Date: Fri 09-Oct-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

way-we-were-

Full Text:

THE WAY WE WERE

OCTOBER 12, 1973

The Board of Managers of Edmond Town Hall agreed this week to provide more

space for the town clerk's office and to allow teen dancing and roller-skating

in the gymnasium. The decisions were reached somewhat hesitantly, and each was

qualified as experimental, because the Board felt that each involved some risk

to the building but was necessary and desirable for the town. As a temporary

expedient, the board allowed Town Clerk Mae Schmidle to take an additional 300

square feet, space that had been shared by Building Manager Ken Hathaway and

Town Treasurer Herbert Cutler. The decision to allow Teen Action Newtown (TAN)

to organize a dance in the gym was made after lengthy discussion of the damage

which cost $182 to repair after the last dance two years ago. Tentative

approval also was given on the request for roller-skating sessions in the gym

on Sunday afternoons as long as the skates are a new type suitable for use on

gymnasium floors.

Mrs Charlotte Lane stepped down Monday night from her post as vice-chairlady

of the Republican Town Committee, a position she has held for seven years. She

announced at the committee meeting that she will start this week in a new

position with the state. She will become an aide to John Doyle, chairman of

the new Hospital Costs Commission, and will handle public relations and

information for the board. Mrs Lane told the town committee members that the

new commission would mark the first time that a state has attempted to bring

hospital costs under its jurisdiction.

On October 7 police were called to Newtown High School to investigate a case

of vandalism in which 10 windows of various sizes were smashed by rocks being

thrown through them. All of the windows were double thickness and tinted. It

is estimated that about $500 worth of damage was done.

Eight Newtown High School students have received letters of commendation for

their high performance on the 1972 National Merit Scholarship qualifying test.

Those named were James B. Jeffrey, Elisa M. Kost, Joanne M. Schmidt, Mead L.

Treadwell, Maeve K. Lucey, Joyce C. Mack, Elizabeth J. Marks, and Donna J.

Mitchell.

Wednesday sure was a lousy day for Johan Van Achterberg of Easton. On his way

home from New Britain, while hauling a rented earth mover, he had a flat on

I-84 and sat for three hours until somebody stopped to give him a hand. He

finally got off I-84 in Newtown and was driving up Church Hill Road when one

of the tires on the flatbed fell off in front of The Bee building and rolled

down the hill toward the Queen Street intersection with the frustrated driver

in pursuit. But a tire rolling down hill can move a lot faster than a man and

it smacked into a car at the bottom of the hill, denting the vehicle. "I

should have stayed in bed," he remarked afterwards.

The Newtown Indians extended their season to three straight wins with a 36-8

pounding over Western Connecticut Conference for Masuk last Saturday in

Monroe. Fullback Tom Saint was the game's leading ground gainer with 165 yards

in 19 carries.

A group of volunteers helped to improve the Zoar Cemetery on the past few

Sundays. The idea to fix up the old cemetery was Hiram Hanlon's. He organized

a work crew which included James Knapp Sr and his sons Jim Jr and Dan; George

Mattegat and his son, George; Paul Palmer, Louis Gulaczy, Kenneth and Donald

Helsel, Joseph Schaad, Thomas Walsh, John Lane, Paul Carroll, John Cummings,

and Evan Keufer. Besides repairing and uprighting the old tombstones, the crew

cleared away a great deal of brush, pruned trees and did a general cleanup of

the cemetery.

Parents came to the Board of Education meeting this week to voice concern that

the program planned for gifted children might be cut from the budget now that

the board is forced to juggle its budget to provide funds for busses that were

reinstated. Another concern was that field trips would be canceled. Board

members said no action has been taken yet and the concerns of the parents

would be considered when a decision is made.

OCTOBER 15, 1948

Last Thursday evening's Republican caucus drew out a crowd of over 300 persons

that more than filled the Alexandria Room in Edmond Town Hall where it was

held. Two contests developed during the course of the meeting, both requiring

a vote by ballot. In the first contest, George M. Stuart received a total of

160 votes for the party's nomination of a candidate for representative of the

First District. The other nominee, Walter J. Collet, received 121 votes. For

Judge of Probate, F. Robert Mount was nominated but William Hunter proposed

that the present incumbent, Judge Paul V. Cavanaugh, the Democratic party's

candidate, be endorsed by the Republicans. The vote was Judge Cavanaugh, 145;

Mr Mount, 124.

Two sixth grade football teams, representing the Hawleyville and Huntingtown

schools, played an exciting game on Taylor Field Wednesday afternoon, ending

in a 14-12 victory for the six-man Hawleyville team. The victors were

captained by "Pudgy" Lockwood and the losers by Teddy Smith. Millard Goodsell

did the duties of referee. A return game is scheduled for next Wednesday.

When the Sandy Hook Fife & Drum Corps steps onto Taylor Field Saturday night,

October 23, to lead on Hawley's team, the Grassy Plain Fife and Drum Corps

will perform the same for the Bethel six-man squad. It will be the first such

game to be played here, a night game, Newtown versus Bethel. The way tickets

are selling in both communities, it looks like this is going to be the biggest

sports night in local history.

Jack Quinn, who for 11 years was a ballet dancer with the Metropolitan Opera

Company of New York, and for the past two years producer of the plays

presented at the Southbury Playhouse, will be at Edmond Town Hall on Saturday

to give information about the new ballet school he is starting in Newtown.

Classes, teaching character ballet and toe dancing for children and adults,

will begin soon at the town hall.

Isidore A. Epstein, son of Mr and Mrs David Epstein of Huntingtown district,

was killed on Tuesday morning and his wife and seven-month-old son seriously

injured when the auto in which they were riding crashed head-on into a truck

eight miles east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Police said the accident occurred

when Mr Epstein swerved to the left side of the highway to avoid a collision

with another auto which was passing the truck on a hill. At the time of the

accident, Mr Epstein and his family were on their way to visit his parents in

Newtown. Mr Epstein attended Huntingtown school and Newtown High School. He

served three years as a sergeant with the Eighth Air Force in England and flew

31 combat missions.

Many projects have been undertaken by the Women's Federation of the Newtown

Congregational Church to meet its $1,000 quota to the new church house

building on Main Street. The most recent activity was a Saturday bargain

basement, held in the gymnasium of Edmond Town Hall, a bazaar and country

store featuring items donated by local merchants. The event put the group over

the top in its $1,000 goal.

The state election on November 2 will give Connecticut citizens an opportunity

to vote for or against world law to prevent another world war. The ballot

question would urge the President and Congress to take the lead in calling for

amendments to the United Nations charter, strengthening the UN into a limited

world federal government capable of enacting, interpreting, and enforcing laws

to prevent war.

The first Well-Child Conference of the season will be held on Tuesday, October

19 in the Alexandria Room at Edmond Town Hall. Dr J. Benton Egee will

officiate. Several of these conferences are held each year so that every

pre-school child in Newtown, from new babies up to those ready for school, can

have a physical examination each year.