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Barbara Nelson took full advantage of the great weather last weekend to

conduct a tag sale at her house in Southbury. The sale was a benefit for Rich

Rauner, and Barbara said it was pretty successful, although on the first day

someone stole the sign that told people the sale was to benefit the former

Newtown postal clerk who has been in Temple University Hospital in

Philadelphia since May 4 waiting for a heart transplant.

Barbara has been coordinating the effort to get Richie's house in the Shady

Rest section of Sandy Hook ready for the big day when he will be able to come

home. She got a new stove, refrigerator and two air conditioners, and found

someone who will paint the inside of the house. She's trying to find a plumber

who will bring the clothes washer and dryer upstairs and install them so that

Rich won't have to use the stairs. Barbara hopes to raise the money, or have

donated, a new sofa that makes into a double bed, and a lounge chair for the

living room.

Richard has developed an infection in his big toe which has the doctors

concerned but his spirits were lifted last weekend when his pastor, Terry

Pfeiffer of Newtown United Methodist Church, and the pastor's wife came to

visit him. Barbara says she and Richie want to express their appreciation to

all of the people of Newtown who have sent him cards and letters, visited him,

and helped in his fund drive. Although he has been waiting for a donor heart

for nearly four months, he is still hoping to be home for his 58th birthday

next month.

There is such a critical shortage of blood in Connecticut that the American

Red Cross contacted Ed O'Malley and asked if the Western Connecticut Federal

Credit Union would hold an emergency blood drive. Ed agreed, and the drive

will take place from 8:30 am to 7 pm at the Sandy Hook firehouse on Thursday,

September 3. For every pint of blood donated, the credit union will donate $5

to the fire departments' Cairns Iris Fund and $5 to Newtown Youth Services.

Student volunteers from NYS are putting posters around town this week to

advertise the blood drive.

Lynn Haggerty was also putting posters around town this week. She is looking

for her small black and white Sheltie, Jessica, who has been missing since

August 11. Jessica (she also answers to "Jessie") was last seen near Acorn

Drive and Walnut Tree Hill Road. She is 14 to 16 inches tall and weighs about

30 lbs and looks like a small collie. She is friendly, though a little timid.

Lynn asks anyone who may have seen Jessica to call either 426-0479 or

426-3755.

Scientists are still trying to figure out how much wood a woodchuck can chuck,

but Maryellen Harris can tell you exactly how many string beans and squash a

woodchuck can destroy. In her garden on Church Hill Road, it was practically

all of them. Her poor plundered vegetable patch looks like a war zone.

It looks like a war of sorts down at the corner of Main and Sugar Streets.

It's a battle of the new signs. The new Ram Pasture sign went up a couple of

weeks ago, and last Sunday The Bee erected a new sign at The Pleasance, the

little park, across the street. Now, when you have to wait in traffic at the

corner, at least there's some handy reading material nearby.

The Newtown Woman's Club unveiled its new Christmas Ornament for 1998.

Breaking with tradition, the new ornament is not round. It features the former

Fabric Fire Hose building on Glen Road, and since the building is so long, it

has pushed the shape of the ornament into an oval.

A brief but intense electrical storm pushed parts of Newtown a little out of

shape on Tuesday. Emergency crews fanned out across town to drag fallen trees

out of the roadways and to secure the area around downed wires. The storm came

on so suddenly that office workers all over town had to go running into

parking lots to put their car windows up. In trying to avoid a wet seat on the

way home, some of them got completely soaked.

Don't forget that school starts on Thursday next week, so watch out for the

little ones who will be waiting for buses on the roadways. I want to make sure

everyone gets to school safely so they can sharpen their reading skills so

they will always be able to...

Read me again.