I suppose I ought to hand out my Good Egg Award to the Easter Bunny this week, but I’m giving it to all of those in the administrative professionals field. These support people are essential to the smooth operation of any business, as we all know. Be sure to find a way to thank any administrative assistant you come across on April 27, by the way — that’s National Administrative Professionals Day. Hip, hip, hooray, for each and every one of them, I say.

For a minute this week, we thought Doreen Kelleher, who works in The Bee’s Circulation Department, and her husband Ed had a secret musical act. The Mother-Daughter Tea & Antique Doll Show at Stepney Baptist Church takes place Saturday, May 7, at 2 pm. Mothers, daughters, aunts, grandmothers, neighbors, and friends are invited for an afternoon of tea (BYO cup, if possible) and refreshments, a display of antique dolls, optional Easter bonnet wearing, door prizes and — as the flier dropped off at our office this week by Newtowner Marge Nelson promises — “Songs by Doreen and Ed.” A quick call to the downstairs office set us straight; Doreen and Ed Kelleher are not doing the serenading. It will be fun finding out who is providing the music, so give Marge a call at 203-426-4972, by April 30, if you would like to attend. Cost is $10, $5 for ages 5–12, and free for ages 4 and under.

Talk about “pedal” power: Raised in Newtown, Ryan Bittner now lives outside of Washington, D.C., working as a federal officer for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). In an effort to enhance the agency’s “greening” — to get officers on bikes — he recently completed a five-day course for the International Police Mountain Bike Association.

 “It was a stressful class,” he said during a phone call April 14, adding that of the 42 original participants, several dropped out in the first day. Ryan earned the training instructor number 1225 for the IPMBA. “That’s 1,225 — in the world.” Training included practical and written exams, and many hours of riding the bike throughout Richmond, Va. He is required to teach at least one student every two years, he said. Ryan will be the lead instructor for the bike patrol unit, designing, developing, and training other officers. Being on a mountain bike “allows us to do police work that is ‘green,’” and remain in operation 365 days of the year, he said. And, just FYI, he recently received the Officer of The Quarter Award, a separate recognition, and is eligible for Officer of The Year for various accomplishments. Congratulations!

It has been more than a month since the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, but the need for relief continues. Local businessman Peter D’Amico is hoping that Newtowners will dig deep into their pockets — as will he — to support his foundation rescuedirect.org, which will put funds directly into the hands of residents in two Japanese cities where he has personal and business connections. Mr D’Amico will match ten percent of all donations, and is funding the administration of the foundation 100 percent. All donations are appreciated. The goal of $250,000 by the middle of June is only a drop in the bucket for what it will take for the cities to recover.

The annual Lose The Litter event hosted by Newtown Lions Club will clear our roads of the usual debris that sadly piles up, from plastic bottles and coffee cups to food wrappers, straws, coffee stirrers, and shopping bags. This year’s event will coincide again with the Annual Earth Day Festival at Newtown Middle School on Saturday, April 30. It will run from 10 am until 4 pm, although if you’d like to pick up garbage bags and register for a specific street to clean up, the earlier you visit the Lions Club booth that morning the better. Let’s hope residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., don’t find anything like their Sandy Hook, N.J., counterparts did last year when they uncovered four televisions, a fire extinguisher, a toilet seat lid, a Japanese war figure, a ballet slipper, and even a can of corned beef , or that we match the 475,321 pieces of litter (a ten-gallon gas tank, five pairs of underwear, a duck caller, a plastic cow, and even a kitchen sink) that were removed from New Jersey’s 127-mile shoreline last year, as Clean Ocean Action announced in their annual report, released on April 19.

If this event whets your appetite for spiffing up the surroundings, on May 7, Newtown Forest Association is hosting a cleanup program for Nettleton Preserve. Meet at Old Castle Hill Road off of Castle Hill — with gloves and any tools you think you’ll need — at 10 am. Children are welcome, if accompanied by an adult. Groups of over four should RSVP to 203-270-3650, beforehand.

Are your cleanup efforts going to involve getting rid of used but good DVDs, CDs, LPs, or books? The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library is anxious to get donations for the Annual Book Sale. Leave your donations at the library any time, or hang on to them for the upcoming May 15 Spring Book Donation Day, when Friends’ volunteers will be on hand from noon to 5 pm, to accept items for the sale. Call 203-270-4537 for more information, or if you need help transporting books to the library.

Late nights are nothing new for reporters, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that many Bee reporters and staffers were busy putting in extra hours this week… but this was for the First Annual Peeps Diorama and Peeps Eating Contest on Thursday afternoon. Yes, that’s right. After hours, the busy Bees were toiling away at miniature settings featuring the Easter candy specialty Peeps. I expect to see pastoral scenes or mock town hall meetings “peepified,” but now I’m a bit concerned. The first entry that arrived was “Night Of The Peeping Dead,” featuring some rather gruesome zombie Peeps.

As the paper goes to press, Peeps are being devoured at a rabid rate. Tune in next week to find out who the top Peeps Eater is in our office — and if you hold your own Peeps Eating Contest, be sure to let me know who your winner is. Maybe there will be a 2012 Peeps Eat-Off, next spring. Other than that, I’m not saying a peep. So be sure next week to… Read me again.