Date: Fri 27-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Mountain-back-to-school

Full Text:

TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN

Anyone who has been shopping in the local stores this week would not be

surprised to learn that Newtown students are winding up their summer vacation.

The stores have been filled with youngsters and their parents buying school

supplies, backpacks, lunch snacks, and new clothes. Classes begin on Monday so

be especially careful driving on local roads next week.

Driving on Main Street has been a tooth-jarring experience since the state

Department of Transportation began ripping it up for resurfacing. The DOT says

the road will be paved at night, beginning Monday, and will be ready for the

Labor Day Parade. There has been one positive note during the construction,

however. Jan Andras, secretary in the first selectman's office, says the

speeding on Main Street has been practically eliminated.

Motorists in the area of Taunton Hill Road near Dodgingtown should beware. A

construction crew is busy installing a new fiber optic cable beneath Taunton

Hill Road for Level 3 Communications' new Internet communications system. The

cable will be a major link in the Northeast's telecommunications

infrastructure. Police are controlling traffic along the narrow winding

street.

The library book sale volunteers working at Bridgeport Hall at Fairfield Hills

to get ready for the annual Labor Day Sale heard a cat meowing outside the

building on Monday. Investigating, they found a young, female, black and white

cat wearing a pink flea collar hiding in the bushes outside the door. The cat

appeared to be lost and very hungry. JoAnne Zang decided to drive to the Grand

Union to buy some food for the cat, and while she was there she saw library

assistant Andrea Zimmermann, who wondered what she was up to. Andrea told

JoAnne that there were signs all over Newtown advertising for a lost black and

white cat wearing a pink flea collar. Andrea, who has a soft spot for lost

creatures, even remembered the telephone number on the posters.

JoAnne brought cat food and kitty litter back to Bridgeport Hall, where the

volunteers had the cat ensconced in the rare book room. But when the owner of

the missing cat came to claim it, it wasn't the right cat. This cat had long

hair; the lost cat had short hair. JoAnne said she offered to cut the cat's

hair, but it just wouldn't do.

Someone suggested that librarian Beryl Harrison might take the cat, but

Beryl's husband pointed out that they already have several feral cats from the

library as permanent house guests, and enough is enough. So book sale

volunteer Nancy Smith spent the next day searching for someone to give the

cat, which was still living in the rare book room, a new home. She didn't have

to go far, as it turned out, because her soft-hearted neighbor, who already

has three cats and two dogs, agreed.

JoAnne thought that since the literary cat was mostly black, a mystery name

like Agatha Christie might be appropriate. The cat will indeed have a literary

name -- the new owner has decided it will be Jane Austen.

Another book sale volunteer, Jack Corcoran, is making up computerized posters

to illustrate various categories of books, such as romance or cooking, that

will be available at the book sale. Jack is using book illustrations as well

as personal design in creating the posters.

The walls inside the first selectman's office were bare as of Wednesday

morning. For nearly five years, the walls had been adorned with paintings from

Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN), which used the town hall office as

a showroom. However, SCAN opted to end the program and Herb Rosenthal and his

staff no longer have anything to look at.

Housatonic Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers to work on Saturday

or Sunday of the Labor Day weekend at the two houses the non-profit

organization is building on Philo Curtis Road just north of Treadwell Park in

Sandy Hook. Bring a rake, a hammer, or a paintbrush and help put the finishing

touches on the first house, or improve the site of the second, which is about

to be framed. To volunteer that weekend, or in a different capacity, or at a

different time, call the Habitat office at 203/431-1392.

In reaction to the story by Jan Howard about the old Newtown Inn in The Bee

last week, Peggy Judson called the office on Friday to say that the stone slab

in front of her house on the Ram Pasture was from The Newtown Inn. Her house,

she said, was once owned by Mary Hawley and was the residence of Ms Hawley's

chauffeur. Outbuildings of the inn also were moved after the inn was torn down

and are now in use at other locations. If anyone knows more about this, Jan

would appreciate a call.

There's a critical shortage of blood supplies in Connecticut, especially type

O Negative, so Ed O'Malley of the Western Connecticut Federal Credit Union is

sponsoring a blood drive on Friday, September 3, from 8:30 am to 6:45 pm at

the Sandy Hook Firehouse on Riverside Road. Once again for each pint of blood

that is donated, the credit union will give $5 Newtown Youth Services and $5

to the fire company's thermal imaging camera fund. To make an appointment to

give blood, call 800/GIVE-LIFE (800/488-3543).

There's still time to get involved with the Labor Day parade, which will step

off at 10 am on Labor Day. The clowns, decorated bikes, and in-line skating

division will be coming back this year. Children who want to participate with

their bikes or skates must wear helmets. Jill Kimball and Sue Lyon are

organizing the fun. Line-up will be at 9 am at the No 3 blue markers on

Currituck Road. For more information, call Jill at 426-9919. For other parade

information, call the Newtown Summer Festival co-chairpersons, Kym Stendahl at

270-1805 or Lisa Franze at 426-1124.

My little parade of inside information steps off at the same time in the same

place every week, so don't forget to strike up the band and...

Read me again.