The St Rose Carnival gets better every year — especially if you’re a star-gazer. Festival goers opening night on Tuesday did a double take when they spotted Cate Blanchett pushing a stroller despite the green cast on her leg. And was that Anthony Edwards there, too? Father Bob has really gone all out to attract a crowd this year! And he also tried to pull some strings to get the weather to cooperate, too. As usual, the St Rose priest asked parishioners to hang their rosaries on the clothesline to get the thunderstorms to bypass Newtown while the carnival is on. The rosary gambit, however, was not completely successful this year.

Kym Stendahl is very upset that a con artist who identifies himself only as “John” is posing as a member of the Labor Day Parade Committee and demanding that businesses around town hand over cash immediately for ads in the parade program. “You’ve got to be pretty low to be picking on the parade,” she said.

Kym has just recovered from a virus that sent her to bed for the past week. That’s where she was Sunday night when five houses on Hanover Road, including hers, lost power for five hours. “I was lying there, in the heat, unable to sleep, and that’s when I noticed that the Edmond Town Hall clocks are chiming on time again,” she said. Clock maintenance volunteers Chris Locke and Jerry Valenta worked for three hours on Sunday afternoon to get most of the antiquated system running again.

Where is the little red schoolhouse? Not the one that sits on the grounds at Middle Gate School, but the one that is the school’s annual float for the Labor Day Parade. Desiree Galassi says the float has vanished since the last parade and must be somewhere in Newtown in someone’s garage or barn. Anyone who knows its whereabouts should call Desiree at 426-3214. Otherwise, she said, the parade committee will be forced to start constructing a new one to get it ready on time for the parade.

Mary Mitchell’s book, The Remarkable Huntingtons, has received an award at the 19th annual 2005 New York Book Show hosted recently by the Bookbinders Guild of New York. Mary’s book took second place in the scholarly and reference one/two color book division. Published by the Budd Drive Press, the book was one of five works printed at The Stinehour Press that received recognition.

Riverside Road resident Diane Smith called The Bee to report a big coyote that she spotted in her neighborhood. Diane lives across from Bungalow Terrace and Alpine Lane and says that while she loves all animals, she is concerned about the safety of her neighbors’ cats and other small pets.

The graduation soiree at Maggie Mahony’s neighbor’s house on Horseshoe Ridge turned into pandemonium when one of the guests shrieked, “Bear!” Following a mad hustle into the house, one of the guests grabbed her camera, ready to document the event for The Bee, aimed, and saw through the lens — Maggie’s dog, Max. Max is a Leonberger, a very large, very fluffy, amiable dog. A teddy bear of a dog, you might say….

Ever wonder what our town was worth 300 years ago? If you Google Pootatuck Indians, you can find out that the Indian territory known as Quonopaque, that would become Newtown, was purchased in 1705 when three white men negotiated with the Indians. No money was exchanged. Instead the natives were given four broadcloth coats, four blankets, four ruffled coats, four collars (to accompany those broadcloth coats, do you think?), ten shirts, ten pair of stockings, 40 pounds of lead, ten pounds of powder, and 40 knives. I wonder who thought they made out the best?

As I was waiting for a Conservation Commission meeting to start recently, I watched in awe as Conservation Official Rob Sibley single-handedly picked up large meeting tables and moved them about the meeting room with ease and alacrity, swiftly configuring the room for that night’s session. Some commission members remarked at the facility with which Rob moved the bulky, heavy tables about the room. It was as if Clark Kent, a/k/a Superman, were manipulating weighty objects with finesse. I wonder if Rob has a red cape tucked beneath his street clothes.

While visiting at the town offices at Peck’s Lane this week, I noticed that Zoning Enforcement Officer Gary Frenette has assumed a new summertime look. Gary is the now the proud owner of a shaved head and a tightly cropped mustache, both intended to fight the heat of hot summer days when Gary is out in the field determining whether projects meet the town’s zoning requirements. Besides their heat-reduction aspect, Gary’s shaved head reduces wind resistance while he is traveling between zoning enforcement projects.

Gary also tells me that his pet cat, known as Rusty Joe, has sworn off his vices, such as fine cognac, Cuban cigars, and the use of firearms. The orange tabby, which is missing one ear, however, has retained some questionable habits, such as reading this column every week.

Thanks, Rusty Joe, for your loyalty. I guess I won’t have to tell you to…

Read me again.