September 4, 1992

The Labor Day Parade, an annual community tradition here since 1962, is scheduled to kick-off at 10 am on Monday. The parade will follow its usual route from the ambulance garage on Main Street to Glover Avenue and Queen Street. The parade theme is "Let's Have A Parade." The honorary marshals are Stuart and Jean Smith. For a fee, brief helicopter rides will be offered from Ram Pasture. Also, skydivers are scheduled to jump at 9:30 am and 11 am and land in Ram Pasture. To raise money for next year's parade expenses (such as renting porta-johns), the Rotary Club will sell hot dogs and soda at three locations: on the lawn of the house next to Trinity Church, at the Lovell's Garage property, and in front of Newtown Color Center on Queen Street.

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The search for a 41-year-old inmate of Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire continues after he reportedly escaped from a work detail at the Garner Correctional Institute in Newtown on Tuesday morning, September 1. Joseph Lieto, serving a 12½-year sentence for first-degree robbery, walked away from the detail while preparing Garner for its opening in October. His escape makes him the first prisoner to escape Garner even before its opening. According to Garner Warden Frank Crose, Mr Lieto was cutting the lawn outside the fence when he asked his supervisor, a corrections officer, if he could use the bathroom. The officer watched as Mr Lieto entered the lobby of the building. When he failed to return the officer went looking for him. The officer then notified other officials that Mr Lieto was gone. Local officials were notified promptly and information was passed to neighbors via a jail alert system. Mr Lieto is believed to have gained access to a car or to have been picked up, state police said.

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Signs of economic recovery are in the air locally - that is, in realtors' dealings and in the local building official's report. "Slowly but surely things are going to be changing," said John Klopfenstein, Newtown Board of Realtors president. "Sales have gradually gotten better as a result of low interest rates and lower land costs." According to records filed by Building Official R. Allen Brinley for both the town and borough, there has been a comparable increase in building activity this year.

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When parents of students in Kathy Crocco's classes at the high school come in for parent/teacher conferences this fall, they will be in for a surprise. Instead of Ms Crocco telling them about student progress, the students themselves will do it. The project is part of a self-assessment process being incorporated into the school system as more teachers bring Total Quality Management into the classroom. The success-oriented school model which Newtown staff have developed is part of a movement to bring business-like TQM into education.

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Jeanne Fisher would agree she is not your typical Welcome Wagon member. But a year after moving to town and joining the club, she is its new president. Over the years many women in this club have tended to be corporate wives, but she is a corporate professional in her own right. Until last year, Ms Fisher was an AT&T district manager in finance, working in benchmarking and quality programming in New Jersey, as well as being the mother of daughters Stephanie, now 5, and Jackie, now 2. When her husband took a job in Norwalk with US Surgical, the family decided to move to Connecticut. They liked Newtown after seeing Main Street and realized this was a real town with a real center and moved into a house on Arlyn Ridge.

September 15, 1967

The Bee staff this week welcomes six new colleagues as correspondents from Newtown's schools. Starting with this issue, columns of school news written by the students will appear weekly. Pictures of the correspondents and their first columns will appear on A-11. Middle Gate, Christine Pavlovsky; Sandy Hook, Edmund Smith; Hawley, Debbie Barry; Middle School, Chris Lorenz; Newtown High, Gail Peeler; Saint Rose, John Liller.

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The Newtown Public Building Committee announced this week that a site plan has been completed by the architects Gaydosh and Fodor for the new high school on Route 34. Bid specifications are being prepared and will be published in all area newspapers starting Wednesday, September 20. The bids will be opened 14 days after the initial advertisement. It is expected that the site work will commence early in October immediately upon awarding the contract.

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The Newtown High School Indians will take to the football field this Saturday at 2 pm for the first scheduled game of the season against the Wilton eleven. The schedule calls for an eleven game season, with three games to be played at home on Taylor Field behind Hawley School. Much of the team's strength this year comes from the seniors. Among those who will see action this week are Jack Collins, Tom Hislop, Ray Schettino, Wally Smith, Bruce Jenner, Jim Goodrich, Mark Richardson, and Rich Rood.

***

"The Captain's Lounge" is the theme of this year's scholarship ball on Saturday, October 7. According to an announcement, the decorating committee plans a gay and colorful setting in the Edmond Town Hall gymnasium, embellished with decorations from American Airlines Inc. Sponsored each year by the Scholarship Association, the ball contributes an important part of the funds needed to provide aid to Newtown students needing financial help for college.

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All right fellas, who's got yummy? Twelve Labrador pale beauties, belonging to Mrs Treat's Sabrina. They were born in the middle of the night, July 29. The mother is champion Lewisfield Sabrina Fair, the sire is Kimvalky Crispin, both an English and American champion, and six of the pups are already sold.

September 11, 1942

Schools in Newtown opened Wednesday morning for the fall term with an enrollment of 523 students. This number corresponds closely with last year's opening day enrollment and indicates that Newtown schools will again be crowded beyond normal capacity. Three hundred-thirty-three students registered at Hawley School, including seventeen seventh graders from the Sandy Hook school, who will use one of the rooms in the new Domestic Science building which is expected to be completely built in another two weeks. Sandy Hook school opened with an enrollment of 133, and the Hawleyville school with 29.

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Labor Day, as has grown to be the custom, has brought us once more from the end of the vacation season into the start of a busy fall. There is every reason to believe that war efforts will increase, rather than diminish through the winter. Fuel shortages are expected, and medical services will be at a minimum as so many doctors and nurses are responding to the call to active service. All of which makes urgent a state of good health on the part of the general public. Too often we neglect our personal health. Old harmful habits must be supplanted with sensible health builders such as eight hours of sleep, a proper amount of exercise and recreation, and a diet of nourishing foods.

***

At the request of Major Edward Reilly of Bridgeport, Michael Haggerty of the Fairfield State Hospital is organizing a so-called Guerrilla Unit in Newtown of 24-30 men. A number of volunteers who have already signified their willingness to do so should communicate with Mr Haggerty at his home phone, 685, or at the hospital. It is planned to organize a mobile unit, the members required to be physically fit and able to supply their own automobiles, firearms, and be easily reached by telephone. The group will stand ready to act in an emergency. It is understood that other groups are organizing in other towns.

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A program, varied and comprehensive in its survey in the numerous angles of nutrition, will be presented by Howard Dry Goods of Bridgeport in its "Strength for Victory" exhibit and fair, planned for the week of September 12-19, in the store auditorium. This exhibit will include special animated displays, sound motion pictures, lectures by nutritional authorities, and a variety of demonstrations. A traveling food exhibit, and a dramatic display of food and what it does for you, will be on view all week.

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An appreciative resident in the Walnut Tree Hill district called The Bee office one day last week and praised First Selectman Stanley J. Blackman and his efficient road crew for the good work which they have recently done on that particular stretch of road. The town's road system is a large one and it is no small task keeping it in shape.

September 7, 1917

One of the best concerts given by the Sandy Hook Band was that on Labor Day night on the triangle between the residence of Mayor Peck and the Misses Beecher. Through the efforts of Mayor Peck and William Hayes, a canopy was erected, which was electric lighted, and decorated with bunting and flags. It made a pretty setting. The space in front of the town hall, the store of Morris and Shepard, and the parsonage grounds were crowded with autos, the cars making very fine grandstands.

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Lyon McLaughlin and John O'Neil took an auto ride over to Bethel Monday. When opposite a cemetery they had a blowout. Stopping a passing auto they borrowed a pump, and this second machine also had a blowout. It was a somber outlook for these popular young men, but perhaps the second man wasn't mad!

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Sunday and Monday were banner days at the Golden Peach in Sandy Hook, where some 70 gallons of ice cream were distributed among their customers.

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Frank Corbett, who recently underwent operations on his throat and nose, returned from New York on Saturday.

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John R Peck's auto truck conveyed the household goods of George Pearsall to Bridgeport, Labor Day. He will reside on Stratford Avenue.

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.