June 4, 1993

Pssst! Hey you! Are you a voter in Newtown? Did you know that Newtown's superintendent of schools makes more than the superintendent of New Haven schools? Were you aware that the only way to cap teacher salaries is to vote down the budget? Have you heard that the school system has at least $400,000 more in state funds than has been revealed to the public? None of the above is true, but that didn't stop members of the Newtown Committee of Fairness in Taxation from repeating these falsehoods as they collared people on the street around town, seeking support for their successful drive to defeat two local budgets so far this year. Susan Swaney, president of the taxpayers' group, tried to explain away this campaign of misinformation by saying that these so-called "facts" were provided to her group by people who said they heard it from reliable sources. She admitted, however, that no effort was made to check accuracy, and since those pseudo-facts served their purposes, members of her group chose to repeat them widely in their campaign against the budget. The use of hearsay, innuendo, and outright falsehoods to stir emotions and create division in a community is inexcusable.

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When Cliff Bulmer resigned from the Newtown Board of Police Commissioners in March after serving for 16 years and turned his badge in as a Fairfield County sheriff, a post he held for 20 years, it only freed his time to pursue other interests... Interests like playing the baritone bugle, an instrument that he took up several years ago when he decided to join the Shriners, never mind that he didn't play an instrument or read music. "I knew I didn't want to join the clowns or drive around in a little car, so I opted for the drum and bugle corps," he said. Mr Bulmer, who will be 71 in June, is marching in two Memorial Day parades with the Pyramid Drum and Bugle Corps. He is now president of the corps. "I like to do things and get involved," he said. So does his wife Doris, who is wondering why Newtown has a food pantry, but no place for people to get free, clean used clothing.

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On Sunday, June 13, at 3 pm, historian Dan Cruson will lead a tour of the old burial ground on Elm Street. Last year, Mr Cruson, Newtown Historical Society president, led a similar tour in another part of the cemetery. His tour will include a description of the cemetery's layout, headstone materials used, and background on the stone carvers. He will also share some of his new finds from continuing studies of burial grounds. Following the tour, there will be the society's annual picnic on the back lawn of the Matthew Curtiss House at 44 Main Street.

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More than 400 hungry people converged on the Middle School cafeteria last week for Pizza Fest '93, the second annual pizza fundraiser for the Family Life Center of Newtown. Fourteen area restaurants donated pizzas for the happy diners who listened to music by the Middle School Jazz Band and the student band Blunt led by Mike Philbrick. Participants paid $5 each for as much pizza as they could eat. "Everyone was so generous," said Ann Clark, event chair. "We wound up buying some pizzas at the end, but My Place Pizza was so generous that they gave us an extra dozen, telling us it was their way of repaying the community for its support." The event earned more than $2,300 for the Family Life Center, a local mental health clinic which bases fees on the patient's ability to pay and is supported by donations.

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A child who was separated from his parents while walking in the Paugussett State Forest during a hiking trip off Cedarhurst Trail Monday emerged wet and cold, but unhurt, several hours later. The 11-year-old boy became separated from a group that included three members of his family and a friend who had been following a marked path in search of a waterfall located in the forest. The group searched for him until rain came and dusk approached. Newtown police, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire department firemen, and others came to assist. A K-9 dog was sent by the Shelton Police Department and was en route when the boy heard his father and brother shouting his name and he emerged from the woods.

June 7, 1968

Bruce Jenner, a member Of the Newtown Track Team, participated in the Yale University Invitational Track Meet last Saturday, June 1. This meet, for top finalists in the championship meets at small, medium, and large schools, brought Bruce into competition with the state's top high school athletes. His achievement of winning the high jump with a leap of 6'2", and also winning the pole vault of 12'9" places him among the leading high school athletes in Connecticut. Bruce also placed fourth in the triple jump at the Yale Invitational.

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The entire nation, if not the world, was shocked and saddened at the brutal attack made Tuesday night in Los Angeles which took the life of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Words can scarce express the horror of it. Nor can any length of explanation erase away the seriousness of the situation throughout our land. The fact that much of the rest of the world is quite as dismal in its behavior offers no excuse for the shortcomings of the American people. The disorder on college campuses, the social unrest, rioting, the fear and despair which chokes hundreds of hearts, all speak volumes of the depth to which this nation has allowed itself to descend in matters of moral standards, personal conduct and individual beliefs. A turn must be made now, and by everyone -YOU and ME- so that once again there will be respect for law and order, trust in a just and righteous God, a deep yearning for peace, and an understanding of the necessity for brotherhood to prevail.

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The Cyrenius H. Booth meeting room was filled for the Newtown Historical Society meeting held there on Tuesday evening. A most interesting series of slides was shown by Edwin Storrs, who had prepared the slides from a collection of glass negatives which the society had acquired. Most of the pictures were taken by the late Fred Sherman of Monroe, who was an avid photographer and during his life took hundreds of pictures of homes, scenes, and events in all of the surrounding towns.

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Let it Be Known that … Newtown's flag showing on Memorial Day was quite poor about town. Better brush up for Flag Week, which starts June 9. Next time you see and hear the Bell Choir at the Congregational Church keep an eye on Shirley Manz; she grins when she makes a mistake. Irene Goodsell has taken control of the Women's Federation. Vin Carroll cleaned out his garage to find his lawn furniture, and after locating it, brightened it with fresh paint. Fire sale on bikinis: get them while they are hot. It's going to be grass skirts for Jane Unger this fall as she heads to Hawaii in August to start teaching school.

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Newtown's flag pole at the junction of Route 25 and Church Hill Road was struck by a vehicle in which two Holyoke, Mass. youths were driving in dense fog early Monday morning, June 3. The incident occurred at 3:30 am, sending the passenger to Danbury Hospital with multiple facial lacerations. According to Officer Robert Wrabel, the driver was operating in dense fog and in an area unfamiliar to him, at too fast a rate of speed. The car rammed the pole head-on.

June 11, 1943

Lieutenant Nelson Camp is enjoying a 10-day furlough at the home of his mother, Mrs George Camp in Waterbury, having just graduated from Officer's Training School at Aberdeen, Maryland. He spent Tuesday visiting his grandmother, Mrs Frank Mitchell and his uncle Wallace Mitchell, of Main Street.

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The three prizes of defense stamps announced for the children's hobby show recently exhibited in the children's room of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library are awarded, by vote of a committee of library patrons to the following: Most Useful Hobby, Jack Bresson for his model of an American fighter plane; Most Original Hobby, Doris Pully for her drawings of costumes of different countries; and Best Executed Hobby, Mary Starr Smith for her three drawings in crayon.

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Jack Cochran had the misfortune to fracture his leg while playing baseball with a group of friends on Tuesday evening. Dr. Waldo F. Desmond was summoned, and the young man was delivered to Danbury hospital in the Newtown ambulance where the leg was placed in a cast. On Wednesday he returned to the home of Miss Dorothy Clifford in Dodgingtown district where he is residing.

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While Harold Ickes has been telling the nation to conserve on unnecessary travel because of the gasoline shortage, his own Department of Interior has continued to maintain a Travel Bureau established in 1940 to conduct a "See America First" drive.

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Due to prevailing conditions, the store of Knapp & Trull announces that effective June 28, home delivery, which has been an important part of their service, will be discontinued. The management trusts that this will not work a hardship on customers in the surrounding districts, but due to the gas shortage and labor conditions, it becomes necessary to discontinue delivery. With the entire staff now in the store to assist, customers may be assured of prompt service at all times.

June 7, 1918

W. S. McLaughlin has extensive renovations underway at his farm buildings on Hanover. He has completed a new tool house, 26x46, and has the cement foundations, cement floor and drains completed for his horse barn, which is to be moved to the new foundation. He is now putting down the foundation for a hog house, 23x23, which will have eight pens. Mr McLaughlin's plan also includes building a greenhouse and a large veranda on the north side of his residence.

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The open-air concert by the Sandy Hook band on Memorial Day night drew a large crowd. The band was in fine form, and the concert was greatly enjoyed. A collection and sale of ice cream netted the Red Cross treasury the sum of $45. The public spirit of Leader Warner and band members is most commendable and the public are supporting them in their efforts in the right kind of a way.

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F.B. Jones and daughter, Miss Lucy, and Miss Hilda Grisbrook of New Hartford, motored to Newtown last Thursday. Mr Jones went on to New York, returning on Sunday afternoon, and taking his daughter and companion back to New Hartford.

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Miss Carrie Treadwell of Taunton District, since her graduation from Mrs Lillian Pritchard's shorthand and typewriting school, has taken a position with Schwartz's Branch Store in Danbury.

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Robert Camp is driving a Buick car, bought of James B. Nichols.Please consider sharing your old photographs of people and places from Newtown or Sandy Hook with The Newtown Bee 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.