Historic Moments And Lots Of Memories In 2009

By Nancy K. Crevier

Starting off the year 2009, big news in town was the arrival of its newest citizen. After one false alarm on New Year’s Day, and just three days before her actual due date, Allison Ruth Holden was welcomed into the world by parents Karyn and John Holden, and big brother, Matthew, 2½, on Friday, January 2, making her the winner of The Newtown Bee First Baby of the Year contest. Dr Eleanor A. Berry of Specialists in Women’s Healthcare, PC, in Waterbury was the attending physician at Allison’s 6:49 pm birth at Waterbury Hospital. The little girl weighed 6 pounds, 1 ounce, and was 20 inches in length.

Newtown Borough Historic District Chairperson Stephanie Gaston announced in January that the Board of Burgesses had added two key pieces of property to the Borough Historic District, as well as eight private residences. The two large pieces are the Ram Pasture, an 8.5-acre parcel including Hawley Pond, and the Newtown Savings Bank properties located on Main Street.

Several students from the Newtown school system were on hand to witness the historic moment when Barack Obama took the oath as the 44th President of the United States on January 20. Erin Fish, Laura Bittman, Dakota France, Chris Starkey, Rachel Taback, and Sarah Grose, along with Bonnie Lundblad and Laura Newberry, made up the group of Newtown Senior High School seniors who attended the inaugural events in Washington, D.C. “It was a once in a lifetime thing, a chance to see history happen,” said Dakota.

The inauguration may have brought Washington, D.C., to a frenzied state, but the mood at the Newtown Senior Center that Tuesday morning was relaxed. As those senior citizens gathered there watched, the soon-to-be President approached the podium and solemnly swore his oath to office. A studied silence enveloped the room, a stillness that continued throughout the inaugural speech. Then, as if the President himself had dismissed them with his final words, the transfixed members rose as one and quickly returned to day-to-day activities.

Pets were not immune to the dip in the economy in 2009. Area animal shelters and animal assistance agencies noted an uptick in the number of pets dropped off or abandoned because their owners could no longer care for them.

A good home and a loving family are not always guarantees that all will be well, as Newtown residents sadly learned in January. Elwood, a black and white greyhound had been missing from his Turkey Roost Road home since December 23, and local volunteers and searchers from the Greyhound Rescue and Rehabilitation (GRR) organization out of Cross River, N.Y., We Adopt Greyhounds, and the Connecticut Greyhound Adopt organization worked diligently all month to locate the missing pet, owned by Kara and Greg Pansa. A few sightings raised hopes that the greyhound would be safely returned home, but on January 31, neighbors found the remains of the 6-year-old greyhound in woods not far from his home. Greyhounds are single-coated dogs with a very low body fat ratio, and unable to withstand cold winter temperatures for any extended period of time, so searchers had hoped to find the lost dog as soon as possible.

Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps Chief Megan Posey said that the local ambulance corps in February received a pediatric jump bag through the Connecticut Department of Public Health Emergency Medical Services for Children Program, which donated more than 200 bags of pediatric medical equipment to emergency medical services providers across the state. While all three of the ambulances carry blood pressure cuffs and oxygen masks designed for children, the CDPH jump bag also contains infant- and child-sized stethoscopes. The bags were funded by a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration.

Drawing People Together

In keeping with the Newtown School System music department motto, “All children can and will learn music well by responding, creating, and performing in a variety of musical activities that lead to a lifelong involvement in the arts,” Reed Intermediate School (RIS) band director Robert Nolte struck up the Newtown Community Band this past winter. The band, for adults and young adult musicians, rehearses weekly under Mr Nolte’s direction at RIS on Trades Lane.

“I do have a sense that there is an unmet need to get out and talk about what’s going on in the world,” said Ben Roberts. “We’ve become somewhat isolated with little opportunity to let go of what’s in our heads,” he said. With that in mind, Mr Roberts initiated a weekly Discussion Salon at Mocha Coffeehouse on Glen Road in March, where men and women of varied backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, and opinions have been gathering weekly to offer different viewpoints on a variety of topics in a respectful atmosphere. “I’m thrilled about the way it succeeded. It was beyond my anticipation,” said Mr Roberts.

Beginning April 1, consumers of bottled water and other water beverages began paying a five-cent deposit on each container purchased. An expanded bottle bill signed into law by Governor M. Jodi Rell on March 3 as part of the Act Concerning Deficit Mitigation included beverages not formerly included in the original 1978 Bottle Bill. The thought that the public would be consuming billions of gallons of bottled water and water-type drinks did not occur to legislators 30 years ago. But all bottled beverage containers now make up between 40 and 60 percent of litter, according to the Container Recycling Institute (CRI) in Glastonbury. Without a deposit, there is no compelling reason to return plastic water bottles, and the likelihood of a container landing in the trash or roadside increases greatly.

Cheryl Reedy, director of Housatonic Recovery Resources Authority (HRRA), a regional waste management authority made up of 11 municipalities, including Newtown, was not so happy with the new law, however. Ms Reedy said, “HRRA has opposed the expansion of the bottle bill for the last several years for a number of reasons. The easiest way for consumers to recycle used bottles is through curbside recycling, not by deposit and return to the store.” Curbside collection is also a “greener” alternative, said Ms Reedy, based on the number of times a bottle is transported. The expansion of the bottle bill will hurt local recycling efforts for other materials. Unclaimed deposits should be taken by the state and used to support and improve recycling programs statewide, said Ms Reedy.

Marking Anniversaries

The Newtown United Methodist Church First Saturday Pasta Dinner event began its 20th year in 2009, and organizer Martha Millet remained just as enthusiastic as she was in March 1989 when, as a trustee, she said she would host a pasta dinner to help raise funds to cover the costs incurred building the church’s gathering place, Wesley Hall. “Our goal was to serve 200 meals,” she said. Ms Millet and her co-chairperson, Diane Rockwell, as well as the more than 60 volunteers that provide support, have served as many as 384 dinners in one evening, though, since that first dinner. There are two main reasons that Ms Millet believes the monthly pasta party has remained popular with the public. One is the sense of fellowship and community that it instills in the dinner crews, the church members, and the regulars who look forward to the dinners. The other reason, she said, is the coffeehouse that follows the meal. Award-winning banjo picker Roger Sprung has been the headliner at the coffeehouse every first Saturday for the past 11 years. He is joined by several of his students and many of his contemporaries from all over the region to provide a relaxing and revitalizing postdinner experience.

In 1969, the year that the Children’s Adventure Center (CAC) was organized and began operations out of a barn on the Methodist Church property, Newtown’s population was half of the current population. There was one town park, five schools, no Legislative Council, not a single traffic light, and the entire town government was housed at Edmond Town Hall. The Children’s Adventure Center was founded by community leaders who recognized the need for a preschool education for children of single-parent and one-income families, and to provide a rich preschool education for children between the ages of 3 and 5. In 2009, the CAC celebrated its 40th Anniversary with a series of events.

If the idea that your child is sending 3,000 text messages a month makes your hair stand on end, we figured out this past year that it was okay to step back, take a deep breath, and relax. Even if each text took a minute — and most are just seconds long — that is 50 hours a month, or just over an hour and a half each day. Compared to the amount of time the average teenager spent on the telephone a generation ago, that is not so bad at all. “It’s such a social thing,” said parent Tammy DeMarche. “For kids, it’s a way of communication.”

On June 23, a steady stream of shoppers at the Organic Farmers’ Market’s new venue, the grounds of Lexington Garden on Church Hill Road, browsed the array of greens, herbs, and other early summer vegetables vendors set up in a circle just off of the large parking lot. But the joy of a centrally located market was short-lived when Organic Farmers’ Market organizer Mary Fellows and Lexington Gardens manager Brett Thomas were notified the following week that the Organic Farmers’ Market was in violation of borough and town zoning regulations that do not allow such an enterprise. On July 7, the market reopened in its location of previous years, behind St John’s Episcopal Church off of Washington Avenue in Sandy Hook Center.

Drew Taylor, a 2007 Newtown High School graduate and a junior at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., was initiated in late May at a Blue Suit Awards Ceremony at the academy as one of the new members of the 50-member Wings of Blue, an honor he acquired following intensive training. According to Drew’s parents, Kaki and Fred Taylor, and Dave Toller, sports information director, US Air Force Academy, each Wings of Blue cadet must be a qualified jump master and instructor in the parachuting program, and maintain high academic and military standards. Selection for the team is based upon an individual’s maturity, abilities, and academic and military standing.

Soggy Start To Summer

Since the beginning of June, there was hardly one day without rain all month long. By midmonth, said Kenneth DiMicco at the Western Connecticut State University Weather Center, the Danbury area had received 3.36 inches of rain. According to records at the Weather Center, the last time the region experienced a significant, continuous downfall of rain was in April of 2007, when 7.38 inches of rain fell. The excessive rain and below normal temperatures were to blame for the late blight that plagued Connecticut home and commercial tomato growers. The pathogen was introduced into the region through infected tomato seedlings distributed by growers in the southern United States, and sold at “big box” stores such as Home Depot, Agway, and Walmart.

Newtown resident Jody Murray spent two weeks as part of a rotating volunteer medical team at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., in July. Ms Murray, the owner of Acupuncture Therapy at 300 Federal Road in Brookfield, and a national board certified and licensed acupuncturist as well as a nationally certified athletic trainer, is an allied medical health professional who has provided health care to the general public and athletes for more than 20 years. By volunteering at the California Olympic Training Center from July 6 to July 21, Ms Murray took the first step toward what she hopes might one day turn into a chance to serve as an athletic trainer at the Olympics.

Craig Rogers, a Newtown resident and a Stone Wall Web Ventures partner with Cheryl Carlesimo and John McCally of Westport, invited food lovers to dish and dine — at their new website, that is. Launched in April, DishAndDine.com is a user-friendly food site integrating information and user input. “Having a social community about food was a real natural thing to us,” said Mr Rogers. “It’s a site for ‘foodies,’ and a social networking site to put up user generated videos and recipes,” explained Mr McCally.

Playing games is not always child’s play when a child is autistic, according to Newtown resident and Danbury school psychologist Joan Nash. Even so, game play is one successful means of teaching autistic children, or those with Asperger’s, a syndrome in which the child may not understand the nuances of language, leading to poor social skills. To that end, Ms Nash, who holds a master’s degree in special education and a specialist degree in school psychology, developed a number of games over the course of her 23 years as a school psychologist and began marketing them at childrensucceed.com in 2009.

Greening Newtown

Chuck Miller, special issues editor of Fine Homebuilding Magazine from The Taunton Press and his wife, Jeanette, head of the English department at Newtown High School, planted a seed that took root on a sunny slope at The Taunton Press’s 191 South Main Street site. “Jeanette raises students and I raise rafters,” joked Mr Miller, “but we wondered, why not grow some food locally?” Taunton Press President Sue Roman was quick to get on board with the idea. The Millers then approached Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais, who put them in touch with George Bachman, the head of the greenery program at the school, and with their help, NHS senior Allyson Makuch laid out the 400-square-foot garden as a senior project. By late August, despite less than perfect growing conditions of cold and rain, a generous crop was harvested, proof positive that organic sustainable gardening is not only doable, but bountiful as well. Allyson has since left the garden in the able hands of other students in the greenery program and is traveling from organic farm to organic farm in Australia learning more about sustainable gardening.

Richard “Trout” and Jennifer Gaskins also believe that low impact, sustainable gardening is the wave of the future for small farmers. Their Brushy Hill Road farm is the young couple’s first venture into farming, where 2,500 heirloom tomato plants were the focus of their 2009 experience. Seedlings started in the propagation room off of their living room thrived in the one-acre garden this summer, giving the Gaskins hope that their farming efforts will “grow” each year.

All summer long, local gardeners shared with Bee readers the wonders of their gardens. From huge swaths of day lilies surrounding homes, to special statuary, to flowers that flowed from one level to the next, the people who planted them offered a glimpse at what makes gardens special.

Fourteen members of O’Neil’s Senior Moments women’s softball team, including team leaders Jan Brown, Trish McCusker, and Kathy Blewett of Newtown, and Barbara Fischetti of Westport, traveled to Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., the summer of 2009 for the National Senior Games, the Olympics for athletes ages 50 and up. It was the first time a Connecticut women’s softball team had been represented at the games. The Senior Moments did not come home with a gold medal, but after playing out the double elimination games, they found themselves on the podium receiving the silver medal.

Another Great Parade

After serving on the committee for the past five years, Beth Caldwell agreed to take the reins of the Newtown Labor Day Parade Committee this year, replacing Kym Stendahl as committee president of the 2009 Annual Newtown Labor Day Parade. One of her first tasks as president was to help find the Grand Marshal for the 2009 Labor Day Parade. She and other committee members were tickled pink when former state representative Julia Wasserman agreed to ride at the head of the annual parade. And always looking for some new twist on the old favorites, committee member Robin Buchanan knew she had stumbled upon the perfect addition to Newtown’s annual event when she laid eyes on Walter Mallin in the Trumbull Memorial Day Parade. Mr Mallin, a resident of Trumbull, and Connecticut’s oldest Pearl Harbor survivor, honored the town with his appearance, atop a 1940s era automobile, in the parade.

When children enter young adulthood and begin their own journeys, it is a time of transition not only for them, but also for the so-called “empty nesters” left behind. How that transition plays out differs from parent to parent. Those who have experienced the “empty nest” shared their thoughts with The Bee this fall, on how they cope with ways to “feather the nest” when the last child leaves home. Travel, community activities, and spending time together as a couple are a few of the new adventures that can be undertaken in the time freed up from 24/7 parenting.

On September 24, a plaque honoring Lieutenant Thomas Carney was posted at last on the westbound portion of the bridge on I-84 between Newtown and Southbury. Lt Carney, a Newtown resident and a Connecticut State Trooper with Troop L in Litchfield, was struck and killed by a tractor trailer December 6, 1982, while standing on the shoulder of I-84 in Southbury with a stopped motorist.

Newtown resident Jennifer Zulli has been a singer/songwriter/pianist since her high school days in Long Island, when she made the circuit of coffee houses there, performing her original music. But life, marriage, and motherhood sent the Eastchester, N.Y., music teacher on a different path for several years. It took a life-threatening brush with Lyme disease to help her see that it was time for her to return to her heart’s desire: making her own music. It was not until she found a doctor specializing in the treatment of Lyme disease, started a two-year antibiotic treatment, and began implementing holistic interventions, that she began to recover. In December 2008, she began to write music again and this past year published a new CD, More Than My Skin. “The songs started to pour out of me,” she said. “Every day now, I try to do something musical. It makes my spirit and soul feel alive.”

Health Care For The Hard Pressed

Health care reform has been on the minds of people in Newtown in 2009, as our government struggles to come up with a solution to provide care for all. According to the 2007 US Census, 46 million Americans under the age of 65 do not have health insurance. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a US Department of Health and Human Services division, estimated that number to be 54 million, with a potential of 57 to 60 million being uninsured by the year 2010 due to the recession. Dr Z. Michael Taweh, director of Kevin’s Community Center in Newtown, sees between 20 and 25 patients each Wednesday, when the free clinic is open, within a four-hour period. “There are at least 1,500 uninsured families in Newtown,” said Dr Taweh, “and even more who are underinsured. Most are US citizens of middle income, and most are working families between the ages of 18 and 65.” Many of the patients that he sees are self-employed and cannot afford to buy health insurance.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a US Department of Health and Human Services division, most of the uninsured in this country are native or natural born Americans, with eight in ten coming from working families. Nationalized health care is one solution to the looming issue of health care reform in the United States, said many who have experienced health care both here and abroad. Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia, and Japan are among the countries that provide basic health care to all citizens, believing it is a right rather than the privilege it is the United States.

The United States Preventative Services task force shocked Newtown women and women across the country when it came out in November with new mammography recommendations that turned the decade-plus guidelines on their heads. The USPS task force suggested that starting yearly mammography screenings at age 50, and then only every two years, could be as effective as the guidelines now in place that start women with yearly screenings at age 40. Initial reactions among local doctors and breast cancer survivors were strong, with all agreeing that some very serious discussions needed to take place before changes were made.

Charlie is an antique lawn jockey, a small cement statue about three feet tall, who has stood in front of the house on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook for more than 50 years, according to the home’s owner, said tenant Jessica Buster. And all through 2009, friends and neighbors of Ms Buster and David Turkington, as well as the children who ride the school buses past the couple’s home, have enjoyed the creativity shared by the couple as they dressed up their static housemate in a variety of costumes to celebrate the seasons.

Marjorie Czarsty has her love for her late husband all sewn up. Ron Czarsty died three years ago from cancer and Ms Czarsty has recently moved from Waterbury to Newtown where three of her eight children live. In going through her husband’s personal items after his death, Ms Czarsty knew intuitively that she had to save his shirts and sweaters. One day the self-taught seamstress suddenly knew what she would do with the shirts. “I started making them into skirts for myself. It keeps him close to me,” she said. She has also created one-of-a-kind purses from her late husband’s wardrobe.

A Great Place To Live

“I’m not surprised that we got that recognition,” said Newtown Police Chief Michael Kehoe when he learned in late 2009 that Connecticut Magazine had rated Newtown the third best town in Connecticut in which to live, for towns with a population between 25,000 and 50,000. Ranked on quality of education, cost of living, crime, leisure and cultural activities, and economy, Newtown was only edged out by number one Westport and Glastonbury at number two.

And ending the year with an appropriately upbeat holiday story, Fran Walczak was on the receiving end when a giveaway contest sponsored by Colonial Toyota of Milford this past spring ultimately resulted in a new handicap-modified van for her. She did not win the contest, but the winners offered her their late son’s handicap van when they heard that Ms Walczak, the runner-up, was in desperate need of a replacement vehicle for her failing Windstar. And even though that van turned out to not be usable, Bob Crabtree, owner of Colonial Toyota, took it upon himself to make sure that Ms Walczak got a usable vehicle. Locating a van with the assistance of Ride Away Vans in Norwalk, he paid for the overhaul of the 1999 Dodge Caravan, and all related expenses, and turned it over to Ms Walczak on December 4. How could one hope for a happier New Year than that?