June 23, 1995

A development group wants to build a 110,000 square foot exhibition hall in Hawleyville which would be used year around for a variety of trade shows, public events, and athletic activities. Joy S. Brewster of Mt Pleasant Road, the managing partner of Connecticut Expo Development, a limited liability corporation, said this week the proposed facility would be built on land west of Route 25, about one-fifth of a mile north of Interstate 84... The developers would need to change the zoning from residential to industrial... The rectangular floor, which would resemble a collegiate field house, would have a concrete floor plus a “sports floor”... The building would have eight overhead garage doors... Ms Brewster stressed the facility she envisions won’t be a convention center.

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Sixty-seven Austrian athletes and coaches will arrive in Newtown Monday night for a three-day visit before the start of the 1995 Special Olympics World Summer Games in New Haven. The athletes are among 7,200 coming from 140 countries for the July 1-9 world games. Mark Angelini, head of the Austrian delegation, will be among those staying in Newtown. Jud Doyle, chairman of the Newtown host town committee, said the support of the community has been overwhelming. Thirty-five Newtown families volunteered to serve as host homes.

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Legal papers filed in Danbury Superior Court detail the actions that led to the recent arrest of a former Taunton Press employee who allegedly had been secretly placing a mercury compound in the beverages of his supervisor at work. Police charged Robert Marsala, 39, of Waterbury, with second-degree attempted assault in connection with Marsala’s allegedly placing the toxic chemical in the beverages of Ed Starbird... Taunton Press had a surveillance camera installed in Starbird’s office in an attempt to catch the person who had been tampering with Starbird’s beverages... The camera captured on tape Marsala entering Starbird’s office, walking up to Starbird’s desk, and appearing to pour something from a cup which he was holding into Starbird’s cup... Tests indicated the coffee contained 0.125 percent mercury, plus magnesium, calcium, silicon, phosphorus, iron, sodium manganese and copper. Marsala managed the photography section of the publication.

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It is difficult to understand why the fruits of good deeds would be intentionally destroyed, as in the case of Evan Tobin’s carefully executed Eagle Scout project. Three days after completing a wide path in the woods between the Multipurpose Center and Sandy Hook School for seniors to enjoy, eight of the nine new wooden handrails were found torn from the posts and broken in pieces. The report that was filed May 23 called the destruction... “third-degree criminal mischief.”

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The Newtown Rockets haven’t been together that long — only three months, in fact — but the 15 and under boys’ soccer team didn’t have to wait to become successful. The Rockets, formed in March, won the Maine Summer Coastal Challenge championship last weekend at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

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The Legislative Council Wednesday night approved more than $40,000 of year-end transfers for 1994-95 including $2,400 to begin a drug and alcohol testing program for highway department employees. First Selectman Bob Cascella said the federally mandated testing would be done through a subsidiary of Danbury Hospital.

June 19, 1970

On June 7, the Right Reverend Monsignor Walter R. Conroy, pastor of St Rose Church, Newtown, announced to parishioners his retirement as pastor, which will become effective June 30. St Rose of Lima parish has been Msgr Conroy’s only assignment since ordination. He has spend his 42 years in the priesthood here in Newtown.

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The Conservation Commission was host Wednesday evening to a meeting of town officials and club representatives to discuss the excavations underway beside the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Sand and gravel are being taken from an area once set aside as a nature area and used by the school as an outdoor learning center. Richard Monckton, Highway Superintendent, reported that the sand and gravel found in this area are of a very high grade and are necessary to the maintenance of Newtown roads. Requests that the town-owned property be kept as a nature area began as early as 1965.

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Last Saturday, 350 Newtown Girl Scouts enjoyed a day of fun at the Town Park. The Girl Scout rally began at 10 am with an impressive flag ceremony. The Scouts then went to their respective stations which included choice of arts and crafts, first aid, singing and games, fires, nature trails, and tents.

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If you swam in the pond at Dickinson Memorial Park last summer and thought the water was muddy, you were very right. Work to clear up the situation by paving the pond bottom has shown that mud and silt are deeper than engineering surveys indicated. It will be necessary to dig deeper than expected and to replace the soft surface with gravel fill before paving can begin.

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A summer festival of International Films has been scheduled by the Board of Managers of Edmond Town Hall in Newtown. The films will be shown each Tuesday and Wednesday in July and August at 8 pm. No subscriptions will be sold for the series nor are reservations needed for performances.

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The rear grounds for the Middle Gate School were the setting for a Medieval Festival last Friday, with the additional school rooms serving as a back drop for plays. Four plays were presented to the entire student body and some parents. The whole atmosphere was one of gaity and brightness. Colorful flags were displayed by some of the students and vendors in costume roamed about the hill. The school band provided the music.

June 15, 1945

The lives of two young men — one a veteran of WWII with an enviable record as an air pilot, including nearly four score forays over Europe, and one with prospect of immediate enlistment in the Navy — were snuffed out in the crash of a rented dual-control private plane in the Taunton Lake section shortly after two o’clock Sunday afternoon. The Army pilot, First Lieut. Howard F. Scholtz, 23... his companion Robert E. Hofflinger, 17... Records indicate the plane was flying low near the house of Scholtz’s uncle, when it hit a tree, shearing off five feet of one wing.

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With fair skies adding pleasure to the success of the event, the first annual track and field day for all Newtown schools was held at Taylor Field on Wednesday, with a full student attendance. Like the studies within the school buildings, this event, coming at the close of the school year, completes the formal courses for the season.

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While the response to the request made by the local branch of the American Red Cross for used playing cards and books was very good, the total contribution is falling short of the quota that is expected from Newtown. These cards and books will be used in the veteran’s hospitals by the wounded soldiers. In view of the fact that a number of these institutions are located here in Connecticut, it is earnestly hoped that more interest will be shown in the next week.

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Announcement is made by Mrs William Parker of the Parker House that a tap room will be opened as soon as alterations to the basement of the building are completed... For the past three years, Mrs Parker has not felt that general conditions, due to the war, warranted the renewal of her state liquor license for that part of the business. In making this announcement, Mrs Parker wishes to emphasize that proper conduct will be insisted upon from all patrons at all times.

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While on board a battleship anchored in the South Pacific, David Cassidy, Seaman 1-c, foster son of Mr and Mrs Forrest Violette of Danbury Road, had the pleasant experience of recognizing William Rockwell, son of Stephen Rockwell of Hawleyville, on the deck of another battleship which had anchored close to the one on which David Cassidy was on board. For a moment, the two boys stood in amazement, staring at each other. Following greetings, they spent a half hour enjoying each other’s company before the boats were separated.

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Among the Extension Service bulletins which are offered free of charge to those desiring them, is one describing methods of upholstering furniture. This has already proved itself useful to many homes in these days when expert help is unavailable.

June 11, 1920

The microfilm containing 1920 Newtown Bee editions is kept at the C.H. Booth Library, which is temporarily closed.

Your memories are the ones we want to share! 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 editor@thebee.com, subject line: Way We Were photo. When submitting photographs, please identify as many people as possible, the location, and the approximate date.