May 4, 1990

More than 500 students, dissatisfied with a decision made by the student council to change the [Indian] mascot, participated in a sit-in in the Newtown High School lobby, May 3. As a result of the sit-in, a committee of 20 people were chosen as representatives of those gathered. Those 20 were chosen, according to Lori Saputo, senior class president, on the basis of their willingness to offer solutions to the controversy. Ms Saputo and her group were laying the groundwork for setting up methods to allow students to become more informed, and to allow residents of Newtown and alumni of the school to voice their opinions.

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Tenants in several houses on Barnabas Road, who have been asked to leave because the houses will be demolished, are critical for the way the situation has been handled. The renters, Mae Lake, Constance Rollins, and Linda Bennett, acknowledged that the owner had the right to raze the houses. But the three people said they should be given longer than two months to find new homes. Mrs Rollins and Mrs Lake charged that in conversations with them, the owner’s agent, Bernie Meehan, misrepresented the reason behind the decision to knock down the houses. When Mr Meehan gave them their notices, he mentioned the CL&P development as the reason. Three of the tenants are angry over published comments by Robert Paquette, president of Vitramon Inc in Monroe. Mr Pacquette recently explained that the houses were being demolished because they were in disrepair. Mr Pacquette said the five houses in question had been purchased years before, to protect access to the 95 acres of industrially-zoned land that Vitramon owns farther up Barnabas Road.

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In a week’s time, the Newtown High girls’ track and field team won four meets and established itself as the team to beat for the Western Connecticut Conference title. With an 8-0 record, the Indians have a good chance to finish the dual-meet season undefeated and be the favorite in the conference championships.

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STORRS — Next fall, one floor of a University of Connecticut dormitory will allow approximately 40 students to live away from the use of alcohol and nicotine products. Starting in September, the sixth floor of Brock Hall will be substance free. The idea of a substance free floor comes from the need to provide a living area where a resident is not surrounded by others using alcohol and nicotine products.

May 7, 1965

Thirty-six members of the newly formed elementary school band of Newtown are looking forward to their first home concert on Thursday, May 18, at 7:30 pm, in the Sandy Hook School auditorium. A Strauss waltz, tango and selection of march numbers are on the program. The band is made up of about half beginners and to date has made only one public appearance, a concert at the Berry Elementary School in Bethel, on May 5.

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The Greater Newtown Drum Corps announces a candy sale as its first fundraising event. Members of the Corps will make house-to-house calls, starting Monday, May 10, selling boxes of mints or chocolate cocoanuts. The sale will continue for two weeks. Proceeds will be used for new equipment.

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Carl M. Schutz will become Newtown’s First Selectman on July 1. Mr Schutz led the Democratic Party in victory in Newtown in Tuesday’s biennial town election, as Democrats won all but two for the town offices contested. Mr Schutz also led his party in voting, being the only Democrat to top 1,800 votes.

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International Night in Newtown was celebrated on Saturday, May 1, with the gala opening of the Rose and Crown Pub and Music Hall at the high school. Guests were treated to a fine program of entertainment starring many of our own talented citizens. During the performance, patrons enjoyed cheese and biscuits, veal and ham pie, and British cider and lemon squash, served by an attractive group of student waiters and waitresses.

 

May 3, 1940

Hawley Highlights: May — and the first of this month is a landmark in the school year. The reason is that there are only thirty school days, counting from the first. Graduation is coming to the front, this time in the way of style notes. The girls will wear all white gowns, silver sandals, and wear red rose corsages. The boys will appear in dark blue coats and ties, white shirts, and white flannel trousers, and white shoes.

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Michael Mahoney of Sandy Hook caught a trout that “busted” his fish pole and he had to purchase a new pole at Warner’s Store. The catch weighed one and one-quarter pounds and was caught over the dam at Sandy Hook.

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The organization of baseball activities at the Fairfield State Hospital in Newtown is now under way. There will be two uniformed teams made up of employees and patients. From these two teams one squad will be selected to represent the hospital in games with teams from the community. Hospital baseball in intended primarily for the entertainment of patients, so that it is necessary to limit competition with outside teams to games on the home field.

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The Newtown Athletic Club baseball team will swing into action on this Sunday afternoon in Washington as members for the Pomperaug League, when they meet the New Preston Hillies in the opening game of the season. Coach “Bob” Hill, during the past week, has put his men through several workouts in an effort to whip them into a respectable ball club, and from various reports, it would indicate he has done a good piece of work.

 

May 7, 1915

The operetta, “Just a Dream” written and presented under the able direction of Mrs Austin B. Blakeman at the Town Hall, Tuesday evening, was the finest entertainment ever presented by local talent in our Town hall. A prodigious amount of work was necessary for the production, but the talented authoress of the operetta also drilled the children through weeks of rehearsals and designed and assisted in making the costumes and flowers used by the children. Considering the fact that some 55 children took part in the performance and that they reside all the way from Sandy Hook to Hawleyville, Mrs Blakeman’s success is the more amazing.

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Miss Marguerite Beecher, daughter of Judge and Mrs W.J. Beecher, is ill with a mild form of scarlet fever. On Sunday, Dr W.J. Kiernan, the attending physician, counseled with Dr F.J. Gale and Dr Brown, of Danbury, on the case. Mrs Taylor, the trained nurse, has the case in charge and is quarantined with her patient in the upper part of the house.

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The Newtown Inn: The menu for the dinner, Sunday, at the Newtown Inn, will be as follows: Chicken Gumbo; RELISHES: Olives, Radishes, Pickles; Fricassee Chicken with Rice; French Roast Potatoes; Sunny Side Asparagus; Creamed Onions; Waffles with Maple Syrup; SALAD: Lettuce and Tomato Salad; Neapolitan Ice Cream; Assorted Cakes; Roquefort Cheese; Bent’s Crackers; Café Noir

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The highly colored and sensational article in an evening paper relative to the fluke on the Borough election is as silly as it was misleading and false in certain particulars. It does not reflect credit on its author or the paper that issued it. It was, to be sure an unfortunate error on the part of the Borough officials in not warning the borough election. But to intimate collusion on the part of the candidates for election is pure fiction and the scribe knows it… The talk of riot about the Town hall was pure buncombe. It was something like the lynching talk that this same correspondent said existed at Sandy Hook at the time of the assault of Hall. Reliable witnessed informed the scribe… not a word of such talk was heard. It is rumored suits may be brought against the evening paper and the responsible author.