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THE WAY WE WERE

JULY 6, 1973

Thirty town officials began new terms of office Monday morning and all but a

few participated in a mass swearing-in ceremony conducted by Probate Judge

Benjamin Blanchard in Edmond Town Hall. Most are incumbents who had been

re-elected in the May elections. The new faces included Selectman Gerald

Frawley, Town Clerk Mae Schmidle, and Tax Collector Betty Smith. Maxine Ginn

entered her own term on the Planning & Zoning Commission after filling part of

an expired term. Alan R. Martin moved to the Board of Tax Review after serving

as an alternate on the Zoning Board of Appeals, and Richard Sturdevant and

Robert DiGiovanni began their first terms as alternates on P&Z. David E. Brown

began his first term on the Board of Managers of Edmond Town Hall and Gordon

Lester took office on the ZBA. First Selectman Frank DeLucia hosted a

reception in the selectmen's office after the ceremony.

Storms and torrential rains brought flooding and damage throughout New England

last week and dealt a few blows in Newtown. According to Edward Napier, road

superintendent, Sandy Hook was the hit hardest, especially in the Pootatuck

Park section, with many roads washed out. Road repair crews were called out at

4:30 am Saturday and worked through Saturday and through the week trying to

patch things up. All roads are passable now, but work continues on many of

them. Parts of Dickinson Town Park were washed out but have nearly returned to

normal. The storm caused major flooding throughout town and knocked out

electricity to 1,100 customers in Newtown.

The Newtown police contract will be going to mediation. The decision came

after a unanimous vote by the union members of the force following the Board

of Selectmen's rejection of a proposed two-year contract which has been under

negotiation for the past several months. The selectmen did not agree with

amendments on sick leave, manpower, clothing allowance, workmen's

compensation, and retirement and life insurance. Selectmen Thomas Goosman and

Diana Schwerdtle rejected the contract; First Selectman Frank DeLucia

disqualified himself from voting since he has been the negotiator for the town

during the contract talks.

The Planning & Zoning Commission has received plans for a proposed new

shopping center on 31 acres of land off Church Hill Road. The property is

located between Church Hill Road, Route 6, and Interstate I-84 in back of the

American Wire Company property. Edmond Road crosses in back of the property.

The applicant is Yonkers, N.Y.-based Fairfield County Mall, Inc. The shopping

center would be an enclosed, air-conditioned one- and two-story mall with

260,000-square feet of department stores, retail firms and office space. There

would be parking for 1,790 cars. The land currently is zoned M-2 (industrial)

and shopping centers are an allowable special exception.

The Board of Finance combined its last meeting of the old fiscal year with its

first special meeting of the new year on Monday and managed to do both,

including re-electing officers for the new two-year term. Republican Edward

Vollmers announced his intention to resign at the next meeting. He has been a

member of the board since 1949 and his present term expires in 1977. He gave

no reason for his resignation, but indicated after the meeting that he felt 14

years of service at his age was enough. Officers reelected were W.W. Holcombe,

chairman, a Republican, and Jack H. Rosenthal, vice chairman, a Democrat. Both

elections were unanimous.

Newtown had a departure from tradition by having the fireworks display at the

town park on the eve of the Fourth of July, 24 hours earlier than in previous

years. The crowds still came to see the spectacular display, however, which is

sponsored by the Newtown Summer Festival Committee.

The Board of finance approved a special appropriation of $197,421 to repair

the heating and ventilating of the new high school. The appropriation must be

voted upon at a town meeting. The estimate is based on a bid received last

week from Paul S. Honey Inc of Bridgeport, plus additional sums for

contingencies and new ceiling tiles required to meet state fire regulations.

The board voted to finance the appropriation with $43,000 of federal revenue

sharing money presently available and the rest by issuing bonds.

JULY 9, 1948

Newtown is the recipient of the largest appropriation allocated by the state

Highway Department for construction and maintenance of town roads, it was

revealed on the first day of July. Newtown was allocated $96,864 of the

$6,997,787 allocated for roads in Connecticut's 169 towns. The grant to

Newtown is based on an allocation of $67,914 for unimproved roads, plus

$278,438 for reconstruction and maintenance of improved roads. The town has

91.8 miles of unimproved roads and 45.9 miles of improved roads.

Miss Barbara Jane Baxter, daughter of Mr and Mrs William C. Baxter of Mount

Pleasant, Newtown, was married Saturday to William Coburn Dunn, son of Mr and

Mrs William H. Dunn of Hartford, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newtown. The

bride is a graduate of Hawley High School and the University of Connecticut.

Mr Dunn attended Wooster School in Danbury and graduated from the University

of Connecticut. He will be employed with his father in a tobacco warehouse in

Manchester.

Residents of Newtown have received cards this week reminding them that now

that the resident State Police officer has been transferred, they may call for

State Police service by telephoning Enterprise 8800. Detective Sergeant Robert

J. Murphy of Currituck Road, who was the resident officer in Newtown for

nearly four years, was transferred to another post effective July 1.

Vincent P. Gaffney, instructor in vocational agriculture at Hawley High

School, has received a letter of commendation from R.H. Hahn, state supervisor

of education in agriculture, after publication of Mr Gaffney's article on

fighting forest fires. It seems that the 4-H and FFA groups of the local

school have developed some very efficient methods of coping with grass and

brush fires which might well be emulated by other communities -- especially in

forest areas.

With the Fourth of July coming on Sunday as it did this year, Newtown's

observance of the day took place on Monday, a hot, humid day with a broiling

sun overhead. Townspeople and visitors gathered at an early hour to witness

the parade, an annual affair, which this year assembled at the Edmond Town

Hall at 10 o'clock. Leading off the procession was "Leaping Lena," an

automobile that bucks like a bronco. Leading the marchers was Commander

William Wenzel of the American Legion post with members of his unit and color

guard following. Riding in cars were two Newtown Gold Star mothers, Mrs Myrtle

Smith and Mrs Belle Lockwood. A. Fenn Dickinson was chairman of the parade and

J. Robert Lockwood was in charge of floats and marching units.

Serious damage was prevented at the home of Mr and Mrs Thomas Wright in Sandy

Hook on Saturday afternoon when a fire which started in the cellar from an oil

hot water heater was extinguished by the prompt work of Thomas Keating,

assisted by Walter McCarthy and George Ward. The Sandy Hook Fire Department

responded to the call but was delayed because of a misunderstanding as to the

location of the fire.

A major improvement was instituted and completed at week's end last week when

the parking area to the rear of the Edmond Town Hall was paved with asphalt.

This includes what was formerly a cinder and crushed stone area on both sides

of the driveway. The work was done by the Burns Company of Bridgeport.

For the second consecutive year Miss Mary Pat Carroll, daughter of Mr and Mrs

Patrick Carroll, has won the state award in the essay contest sponsored by the

Department of Connecticut Auxiliary, VFW. The award, a $50 check, was

presented by Mrs Ben D. Smith of Dodgingtown district following Monday's

parade. Mary Pat, who is a junior at Hawley School, has won the local contest

for two years and placed third in the state contest each year. This year's

topic was "Human Rights: The Key to World Peace."

Hub Beers and Hobie Warner left Wednesday for Laughing Water Lodge at Cornwall

Bridge and three days' fishing in the Housatonic River. They are expected home

this Friday, heavily laden with fish.