First Selectman Jack Rosenthal said Wednesday that he will name by next week an ad hoc citizens committee to study the town’s needs. He will ask the 18 to 20-member committee to compile a priority list of capital items, and suggest methods of financing. The ad hoc panel will be given 90 days to report back to the Board of Selectmen. Last week, Mr Rosenthal indicated he was thinking in terms of a major bond issue over 20 years to provide capital improvements which he said have been neglected by the town over the years. The ad hoc committee will consider if such an approach is feasible. “There must be ten or 12 real needs that the town has for money,” he suggested on Wednesday. Among them he listed such items as improvement of substandard town roads, an effluent lagoon for septic tank pumpings, recreational lands, a new town garage, bridge repairs and replacements, and new town office space.

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 Groundbreaking for Nunnawauk Meadows, the elderly housing project on Nunnawauk Road, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, 11 am. Governor Ella Grasso, Fairfield Hills Hospital Superintendent Dr Robert Miller, the Board of Selectmen, and architect Richard P. Donohoe of Sherman are invited. A special invitation is being sent for former First Selectman Frank DeLucia “because of his great help with the project.” Building will commence immediately. Some preparatory work has been done already. Sewer and water lines have been installed and are hooked up with the hospital facilities. Drainage culverts and water hydrants have been installed. Topsoil has been removed. The builder is ALCO Construction Company of Hartford.

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Councilwoman Melissa Pilchard spoke to the condition of the Hawley roof at the Legislative Council’s meeting Tuesday night, and showed council members a long, sharp piece of roof tile, rather looking like a large Indian spear head, to illustrate her point that the roof’s condition presented a safety hazard.

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To Walter Ruhlmann, the Public Building Committee meeting of April 6 was a rerun of similar evenings two years ago. As chairman Joseph Borst solicited thoughts from the committeemen about the parameters to be given to an engineer or architect in designing a new town garage, Mr Ruhlmann regularly pointed out that almost identical criteria had been the basis of the committee’s fruitless attempts to build a garage for the last two years. Mr Borst expressed his weariness with the entire project, but, with persistence, managed to pull the comments and questions of the committeemen into a workable set of guidelines.

***

A bill transferring the original deed for Newtown back to the town itself won a narrow victory in the State House of Representatives Tuesday, after winning an easy passage in the Senate. “This is the one document that prevents the town from presenting a complete picture of land transactions,” Rep John Anderson told the house. “We feel it is important, particularly in this Bicentennial year.” The House voted 83-54 to approve the bill, but that figure does not indicate the closeness of the approval.

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A bill that would require transportation of radioactive wastes through Connecticut ran into opposition from industry and the enforcing state agency at the General Assembly’s environment committee hearing on April 2. Opponents of nuclear energy also went beyond the specific purposes and addressed the broader issue of the potential dangers of the increasing use of nuclear materials. The measure would prevent large quantities of nuclear material from entering the state, and would require five day notice of date, time, and route before regulated quantities could pass through the state. “The bill does not impose tremendous restrictions, but what happened on Route 34 shows that the state does not have a handle on the situation now,” said Rep John Anderson, D-Newtown, who introduced the bill. Mr Anderson referred to the furor created last month when it was learned that radioactive wastes were to be shipped through the state from Brookhaven National Laboratories in Long Island. Area residents and officials objected to the planned route, which included the two-lane undivided Route 34, and the Governor subsequently ordered the route changed.

***

The sound of the Newtown High School Symphonic Band was crisp, bright, and at times overwhelming in recording studio A. Through the efforts of Rod Titcomb and the NHS Band Parents’ Association, the band was recording the American music recently performed at the Bicentennial Concert at the RCA Studios in New York City.

APRIL 13, 1951

With additional funds turned in by volunteer workers, Newtown gifts to the Red Cross fund now total $3,404, surpassing last year’s total by $600, but still $600 short of the established quota. Mrs Bradley Randall, campaign chairman, in a statement on Wednesday, said that in comparison with the rest of the nation Newtown has made a most creditable showing at this time. The Red Cross need for funds, however, Mrs Randall says, is compelling, and the volunteer workers are determined to go over the top.

***

Dr and Mrs J. Benton Egee leave on Monday, April 16, for a month’s motor trip to Mexico. They will be met at the border by another Newtown couple, Mr and Mrs Jan Mayer of Dodgingtown District, and the party will drive down to Mexico City together.

***

St Rose Senior Choir enjoyed a chicken dinner at the Hawley Manor Tuesday at 8 pm. Miss Eleanor Casassa, organist, guest of honor, and members of the choir were presented with an orchid corsage. Robert Histon acted as host. Games and music followed the dinner.

***

The Hall of the House of Representatives, largest room in the state capitol at Hartford, and its gallery were filled to capacity on Tuesday afternoon, when the Public Utilities Committee of the General assembly held a hearing on HB 892, under the terms of which the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company seeks the right of eminent domain over Eight-Mile Brook in Oxford. It is the purpose of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company to create a reservoir there to provide additional water supply for the East Bridgeport area.

***

The reason a man is a criminal is that there is something wrong with him and 90 per cent of those sentenced to Fairfield County jails are mentally ill, according to Sheriff Edward A. Platt, who was guest speaker at Monday night’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Newtown held in the Parker House. This conclusion about prisoners was included in Mr Platt’s talk on the problems of taking care of unfortunates in the jails, a talk which tended to answer the question of just what taxpayers get in return for the $225,000 per year spent on the two jails at Bridgeport and Danbury.

***

A. Fenn Dickinson, chairman of the special drive for a new ambulance, has announced that as of Thursday, April 5, volunteer solicitors have turned in the sum of $3,017.75. This represents approximately two-thirds of the announced goal.

***

The hearing in Hartford last Thursday afternoon of the bill introduced by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to rescind the World Federation Bill enacted by the Connecticut Legislature in 1949 attracted a crowd which filled the large Legislative Hall. The hearing, which lasted from 2 until 5:30 pm, seemed to resolve itself into a debate urging the strengthening of the United Nations. Those present from Newtown were Charles G. Morris, Jerome P. Jackson, Sr, Jerome P. Jackson, Jr, James B. Forbes, Mr and Mrs Ben Day Smith, Mrs Miller, Mrs William K. Daniells, and Mrs Morton Baker.

APRIL 9, 1926

Misses Esther Coger and Edith Peck of Newtown were among the number who graduated from the training school for nurses at Bridgeport Hospital.

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Taylor and Buckingham, through attorney F.W. Narsh of New Milford, brought suit in the Superior Court in January before Judge Nickerson for a foreclosure of their mortgage of $15,000 on the Castle Ronald property, now owned by ex-mayor B.N. Beard of Shelton.

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Joseph Lewis of Taunton has left his farm and gone to Greenwich to take up his trade of brick laying. He has sold off his cattle and other livestock.

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Miss Mary Hawley has bought of Rodney P. Shepard the lot adjoining the old Middle district schoolhouse, which has been remodeled into an attractive residence.

APRIL 12, 1901

The town meeting on Saturday last was attended by about 100 voters and proved to be a lengthy one, as the taxpayers and others came “loaded” with questions and oratory on the various resolutions. D.G. Beers was chosen chairman of the meeting. The first resolution was one authorizing the selectmen to borrow $10,000 to meet the running expenses of the town for the current year. Attorney C.H. Northrop offered an amendment making the amount $6,000, stating it is his opinion that this amount would tide the town over until the next taxes were due. Selectman Morris said that he thought the selectmen ought to have the $10,000 asked. On a vote the amendment of Mr Northrop was lost, and a vote to authorize the selectmen to borrow $10,000 was carried.

***

A large and representative meeting of the men in the borough and vicinity was held on Monday night at the Newtown Inn, when the final steps were taken for the organizing of a fire company. A.P. Smith presided, and a committee of which Frank Wright was chairman brought in a set of bylaws which were adopted. It was decided to name the organization the Newtown Fire Company. Foreman, L.C. Morris; First Assistant Foreman, John H. Blackman; Second Assistant Foreman, Henry M. Smith; Third Assistant Foreman, Patrick Gannon; Secretary, Oscar Pitzschler; Assistant Secretary, Frank Wright; Treasurer, George F. Duncombe.

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The Newtown Savings Bank has discontinued the custom of opening Monday nights.