July 15, 1988

The Parks and Rec Commission has decided to continue keeping Dickinson Park open late on weekend nights, for teenagers to use as a hangout through Labor Day weekend, provided there continues to be no problems at the park on those nights. The decision came after Park and Rec Director Barbara Kasbarian informed commission members that there have been no problems during the first three weekends teens have used the park on weekend nights.

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Richard Lasky, who recently left his job as Bristol assessor to become Newtown’s assessor, has returned to his old job, after learning that he couldn’t buy a suitable house in Newtown in the $150,000 to $200,000 range, according to First Selectman Rod Mac Kenzie. Mr Lasky started work in Newtown on June 27 at a salary of $38,000.

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To raise funds for a Francis Hidu Memorial — in honor of the man who helped manage Edmond Town Hall for about 50 years, until his death January 8 — the Board of Managers is planning a benefit movie night on Thursday, July 28. Recently, the town hall managers decided that for a memorial they would purchase a large cast-iron statue of an American eagle to be mounted outside town hall, along with a plaque dedicating it to the memory of Mr Hidu. Proceeds from the benefit movie night will be used to pay for the statue and plaque. The eagle statue, dating from the late Nineteenth Century, is one of a limited number made for the White Eagle Oil Company.

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The jury in the Richard Crafts case may go on record for the longest deliberations ever in a murder case in Connecticut. So far, the jury has been in deliberations for 15 days, as of July 13, for a total of 87 hours, 50 minutes, with 64 hours spent in the jury room and 23½ hours listening to taped testimony. The 50-year-old Newtown pilot was arrested for the murder of his missing wife, Helle, in January of 1987. Mr Crafts killed his wife and disposed of her body using a chain saw and woodchipper along the banks of Lake Zoar in Southbury.

July 19, 1963

Last Friday afternoon Greyhound bus AFS 27 pulled up in front of Edmond Town Hall with 36 young foreign exchange students who were to be weekend guests of Newtown families. Newtown’s 36 young guests represented 29 different countries in Central and South America, Europe, Britain, Africa, Asia, Australia, Iceland, Indonesia and the Philippines.

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Mrs Rose Nezvesky of Huntingtown Road was unexpectedly selected from the audience to take part in the “Come Closer” segment of the TV show “Play Your Hunch,” while she was in New York this Tuesday. The show will go on the air July 29. The Bee will report more fully on Mrs Nezvesky’s impromptu TV appearance in next week’s issue.

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Big Events On Labor Day Are Planned Here: More plans for the Newtown Progressive Festival are announced by the Executive Committee. They reveal that this year’s Parade, to be held on Monday, staring at 10:30 am, will be one of the largest such events ever to take place in Newtown. The parade committee has arranged for at least nine marching bands, plus numerous floats, marching units, etc.

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The newly-organized Babe Ruth League with Miles Harris as commissioner is playing the final games of the first round this week, and starts the second round next week. Games start each Monday and Wednesday evenings, at 6 o’clock on the two major size diamonds in Newtown, namely Taylor Field and the high school field.

July 15, 1938

For the first time in its brief history the Town Players presented a three-act mystery-comedy and although it did not prove to be the best acted effort of the Players, it came as a welcome relief from the long run of drawing room comedies seen heretofore. Due to the electrical storm the sound effects for the ghost train, which was due to arrive in the second act, failed to materialize as the lights of the train flashed past the set window without the accompaniment of the desired sound. The big event of the evening proved to be a newcomer to the local stage, Mr “Teddy” LaFontaine, whose interpretation of the Scotland Yard detective disguised in the personage of Teddy Deakin, a very “silly ass” was most convincing.

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An extension of the trout fishing season on 17 streams and on the rainbow trout ponds and lakes “until further notice” was announced Wednesday by the State Board of Fisheries and Game. “Condition of the larger streams of the state are unusually good this summer. The open winter and the many rains and the resultant large quantities of food in the streams have resulted in a good carry-over of trout, so that an extension of the trout season appears justified,” the State Board announced.

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An improvement which will be welcomed by many golfers at the Newtown Country Club is the filling in the low land that borders the brook which crosses the first fairway. The improvement will prove most satisfactory to the ladies who find it difficult to cross both the brook and this unkept ground with their tee shot. The low land has been filled in with gravel and will be turfed so that it will eventually be fairway.

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A special meeting of the Zoning Board, for the Borough of Newtown, was held last Tuesday evening. Action was taken in regards to a petition, signed by one hundred and twenty-three residents of the town, objecting to the establishment of Robin Hood Dell golf and archery range. This range is located in a residential zone, that being the field across from the Hawley School on Route 6, between Newtown and Sandy Hook.

 

July 18, 1913

Augustus Ferry was kicked in the head by an ox, cutting quite a gash. He was kindly taken by A.L. Peck to the office of Dr F.J. Gale, where his injuries were attended to.

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A meeting of the voters of Middle District will be held on Monday, July 21, at 8 pm, to hear the report of the committee appointed at the last annual meeting regarding the selection of a site and the erection of a new school building, to lay a district tax to pay for said site and building, and in case of its rejection to lay a tax to pay for repairs on the present buildings. The Bee hopes for progressive and favorable action on the questions at issue, for certainly the conditions of both schoolhouses and outbuildings are intolerable.

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Contractor Hunt of Danbury and men have begun on the task of painting the exterior of St Rose’s church. The cross at the top of the spire is 14 feet high and nine feet wide. The easy way Sturges, the bird man, climbed over this spire, made the average man shudder. The color will be a light gray, greatly improving the looks of the structure.

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In order that the people of the town may know that the flag pole project is not dead and that the committee has not been asleep, it may be said: The committee has been quietly raising the money and when that was almost obtained, it ran against a snag of the temporary refusal of the Highway Commissioner’s office, of locating the flag pole in the Street, near the old location. ~Mr H.N. Tiemann.