Happy Birthday us! The first issue of The Newtown Bee was dated June 28, 1877, so June 28 is the date we have traditionally observed as our anniversary despite the fact the company was clearly established before that.

Approximately 45,000 pounds of bees escaped from their hives last Sunday when the driver of a semi transporting them lost control of the truck and it overturned after the driver failed to negotiate a turn while traveling in rural northeast Texas. A massive recovery effort took part after that crash in Orange, Texas, where multiple beekeepers responded to the scene to help first responders recover the 406+ colonies, secure equipment, and give the bees the best chance of survival.

Orange County ESD #4 even issued a caution for nearby residents with bee allergies to stay indoors during the clean-up due to the large number of bees. Facebook commenters did not disappoint. Among the first to respond was a man asking if it was a sting operation. Another wanted to know if this was someone’s Honey Do List, while another said there will be some people with bees in their bonnets. I didn’t see anyone note the irony that the crash happened along a road called Colony Drive, however, so I’m claiming that one.

One beekeeper who was on scene said that while many of the bees were not expected to survive the trauma — a 25-30% survival rate was a modest estimate, he said — those on scene saved all they could and even left boxes for some stray bees for them to move into. Christie Ray, the owner of Queen Bee Supply LLC in Orange, said the truck was heading toward North Dakota at the time of the crash. I’d like to think they were really heading toward Newtown for a big birthday party.

In addition to tooting our own horn this week, it seems an appropriate time to also note that the encampment of Rochambeau’s army in Newtown — June 28, 1781 — was nearly 100 years earlier than the date of our first newspaper. As noted in last week’s Way We Were, a re-enactment of the march started in Providence, R.I. on June 19, 1976, and continued to Peekskill, N.Y., arriving on July 4. According to The Newtown Bee of June 18, 1976, the average distance covered by the Waterbury Bicentennial Commission’s “Rochambeau Army” reenactors was approximately 18 miles each day, for a total of 209 miles, with approximately 50 people representing the original 4,000 men on the march.

The ambitious project followed the route taken by the French troops during the American Revolution, camping each night in the towns where the original troops camped. The re-enactment of the march of French troops under the man who has been called America’s neglected Founding Father, Comte de Rochambeau, had the “troops” entering Newtown over the Rochambeau Bridge, then following Riverside Road to Church Hill Road, to their campsite atop Castle Hill Road. They arrived in town on June 28, 1976. That evening, they staged a mock battle complete with musket and cannon fire at Newtown High School’s athletic field. Eighteenth Century crafts and demonstrations took place, including musketball making, “authentic cooking of the period, tomahawk throwing, and lectures on Rochambeau,” also according to the preview in the paper.

Connecticut hosts 116.33 miles of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, the nation-wide route that runs 3,198.87 miles coast to coast and honors the American Civil War veterans association. The road is also Route 6, which is the longest continuous US Route in the county. I mention this because a friend reminded me last week that part of that highway runs right through Newtown. In this year of celebrating this country’s history, it seemed as good a time as any to remind you of that little nugget.

Members of the Newtown Rotary Club Fundraising Committee gathered last Tuesday night in the lobby of Newtown Community Center to draw this year’s Newtown Rotary Restaurant Raffle winning tickets. Congratulations to first place winner Colleen Honan, who received 15 gift cards to local restaurants, each valued at $100; second place winner Wendy Morales, who received ten local restaurant gift cards, also $100 each; and third place winner Russel Keson, who received five local restaurant gift cards, also valued at $100 each. Organizers offer their thanks to the winners, everyone who bought tickets, the restaurants who donated to this year’s raffle, the locations who allowed ticket sales on-site, and others. If you missed this year’s raffle, or weren’t a winner, rumor has it the raffle will return for a fifth outing next year. I’m told tickets will again go on sale on St Patrick’s Day.

Congratulations to Michelle Babyak, winner of Connecticut Audubon’s 2026 Migration Magic Photo Contest for an amazing photo of a barred owl. The Sandy Hook resident and longtime photographer was sipping coffee in mid-May, scanning the skies for warblers when she heard a squirrel’s alarm call, “a sound she has learned often signals the presence of a hidden owl,” Melissa Chan wrote for The Connecticut Audubon Society in a post about Michelle’s award-winning photo. Michelle grabbed her Nikon D850 and focused on a pine tree about 15 feet away, and saw the owl staring right back at her. The owl was perfectly camouflaged by the bark of the tree behind it.

While Michelle gives credit to the squirrel for drawing her attention to the owl (“I would have never seen it,” she told the magazine), her talent nevertheless framed the beautiful bird within the forest background. Contest judge Matt Zucconi praised both the technical quality and difficulty of the sighting. The research assistant at University of Rhode Island and fellow avid birder said seeing a barred owl during the day is “already a seriously a difficult feat.” He called the work a “rewarding birding moment.”

Additional congratulations to Michelle for having a second image selected for honorable mention by Zucconi. A stunning shot of a brown thrasher mid-flight at Hammonassett Beach State Park also has the bird looking right at the viewer.

We’ve long had scanners running at the office, hearing as fire, ambulance, NUSAR, and, until about a year ago, police calls were dispatched. You never know what you’ll hear. Last week gave us one of the more unusual dispatches, when firefighters in Dodgingtown were sent to help someone with a cat stuck in a hot tub. Before I could put too much thought into why a cat would put itself into that position, the story came to a very happy conclusion: one of the first firefighters to arrive was able to get the kitty out of the water.

Unfortunately, our week started on a very sad note here at 5 Church Hill Road. My 9-year-old canine sibling Liberty Baggett finished her journey on this earth late Monday afternoon. If you remember that day’s weather, it was never nice. Cloudy and spitty during the morning and then just steady rain by mid-afternoon. For those of us gathered under the bumblebee weathervane, however, the weather echoed the mood and teary eyes of a few people. We know in our hearts Libby is no longer suffering from the tumor that fused itself into her spine, which was just the final of her recent health challenges. We’re not yet ready to let go of the ache in our hearts at losing her.

I’m sorry to close on a sad note. The sun is out as I’m writing, however, and I know Liberty is in a better place. I will keep looking and moving forward, and I promise I’ll be right back here with more news to share this time next week, when it will be time to … read me again.