Take a stroll through Center Cemetery in Bethel, and up on a hill you will find the brand-new headstone marking the grave of Newtown Bee founder John T. Pearce. His great-great-great nephew Mike Anderson of Prospect, who went to a great deal of trouble to locate the grave and then have it properly memorialized by the Veterans’ Memorial Service, received a message last week that the stone had been set. Mike checked it out this past Saturday and is pretty pleased with the marker denoting his ancestor’s military service to the Confederate Army (before he migrated north to become the local news man, of course).

That reminds me: Newtown resident Victor Scalora is hoping to see some familiar faces when he participates as a member of the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery reenactors unit, in a Civil War Living History event at Three Rivers Park in Woodbury next weekend. Victor and dozens of other reenactors will be living within military camps and the civilian town of Unity, and ready to speak with the public when they visit Saturday and Sunday, August 13 and 14. Gates open at 8:30 am each day, and battles are scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm on Saturday and 1:30 pm on Sunday. Presentations will be available both days, vendors will be set up, and families can learn about the American Civil War by taking part in a scavenger hunt. Special demonstrations throughout the weekend will include artillery firing, battlefield medicine and surgery, period toys and games, and military drills. Admission is $10/adults, $5/students and seniors, $4/5–10 years old, ages 4 and under/free. Handicapped parking is available, and free parking and shuttle buses will run from Mitchell School on School Street. More information can be found at www.WoodburyBattle.com.

For those of you who like stimulating discussion more than stimulating battlefields, the Discussion Salon, facilitated by Ben Roberts, is back in session Monday evenings, at 7 pm, at demitasse café in Sandy Hook Center. The talks are open to all, and cover a wide range of pertinent subjects.

If Mae and Bob Schmidle are walking around with bigger smiles than usual this week, it may have something to do with an achievement of their grandson. “#1 grandson Nicky wrote about bin Laden’s death and it’s the lead story in The New Yorker this week,” Mae proudly told me Wednesday morning, stopping just long enough to tell me about the cover story while on her way into town to buy a copy or two (or three … dozen) of this week’s edition of the magazine. “The Mission To Get Bin Laden,” by Nicholas Schmidle, is a very comprehensive piece of work. It covers not only the hours leading up to and during the attack on the compound in Abbottabad where the Navy SEALs found and killed bin Laden, including what it was like inside the Black Hawks that brought the soldiers in to the mission and the Chinooks that were deployed to the Afghan-Pakistan border on a last-minute decision by President Obama, but there is also plenty of backstory on the major players and what led to the May 1–2 raid. If you happened to catch “Morning Edition” on NPR on Monday, that was indeed the same Nicholas Schmidle, who lives in Washington, D.C., being interviewed by Steve Inskeep about his New Yorker feature.

This year, the Newtown Labor Day Parade Committee is offering businesses, organizations, and individuals the opportunity to sponsor individual parade participants, fully or in part, to offset costs. The following groups are currently available for sponsorship: Litchfield Hills Pipe and Drums, Pyramid Shriners Motor Patrol, Fairfield Gaelic Pipe Band, 11th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, Sons of Portugal Band, Connecticut Alumni Drum and Bugle, Mattatuck Drum Corps, Connecticut Rebels of  ’76, Celtic Cross Pipes and Drums, Pyramid Shriners’ Pipes and Drums, 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Heavy Artillery, Sons of Portugal Dance Group, Moodus Fife and Drum, Pyramid Shriners Klown Unit, New Haven Gaelic Band, Pyramid Shriners Legion of Honor, and the Tall Shriner. Full sponsorship for a group varies, averaging about $500, I’m told by committee president Beth Caldwell. Contact committee member Robin Buchanon at 203-426-6195 or at robinlynann@aol.com for details.

I know you have already marked your calendar for the 50th celebration of the Newtown Labor Day Parade, Monday, September 5, but local philanthropist Howard Lasher invites residents to mark their calendars for Sunday, September 11, at 8:15 am, when a special 9/11 service will take place on his property at 68 Dodgingtown Road, Route 302. Having lost many friends and colleagues in the terror attack ten years ago, Mr Lasher makes a point of honoring their memories, and the memories of all of the others who died that day, each year.

Someone in town thinks that Harvey Pessin deserves the Good Egg Award. Harvey masterminded the Victory Garden up at Fairfield Hills “and has spent numerous hours getting the thing off the ground,” I’m told. The garden, tended to by a number of volunteer teams or individuals is providing much needed fresh produce for the local food pantries, as well as flowers to lift the spirits. Harvey, you are a Good Egg!

Speaking of Good Eggs, the Fahey family (Patrice, Tom, Evelyn, Sean and Shaylyn) are running a bottle and can drive at Newtown Youth Academy, now through August 14, to help the Delia family defray expenses.  Karen and Dave Delia are facing a tough challenge, with Dave’s recently diagnosed medical condition preventing him from working and medical costs rocketing. The Faheys will take any returnable bottles and cans, and forward all the proceeds directly to the Delias. Please consider stopping by NYA to drop off your cans and bottles. There is a large container out front that the Fahey family will empty each night.  If you have a large amount that you are not able to transport to NYA, please call the Faheys at 203-470-6082,  and they will pick them up from your home.

Here’s an opportunity to give back to the community — Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps will host an open house for anyone interested in learning more about its Fall 2011 Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) class. The open house will be at the ambulance garage at 77 Main Street, from 9 am until noon, Saturday, August 13. Instructors will be on hand to outline course content and expectations. The course runs Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 6 to 10 pm, September 1 through December 15, at Newtown High School. Cost of the course is $550, and for those who are ready to sign up next weekend student textbooks will be available. For more information call Liz Cain at 203-788-7570, or send her e-mail at EMTclass2011@gmail.com.

I’m not letting the dog days of summer get me down. (“Cat Days,” no doubt, are the cool days). I’m ready to pounce on any juicy bit of news, so be sure next week to… Read me again.