March 20, 1992

Town officials got their first chance to eyeball the new jail from the inside Thursday afternoon, March 12. David Reaves, project engineer for Turner Construction Company, led a group of 32 officials, ambulance personnel, and press on a tour of Garner Correctional Institution on Nunnawauk Road. Garner Warden Frank Crose, State Department of Corrections Spokesman Bill Flower, and Deputy Commissioner of Institutions Tom White offered their firsthand knowledge along the way. The tour started in the lobby and worked its way past Garner's "nerve center," on the second floor where officials monitor and control the entire working of the facility 24 hours a day, and into the holding area. The holding area is the first place a prisoner sees when he is brought to the jail. From there he must go through booking, turn over personal items to the property room, shower, get a uniform, and receive a medical examination. Next, the prisoner is assigned a cell in one of the eight housing units, or "pods," as Mr Reaves referred to them.

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March is when our tolerance for winter runs to its limit, even after gentle winters, as this one has been. On the best of days, a cold dust rises from the roads, and the landscape looks ravaged. On bad days, there is rain on the shoulders and mud underfoot, and it seems every year that there is a last-blast snowstorm to freeze hearts set on spring. We don't know what we would do without the annual NCAA basketball tournament. There is an orderliness to this event that appeals to us. But what we like best about the tournament is that when it ends in the first week of April, you can go outside and it's spring.

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A rabid raccoon and cat captured and killed in town this week point up the increasing incidence of animal rabies here, officials say. A rabid raccoon was caught and destroyed on March 12 after it fell through the ceiling of a bathroom at Forecast International on Commerce Road. "I don't think we should blow this out of proportion," said company President Ed Nebinger. "The little guy got into a bathroom. He fell through the ceiling tiles. No sense panicking. Cops came in, tranquilized, and shot him." No employees were bitten or injured. Newtown Police Sergeant Robert Braatz said, "The way I understand it, [the raccoon] did a job in the bathroom. He tore it up. Cap-Stun - it's supposed to disable animals - just made him angrier. It didn't work. [Dog Warden] George Mattegat used a pole to get it, but he said it's the most aggressive raccoon he has ever dealt with. Then they took it outside and destroyed it."

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After a three-year respite, Bunny Madden has again been named chair of the Democratic Town Committee. Party members enthusiastically and unanimously welcomed her return. "She certainly brings experience and desire," said First Selectman Zita McMahon, who won the party's backing two terms in a row. "She really loves it. She not only enjoys this job but politics in general, so she has fun."

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David Merrill recently began work on a second mural project at the Edmond Town Hall. The first works on this new mural will include a map of Newtown, and rendering of the town's oldest houses.

March 24, 1967

Early morning fire guts Castle Inn. The temperatures read below zero last Sunday morning about 6 o'clock when firemen from two companies were called out to fight a blaze which had been reported at the Castle Inn, Route 25. The smoke, coming from several of the restaurant windows, was reported by a passing truck driver, and since the location was a commercial building, both the Hook and Ladder Company and the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company were summoned. According to authorities, the fire had been going for some time and when the doors were opened and the windows broken, smoke shot straight out before rising. This heavy smoke hampered early operations and much of it had to be pulled out with exhaust fans to find the origin of the blaze. The fire, according to several officials, was one of the most stubborn ever. The heavy smoke and cold temperatures created complications. Fog, which was used a great deal of the time, froze rapidly on the outside of the building, equipment, and the men. Route 25 was soon turned into a sheet of ice. Once the fire was knocked out, ice began forming on the charred furnishings. Investigations are underway as to the origins of the blaze.

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The Newtown Lions Club will give away a 1967 Fury III to the holder of the lucky ticket from a drawing to be held at 9 am on May 10 at the Hawley Manor Inn. Members of the club are now at work selling the chances for the car, with only 1,200 being offered, with proceeds to benefit the parks projects, civic projects, and eye research. Anthony Amaral of Amaral's Garage, and Harry Rishor, club president, inspected the car. Chances are being sold for $5 each and are available through Lions Club members.

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On Saturday, March 25, The Jaycees will sponsor the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Edmond Town Hall. The Jaycees are in the process of coloring 60 dozen eggs which were donated by Ed Borodenko of Dodgingtown Market.

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It's coming April 1 - and it's no fooling, say the planners of this year's Joel Barlow scholarship auction. There is a bit of April fooling, it must be admitted, in the picture of the chess players cruising down the school corridor. They're headed for the cafeteria where at 8:30 pm on April 1, William Josko, well known auctioneer, will put the first item up for bid in the annual effort to raise funds for Joel Barlow graduates. The chess set is of hand-carved ivory and was donated to auction by Dr Roma Gans.

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Frank D. Scinto, well-known pharmacist at Cashman Drug Company, 6 Queen Street, will enter Danbury Hospital on March 28 for a gall bladder operation. Mr Scinto expects to be in the hospital for about two weeks and will convalesce at home for four to six weeks after that.

March 20, 1942

Maybe it's the war - maybe it's the spring. Whatever it is, The Bee's classified page is now bringing our advertisers some unusually fine results. D.H. Tuck of Redding Ridge, to cite one case, advertised a small horse for sale in last Friday's issue. On Monday morning Mrs Tuck telephoned The Bee office that there had been sixteen answers, and calls were coming in even though the horse was sold to someone on Friday. In these days of shortages and emergency measures, The Bee's classified column, which has always been a pride and joy, is proving of particular benefit to many people. Pardon our suggestion, therefore, that if you want to sell a horse, buy a farm, or exchange your city house for a Model T Ford, there is no better way than through the classified pages. -The Bee.

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Over 100 people attended the luncheon served on Tuesday by members of St Agnes' Guild in the social room of Trinity Church. A delicious luncheon was served. The Guild announced that another luncheon will be served on Tuesday, March 31. The menu will be announced in the next issue of The Bee.

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On more than one recent occasion, Newtown has found itself in rather an embarrassing position, for under existing state legislation the town is prevented from doing certain things which it would like to do because there is within the town an incorporated borough. Moreover, we as a town have in the past performed several functions which in strictest legal sense are not within our right. The purchase of fire apparatus for Sandy Hook is the latest point at issue, preceded by the matter of paid police, not to mention payments in the town's budget toward fire company expenses. As we understand it, a special act of legislation will be required to adjust matters so that the rather unfortunate position in which the town finds itself will be corrected. It seems to the town's best advantage that one more special town meeting be held to authorize the Board of Selectmen to cause to be prepared such an act to be presented at the very next session of the State Legislature.

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The week of March 23 holds a surprise blackout for the entire state of Connecticut. Just what night the alarm will be sounded is not known. Yet we realize the importance of these tests, and will as individuals do all we can to make them successful. Whether we think so or not, our preparations and the dispatch with which we function may some day mean the difference between life and death. It's a case of working together to immediately plunge Connecticut into 4,889 square miles of total darkness. And that is just what is expected.

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The Newtown Chamber of Commerce wishes to thank all who took part in and assisted in the Honor Roll dedication exercises held at the Edmond Town Hall Sunday. The Honor Roll, so fittingly dedicated, now serves as a reminder to all who enter the hall lobby, of the debt we owe the young men of this town who have entered active service in the fight to preserve for all of us those democratic principals which we hold dear.

March 23, 1917

One of the most enjoyable and successful events in local Masonic Annals was the Communication of Hiram Lodge No. 48 Wednesday night when the M.M. degree was conferred upon a popular Newtown young man, the degree team of Corinthian Lodge of Bridgeport conferring the degree. Just 124 Masons were present. Following the work a splendid banquet was served under the honorable direction of Julius Hartwig and Charles Harang, who proved to be professional chefs.

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The editor has had a pleasant chat, Wednesday, with ex-Senator S.P. Glover. Mr Glover is 80 years old and enjoys excellent health. Mr Glover began business as a boy by driving cows for Mr Tomlinson of Sandy Hook at six cents a week, and thought he was richly paid. How would boys nowadays like to work for such a rate of compensation?

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Citizens of Sandy Hook are making frequent protests to the editor about the practice of dumping garbage on the Pootatuck River banks. It is a practice in the Glen and through Sandy Hook, and in the spring a fearful odor will result. Vigorous protests have also been made to the Health Officer, this week. The garbage ought to be burned or buried.

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W.H. Shephard, the expert mason of Zoar, is putting in the walls in the residence of Charles M. Hammond.

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A.S. Newburne, who lives in the Patrick Keane House on Gas Street, had quite a lively fire in his house Saturday, started by the explosion of an oil stove. He emptied a couple of buckets of maple sap onto the blaze and saved the house from burning.

Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with readers. Images can be e-mailed to kendra@thebee.com, or brought to the office at 5 Church Hill Road to be scanned. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.