January 30, 1998

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) Members are considering a proposal to rezone Fairfield Hills with an eye toward creating land use zones for industrial development, land conservations, agriculture, and the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The current zoning at Fairfield Hills is residential, with most of the land there designated as R-1, meaning that minimum one-acre lots would be required for single-family house construction.

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Marion Thompson presented an award recently from FAITH Food Pantry to Mary Antey, president of Newtown Woman’s Club, GFWC. The club collects food, toiletries, paper and cleaning products at its monthly meetings to contribute to the food pantry. This is a year-round project by the club.

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Neighbor to Neighbor of Southern Connecticut, the new resident welcoming organization, held its annual holiday luncheon on Wednesday, January 14, at Mona Lisa Restaurant. Among the event’s special guests were Sam Chowdhury of the restaurant, a Neighbor to Neighbor sponsor; Sue Tarshis, a Neighbor to Neighbor representative for Newtown; and Barbara Thompson of Trumbull, the coordinator of Neighbor to Neighbor. New residents who would like a visit from their Neighbor to Neighbor representative and businesses who would like to become sponsors are invited to contact Tarshis or Thompson.

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Legislative Council member Will Rodgers announced last week that he may soon put a moratorium on all proposals for new laws in town. Mr Rodgers, the chairman of the council’s ordinance committee, is concerned that too many ordinances are being passed without having all the facts. “I think our ordinance drafting and implementation process is lacking at the present time because there is no coordination with town offices, especially those that will be directly affected by the ordinance,” Mr Rodgers said.

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While the overall crime rate has slowed down, it remains high among children under age 18. Nearly 6,000 juveniles are arrested every day in America, 317 of them for violent crimes. Congressman Jim Maloney is preparing to address this serious issue during the second session of the 105th Congress. Last Saturday he met with area police officials including Newtown Police Chief James Lysaght, Brookfield Police Sgt Douglas Vanes, Bethel Police Cpl Ralph DeLuca, and State Trooper Karoline Kieth; and First Selectman Herb Rosenthal to share ideas on curbing youth crime.

January 26, 1973

THE FIRST BABY OF THE YEAR — AT LAST: It took him a long time to announce his arrival, but the first baby of the year finally spoke up and let The Bee know he was in town. His name is Daniel Komaromi, and he was born January 5 in Danbury Hospital, weighing 8 pounds 5 and one-half ounces. He posed for his first newspaper photo with his mother, Mrs Joseph Komaromi, and joined by brother Joe and sister Judy.

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Two hundred and eighty-six Newtowners have contributed $1,426.03 toward the Summer Festival and as contributions continue to come in, the hopes that the 1973 Festival can be held are on the upswing, reports the Summer Festival Committee. There have been some larger contributions, such as the Christmas card sent by one of the town’s leading citizens. Along with that card was a check for $100 and wishes for the Festival’s success. Most contributions have been $1, $2 and $5. This is as was hoped — that each person who enjoys all or part of the activities would make a small donation to pay his share — and that is all that would be needed.

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Newtown needs to prepare a complete and well thought out capital improvements program for the next five years, according to Mrs Diana Schwerdtle, minority member of the Board of Selectmen. Mrs Schwerdtle points out that the availability of federal revenue-sharing funds has prompted new interest in capital projects, and more proposals are likely to be made than the town can afford. Therefore, she says, “the central problem becomes how to assess priority needs in an impartial way.”

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The Board of Finance at its January 22 meeting had a first look at the bill for correcting defects in the Newtown High School building, repairing and enlarging the septic system at the Middle School, and meeting the payroll increases resulting from the 1972-73 contract settlement for teachers, administrators, and other employees of the school system. The total came to $257,000, considerably below the first estimates, which had come to a total of $346,000.

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There were no surprises at the Borough Zoning Board’s public hearing Tuesday night in the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall. The purpose was to hear a petition for a change of zone of some five plus acres on The Boulevard and Church Hill Road from residential to commercial, in order to permit a proposed shopping center. As had been expected, the approximately 120 people who showed up were virtually all opposed.

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Lexington Gardens, a nationally known nursery, is planning on opening a branch in the Queen Street Shopping Center area of Newtown. It will offer a large variety of plants for every kind of garden imaginable, and plans are also included for horticulture information and workshops to be conducted at the center. Application has been made for a building permit, and the Borough Zoning Board is due to review the proposed plans in the near future. If all goes well, Lexington Gardens will open in the late spring or early summer. E. Lee Schneider, president of Lexington Gardens and vice president of parent company Pepperidge Farm, said, “We looked all over, and we decided on Newtown because, well, just because it is a very nice place.”

January 23, 1948

Pomperaug Council, Boy Scouts of America, held its 37th annual meeting on Monday night at St James School Hall in Stratford. Highlight of the occasion, insofar as Newtown and Troop 70 are concerned, was the Eagle award, highest in Boy Scouting, made to James Mainwaring Jr, son of Mr and Mrs James Mainwaring. The honor is well deserved and was the only Eagle award made this year in the entire Council, so that congratulations are really in order.

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Mirah Chapter, which is the local chapter of the Order of Eastern Star, became a fully constituted chapter, number 113 of the state, at an impressive and well conducted ceremony last Saturday. This ritual was presented in the Alexandria room of the Edmond Town hall and was witnessed by a large gathering of guest chapters and past and present officers, as well as a representative from the General Grand Chapter, the Right Worthy Grand Conductress, Mrs Ruth Graves Jones. Preceding the formal meeting, a reception was held at the Parker House for the more than 100 visiting officers. A tastefully decorated room and Mrs Parker’s appetizing dinner served to give the evening a most successful beginning. Mr and Mrs Alfred E. Amsler acted as host and hostess at the Parker House, and Mr and Mrs George Fleming served in the same capacity at the Alexandria Room.

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A letter reached “Doc” Crowe, appropriately enough, on Monday, the coldest day of the year up to date, reporting a temperature of 27 degrees at 7:30 a.m., on January 15th at Tangerine, Florida. It was Dr William S. Beard who wrote Sandy Hook’s popular druggist, telling of frozen ground, icicles on the water pump, and flowers and vegetables ruined by the inclement Florida weather. Needless to say, Doc Crowe immediately took pen in hand and described the sub-zero temperatures in Sandy Hook and the several feet of snow piled high along Currituck Road. Probably the Beards will not think Florida so bad after all, when they receive Doc’s letter.

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The Newtown Mother’s Club met Monday evening, January 19th, in the social rooms of the Trinity church. The speaker of the evening was Miss Caroline Russell whose subject was “Teaching Music to Children.” Refreshments were served by Mrs Robert Macomber, Mrs John Fox and Mrs Ernest Newman.

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The annual parish meeting of St John’s Episcopal church, Sandy Hook, was held in the church social rooms Tuesday evening. Preceding the annual election, reports were received on the following departments of the church activity: the Ladies’ Guild, the Ladies’ Auxiliary, the Sunday school, the Week-day Religious Instruction classes, and the Mite Box Plan. One of the highlights of the reports was the announcement that during the past year the final payment had been made on the church organ. The church building was completed in 1931 and the organ was installed the following year.

January 28, 1898

HANOVER DISTRICT HAS A FLAG RAISING: Hanover secured the first flag raising for their school, Wednesday afternoon, of a series that are to follow for the different schools in town. A number of the public spirited citizens joined together and cut a fine pole from B.C. Glover’s woods and brought it to the schoolhouse. Messrs B.C., L.P. and C.B. Glover, E.F. Northrop, M. Bradley, M. Cavanaugh, J. and D. McNamara and Thomas Quinlivan lent a willing hand. Secretary Northrop presented the flag in behalf of the selectmen. Hanover, though a little back from the Center, is not so slow and the citizens are to be commended for their zeal and patriotism.

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(page 1 announcement) The first preaching service in the Hawleyville chapel was held on Sunday afternoon, Rev O.W. Barker officiating. Nothwithstanding the hard traveling and threatening weather, the chapel was crowded, every chair being taken.

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AT THE HAWLEYVILLE CHAPEL (separate announcement, page 4): Rev G.T. Linsley will preach on Sunday afternoon at 3.30. The chapel people have adopted as their hymn book, “Hymns of the Christian Life.” For the Sunday school the Cook series of Sunday school quarterlies have been adopted. Hawleyville men are taking their turns in caring for the chapel in order that the expenses may be kept down. O.F. Terrill is the efficient janitor for the first two Sundays.

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A worthy movement has been inaugurated to provide a flag for the liberty pole in the Street. A subscription paper will shortly be circulated, and it is expected the amount necessary will quickly be subscribed.

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Sunday, January 16, Richard Reiley, tenor of St Rose’s church, assisted the choir of St Stephen’s at Stepney, and sang two solos which were appreciated very much.

Do you have photographs of people or places in town from a bygone era? The Way We Were is the perfect landing spot so that your photographs can be enjoyed by Newtown Bee readers. Images can be e-mailed as attachments to shannon@thebee.com, subject line: Way We Were photo. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date. If you live locally and would like to loan a photo/photos, please give us a call (203-426-3141) to let us know when you will be visiting.