runs through September 4.

AUGUST 22, 1924

On Sunday morning about 30 members of Pootatuck Grange took their banner and

assembled on the top of Peck's Hill to greet the National Grange tourists as

they passed by. The tourists were on route from Yorktown Heights to New

Britain, where they went into camp, Sunday afternoon. They were given a fine

dinner and lemonade by the gallon free. The Gulf Refining Company had three

large trucks there to furnish any Granger gasoline. This was free. Needless to

say, the tourists were delighted with their reception.

Newton Curtis reports the prospect excellent for a bumper peach crop. Mr

Curtis says the crop is late, this year, and at the present time it looks as

if the crop will begin to come into the market about the 10th of September.

Frank Platt and Willis Arndt motored to New Britain Sunday to get better

acquainted with members of the Michigan Grange tour party, who passed through

Newtown on Sunday morning, 1,000 strong.