Belated and continued anniversary wishes to Sherri and Scott Baggett, who reached 40 years of marriage last weekend. Four decades, two children, two daughters-in-law, four grandchildren, many dogs and countless friends later, the Baggetts reached their ruby anniversary on Sunday. Not only that, but their children managed to completely surprise the still happy couple a day early! with a party! at their home! Sherri and Scott were wed in a ceremony at the home of her parents, Helen and Scudder Smith, on June 15, 1985. Last weekend it was the backyard of Sherri and Scott’s comfortable home that held the celebration, and plenty of laughs, recollections, and the making of new memories.

Continued congratulations as well to brand-new Newtown High School alumni and Halo Award winner Gabrielle Corona. Just a few weeks before graduating, Gabriella received the award for Best Performance in a Leading Female Role in a Classical Musical for her work in the title role of Hello, Dolly! NHS presented a full production in March as this year’s spring musical. Launched by Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury but now presented in the larger-but-still-in-Waterbury Palace Theater because of the immensity of the program, Halo Awards celebrate the best of high school theater across Connecticut. The largest program of its kind in the state, it now takes four nights of award ceremonies to announce and celebrate the winners. Nearly 90 high schools competed for 174 honors this year, covering everything from acting and singing to technical theater, directing and more.

In addition to being celebrated for Gabrielle’s award-winning work playing Dolly Gallagher Levi, the NHS production also picked up five additional 2025 Halo Award nominations: Warner Bacon, who played Barnaby, for Best Performance in a Comic Male Role in a Musical; Meghan Bailey, Emily Anderson, and Dan Cruson, Best Sound Design and/or Execution; Cormac Elliot, Lucia St Lorenzo, Mary Guion, and Parker Mauri, Best Scenic Design and/or Execution; Ashton Almeter (Cornelius), for Best Performance in a Supporting Male Role in a Musical; and Theo Anderson (Horace Vandergelder), for Best Performance in a Leading Male Role in a Classical Musical. Congratulations to all of these students, as well as everyone else involved with the drama program, for their hard work and accomplishments.

It wasn’t the most enjoyable way to start summer break on Tuesday. Local students woke up on their first full day of vacation to cloudy skies and occasional rain showers. For a little while there I thought it was Saturday again (12+ weekends of rain and counting…). Fortunately the trifecta was achieved for the seasonal ice cream stands in town a day earlier. All three — Ferris Acres on Sugar Street, Holy Cow on Church Hill Road, and Shortt’s Farm on Riverside Road — were apparently the place to be for a few hours as schools were dismissed on Monday afternoon. I witnessed the crowds at the second and third locations mentioned above, and had confirmation from a very good source that the first was “definitely busier than usual” for an early weekday afternoon.

I was very sad to read the obituary this week of Evelyn ("Lynn") Cole, who was the Hawley High School Class of 1941 Salutatorian before becoming a wife, mother, computer programmer, world traveler, and something of a Renaissance woman. She lived to be 100 years old (and nine months, her family proudly noted in Lynn’s obituary), and it sounds like she enjoyed every one of those years.

Lynn’s death and her 100+ years on Earth got me to thinking: didn’t Newtown once have a tradition of passing a cane among the oldest resident of a town? The Boston Post had a wonderful publicity stunt in 1909, when they sent gold-topped ebony canes out to 700 small towns in four New England states — Connecticut and Vermont were skipped for some reason — with instructions that the cane be given to each town’s oldest resident until that person died. The cane would then pass to the then-oldest resident. For years it went to the oldest man in town. It wasn’t until 1930 that the cane went to the oldest resident regardless of gender. While we didn’t have an official Boston Post Cane, I could have sworn I read something years ago about a special item being presented to Newtown’s oldest resident. It’d be interesting to find out (a) what it was, and (b) what ever ended up to it.

Best wishes also NEWS campers and chaperones! After months of planning and fundraising, the 2025 Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants will depart on Saturday for this year’s mission trip, a week of working with Maine Seacoast Mission. The 32 young adults and 10 adult chaperones have a week of home repair projects and memory-making ahead of them, and I hope they all have a safe, healthy, wonderful week Down East. I wouldn't mind if they returned home with a proper lobster roll or two.

The Salvation Army Newtown-Bethel chapter is bringing back its Christmas in July Bell Ringing Campaign. Previous volunteers were invited to sign up last week for Friday and/or Saturday, July 25-26, when donations will be collected to help local families purchase school supplies for the approaching academic year. Volunteers will be at Newtown General Store and Bagel Delight Friday and Saturday from 8 am until 1 pm. On Saturday, volunteers will also be outside Dunkin Donuts until noon, Stop & Shop (both entrances) from 9 am until 4 pm, and Bottle Stop and Yankee Wine & Liquor from noon until 5 pm. Many of the timeslots were filled quickly, but if you’d like to see what’s still available send a note ASAP to SAnewtownbethel@gmail.com and ask for the online registration link.

According to the US Postal Service, incidents involving dog attacks on USPS employees rose to more than 6,000 cases last year. We are midway through the 2025 USPS Annual Dog Bite Awareness Campaign, and this year’s theme is “Secure Your Dog.” Even the friendliest dog can surprise you, so the USPS is asking dog owners to consider keeping dogs and mail carriers away from each other whenever possible. Most people know the approximate time mail arrives each day. If you’re home or at work at that time, securing your dog before the letter carrier approaches your property can minimize any potentially dangerous interactions. If your mail carrier delivers directly to your home, keeping your dog in a separate room or area away from the door is also helpful. If you go outside, close the door firmly behind you and make sure it’s secured so ol’ Fido doesn’t sneak out with you.

The USPS also suggests reminding children to not take mail directly from a letter carrier. Believe it or not, a dog may view the carrier as a threat to the child. Dogs will sometimes act on instinct to defend their territory, or when they feel startled, anxious or unwell. Even dogs that have never shown signs of aggression can react in ways their owners don’t expect, the USPS cautions.

Notice you don’t have to secure your cat when your mail carrier comes around. We don’t care about mail, or most things, in fact, unless it’s tuna flavored or has a feather on it that can be batted around. You know what this cat cares about? Keeping the office dogs in check and you, my friends. I care about you, and one week from today, when it will be time to come back and … read me again.