Lois Barber says her family is really on a winning streak. Last Saturday her daughter Lisa won a big Easter basket with a stuffed bunny in it when she was judged to have the prettiest Easter bonnet at the egg hunt at Fairfield Hills. Then Lois won a sterling silver replica $100 bill when it was raffled by the Masons at the pancake breakfast at the Sandy Hook firehouse. Finally, Lois said she thought she won this week’s Bee’s Buck when she recognized the stump as being located on Old Farm Road near Trades Lane at Fairfield Hills  (she saw it during the egg hunt).

“I was so excited. I’ve lived here three years and never recognized anything in the Bee’s Buck before,” Lois said. “My luck was so good I was ready to go to Foxwoods. But then I realized that things come in threes and I’d just wasted my third one on the Bee’s Buck.”

Lois said she plans to pick up a copy of The Bee at Thomas’s Deli and if she isn’t a Bee’s Buck winner, she plans to buy a lottery ticket on the spot.

  I’m sorry to have to tell Lois that she was the second caller and did win the Bee’s Buck. There might have been more callers, but the tree stump didn’t last the week before it was turned into wood chips by a landscaping crew. Lois, remember, it still is a lucky buck, which would be perfect to spend on a lottery ticket.

The US Census Bureau says that so far 74 percent of the households in Newtown have sent in their completed census forms. That’s better than the 65 percent rate nationwide, but less than the 88 percent target locally. Those of you who haven’t responded can count on having a census “enumerator” knock on your door to collect the information. They will make up to six attempts – three visits and three phone calls – to get the census data so if you haven’t mailed in your form, now is the time to do it.

Newtown Youth Services is searching for an adult, a youth, and a business to honor with this year’s Gail Smith Awards for dedicating time to improve the services for youth in the community. Nomination forms are available by calling 270-4335. 

Sunday is the annual Lose the Litter Day in Newtown. Everyone is invited to pick up trash bags and gloves, if needed, and sign up for a road, in front of the middle school on Queen Street between 9 am and 1 pm. The clean-up can be done anytime that day or the next. The trash bags can be dropped off in designated areas at local firehouses.  Keep a lookout for one of the golden cans that have been hidden in various spots around town. These are redeemable for free tickets to the theater at Edmond Town Hall.

April 30 also is the deadline for tickets to the fund-raising dinner-dance to help Bill Marsilio, a Sandy Hook resident who needs a bone marrow transplant. The event will be held on Sunday, May 7, from 1 to 6 pm at the Fireside Inn on South Main Street. There is a minimum donation of $60. Call 270-1216 for reservations and more information.

A blood drive is being planned for Monday, May 8, at the Sandy Hook firehouse to help a local teenager, Greg Chion, who also has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. The drive is co-sponsored by WIN and the Western Connecticut Federal Credit Union from 8:30 am to 6:45 pm. Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (448-3543) to make an appointment to donate blood.

Two Newtown High School students, Kari Levinson and Rebecca Mitchell, are refurbishing a room in a women’s homeless shelter in Danbury. They are in need of donations of bedspreads, curtains or blinds, children’s toys, a crib bumper, and monetary donations to help pay for the installation of a new carpet. If you can help, call Kari at 270-0743 or Rebecca at 270-3958 by May 5.

The stylists at Ricci’s salon will be donating their time to raise money in a cut-a-thon on May 8 from 5 to 9:30 pm. All haircuts are $25. The proceeds will be donated to the Safe Home Project for abused and neglected children. Call 426-1611 for an appointment.

Local postal carriers are getting ready for this year’s food drive to help food pantries in Newtown and other communities. Residents will be asked to put nonperishable food items next to their mailboxes for collection on Saturday, May 13 (not May 6 as was published in the St Rose church bulletin).

The town budget wasn’t the only thing to come crashing down at the polls on Tuesday. The table that held all the voter registry lists couldn’t stand up to the task, and at the end of the day, it just collapsed, sending books and papers in every direction.

The boss is telling me it’s time to start sending this paper in all directions, so I’ll end it here for this week, but be sure to…

Read me again.