The Public Building Committee has zeroed in on the town’s new multiuse-day care center. The building, which was granted a certificate of occupancy on February 1 by building inspector William Connolly, is now occuped by the Children’s Adventure Center, the Visiting Nurse Association, and the Newtown Senior Center. In addition, the multiuse portion of the facility is also used by community groups. Since the building has been occupied, several problems have surfaced and the Public Building Committee is out to correct them.

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Because of the obvious public opinion in Newtown against the proposal of a large regional shopping mall on 100 acres in Hawleyville, the owners of the property, Robert and Roy Young of Danbury along with Cadillac Fairview Shopping Centers Inc of New York City, have pretty well scrapped the idea and are looking for another use for the acreage. According to Robert Young, a corporate headquarters complex is now under consideration; one which would entail no manufacturing or warehouses, just offices.

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A truck driver is in critical condition in Danbury Hospital as the result of a rockslide which demolished his tractor-trailer on Monday evening, March 19. The slide occurred on I-84 just before the Currituck Road overpass around 6 pm. State police Trooper Kosiorowski, who investigated at the scene, said Richard Moyer, 52, of Rockway, Penn., was driving his rig east in the right lane when the slide began. He was just being warned by a tractor-trailer directly ahead of him via CB that a slide was starting, but it was too late, and Mr Moyer got caught in the middle of it.

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The familiar red, black and white bus belonging to the Newtown Belvedere Color Guard was parked at the Middle School on Saturday, March 10. Members of the guard and their parents were packing uniforms, equipment and sleeping bags into the back of the bus because the Belveders were going to Laconia, N.H., for a color guard competition and would be staying overnight.

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On Saturday, March 17, a long-awaited dream of the Newtown Ambulance Association and its corps of emergency medical technicians became a reality, as the move into the former Chevron Station at 77 Main Street took place.

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The Park and Recreation Department is working on a plan that may mean additional recreational facilities for Newtown residents. A parcel bordering Lake Lillinonah is being sought by the town from Northeast Utilties for long-term lease rights. According to NU District Manager Robert Shaw, 40 acres are available, but whether Newtown wants that much hasn’t been decided yet. “There would be maintenance responsibilities for any property leased,” Mr Shaw said.

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First Selectman Jack Rosenthal found himself being congratulated by two speakers for the Board of Selectmen’s request for a 1979-80 budget that is only 3.2 percent higher than this year’s appropriation at Tuesday night’s public hearing on budget requests, held by the Legislative Council. George Grosner of Greenbriar Lane termed the increase a “realistic figure” in light of inflation, and Edwin Baumer of Main Street expressed similar sentiments.

MARCH 26, 1954

Many departments of Newtown High School are having a hand in the preparations for the senior class play, “George Washington Slept Here,” to be given next Thursday night, April 1, on the Edmond Town Hall stage at 8 o’clock. Rehearsals are going ahead under the direction of Miss Kay Dolan, class advisor, while sets are being made in the Vo-Ag shop with several of the students there assisting stage manager Bill Gordon.

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Newtown can boast of many prominent residents, but none has such worldwide fame as John Mulholland, the magician. Since he has never performed in Newtown, the League of Women Voters has decided to present him in a gala evening performance, preceded by a matinee especially for children on April 21. Not only will these appearances have all the glamor of his entertainments throughout America and abroad, but also they will serve as the League’s annual project to provide itself with funds to carry on its work during the current year.

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A tax rate of 24.8 mills on the 1953 grand list was voted at the adjourned session of the annual town meeting held last Thursday evening in the Alexandria Room of the Edmond Town Hall. The motion to set the tax rate at 24.8 mills, as requested by the Board of Finance, was made by First Selectman A. Fenn Dickinson and was passed by voice vote. The new mill rate is an increase of two mills over last year’s levy of 22.8 mills.

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John Curry, chief engineer of the Connecticut Water Commission, indicated that all will be well with the Housatonic River if pending plans to overcome pollution are carried out, at the annual meeting of the Fairfield County Soil Conservation District Wednesday night in Edmond Town Hall.

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Republicans, numbering more than 200, attended the party caucus held last Thursday evening in the gymnasium of the Edmond Town Hall. The session, scheduled to follow the adjourned annual town meeting, proved harmonious throughout and inaugurated election of a Republican Town Committee, rather than choice of committee members by appointment as in the past.

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The Rev John F. Culliton, assistant pastor of St Rose Church, was injured slightly this Thursday morning when his car was struck by another car, which skidded at Dead Man’s Curve on Route 25. Father Culliton was taken to Danbury Hospital and was released after treatment and x-rays.

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Virginia Lee Wheeler, daughter of Mr and Mrs George F. Wheeler of Queen Street, was hostess to a group of her friends at a St Patrick’s Day dinner party on March 17. Decorations were in the traditional green and white colors. Following dinner, the young people enjoyed dancing and various games with prizes for the winners in the family playroom. Guests were: Susan Desmond, Sandra Downs, June Meyers, Byron and Robert Tomlinson, Ronald Greenman and Robert Bell.

MARCH 22, 1929

Miss Ruth Conger, who has recently been elected treasurer of the 1930 senior class of St Margaret’s School of Waterbury, will spend part of her Easter vacation with her parents and part at Syracuse with her sister, Miss Starr Congr, who teaches in the physical education department of the University of Syracuse.

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The attention of those interested in the Newtown Library is again called to the drive for the running expenses of the library, which is now in progress.

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Dr W.F Desmond was in New York City March 9 and 10, attending clinics at the Presbyterian and Roosevelt hopsitals.

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Mr and Mrs Walter Glover have moved to Miss Hawley’s house at the corner of the state road and Cemetery Avenue, the former Daniel Camp property.

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Selectmen T.F. Brew has done a piece of praiseworthy work in graveling over the road on the Hawleyville flat between the railroad track and the state road.

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Under the supervision of Jesse C. Lewis of Hattertown, chairman of the game committee of the Fish and Game Club, and County Warden Edward Lee, nine imported English cock pheasants were released in various areas of town this week.

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Miss Helen Egan and Miss Ebba Moller passed a week at the Hotel Kenmore in Boston, Mass. Miss Egan is now at the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, Mass.

MARCH 25, 1904

Frank Tyrrell has returned from New Preston and has once more entered the employ of F.E. Burwell, the hustling painter.

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At the meeting of the trustees of the Newtown Savings Bank on March 19, the usual dividend was declared of 3½ percent on amounts over $1,000 and 4 percent on amounts under $1,000.

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Maurice H. Nutting and W.W. Knight, the affable representatives of the Southern New England Telephone Company, were in town on Saturday, and secured four additional subscribers for “the Newtown Central” telephone service. They have now secured 91 subscribers for the new central service.

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Charles Beard, the well-known Huntington cattle man and a model farmer, was in town Saturday, dining at the Grand Central Hotel.

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Mr and Mrs Alexander Baird want the people of Newtown to know that their children have not been sick and that they are in no way responsible for the scarlet fever visiting Newtown.

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Last week Thursday about 4 o’clock, a car on the south bound freight when about a mile south of Botsford, jumped the track, blocking the road for two or three hours. The 4 o’clock train south from Newtown and the 4:20 north from Bridgeport were obliged to go by way of Naugatuck and Derby Junction.

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Michael White, the affable clerk at the Grand Central Hotel, moves his family on Saturday from the home of Mrs Hourigan in North Center district, where they have passed the winter, to his home on West Street.